“The Filipinos impressed me very favorably. I think great injustice has been done to the native population.… They are more capable of self-government than, I think, the Cubans are. They are considered to be good Catholics. They have lawyers, doctors, the men of kindred professions, who stand well in the community, and bear favorable comparison to those of other countries. They are dignified, courteous, and reserved.”
Leonard Sargent, a naval cadet, and W. B. Wilcox, paymaster of the Navy, after travelling over the Island of Luzon, at that time wrote a report of their trip, which was referred by Admiral Dewey to the Navy Department with the indorsement that it was “the most complete information obtainable.” Mr. Sargent remarked:
“Although this government has never been recognized, and in all probability will go out of existence without recognition, yet, it cannot be denied that, in a region occupied by many millions of inhabitants, for nearly six months, it stood alone between anarchy and order.
“As a tribute to the efficiency of Aguinaldo’s government and to the law-abiding character of his subjects, I offer the fact that Mr. Wilcox and I pursued our journey throughout in perfect security, and returned to Manila with only the most pleasing recollections of the quiet and orderly life which we found the natives to be leading under the new régime.”
IV. Population of the Philippine Islands
A Homogeneous People The Filipinos are a homogeneous people. An American, Dr. Merton Miller, former chief ethnologist of the Philippine Bureau of Science is the foremost authority for the claim that:
“From the extreme northern end of the Archipelago to its southernmost limits, with the exception of the few scattered Negritos, the people of the Philippines, pagan, Moro and Christian are one racially. There is some reason for believing that they migrated into the islands at two different times. But in all probability they came from the same general region and have a common ancestry.
“There are many different languages or dialects in the Philippines but all are closely related one to another, the pronunciation and mode of speech vary but little from one section of the Philippines to another and the majority of the words are common to two or more of the Philippine languages. These languages, whether spoken by pagan, Moro or Christian, belong to the great Malayo-Polynesian family, branches of which are found in Sumatra, the Hawaiian Islands, Madagascar and on many islands between.”
Ex-President Taft has the following to say about Filipino homogeneity:
“The word ‘tribe’ gives an erroneous impression. There is no tribal relation among the Filipinos. There is a racial solidarity among them undoubtedly. They are homogeneous. I can not tell the difference between an Ilocano and a Tagalog or a Visayan.… To me all the Filipinos were alike.”