The Philippines In Facts And Figures

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ISBN 13 : 9781331738084
Total Pages : 70 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (38 download)

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Download or read book Facts and Figures About the Philippines (Classic Reprint) written by and published by . This book was released on 2015-07-19 with total page 70 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Excerpt from Facts and Figures About the Philippines The participation of the Philippines in the annual press banquet held at the University of Missouri, presents a favorable opportunity to disseminate a better knowledge of the Philippines. A general view of these Islands may be submitted in a few words. Of greatest human interest naturally are human beings. There are ten million and a half of the Filipino people. Of these, about five hundred thousand, mostly dwellers of the mountains, are in about the same condition as the unsettled tribes of Indians in the western part of the United States were twenty or thirty years ago. The remaining ten millions have a civilization and a knowledge of the correct principles of government superior to any of the Central or South American republics, with but few exceptions. Between the discovery of the Philippines and American occupation the Islanders were for nearly four centuries subject to, and absorbed much of, the Spanish civilization and culture, together with the Christian religion, to which they were converted by the efforts of the Roman Catholic priests, who sacrificed health and life in their noble and zealous work. The Philippine people are characterized by a generosity and hospitality unexcelled by any other people's. They are clever and quick to learn and their mentality is plastic to all the impressions of the Western civilization. They have, too, as every other people, their characteristic faults, largely such as were inculcated by the Spanish contact or are incident to all dwellers in the tropics. On the whole they are a kindly, sympathetic, and markedly temperate people. The Philippine Islands cover an area about equal to the British Islands or the Islands constituting the Japanese Empire before the war with China. They consist generally of vast alluvial plains, or mountain ranges with an abrupt transition from one to the other. The plains are of the very richest soil and two or three consecutive crops a year are frequently raised. The mountains are covered with a dense, impenetrable growth of forest trees, for vegetation here has no winter sleep but continues to grow every day during the year. The Islands are producing great quantities of rice, corn, tobacco, sugar, hemp, and copra, the dried meat of the coconut. They are capable of producing, and are beginning to produce rubber, coffee and countless other food and medicinal products and raw materials too numerous to mention. In addition there are many rare tropical woods fitted to make the most beautiful and elegant furniture and finishings, in a variety of natural colors many of which are unknown as yet in any market. Besides, paying mines of gold, copper, and coal are in operation, and there are immense visible iron deposits; but the extent of the natural mineral resources is unrealized, for as yet no thorough survey has been made. Of the physical aspect of the Islands, there is little knowledge in America. It is a beautiful land. Its deep tropical forests, its broad and level plains, its mountains, its beautiful rivers and the ever changing vista of the restless surrounding sea, its hundreds of evergreen islands, of all sizes and shapes, with white beaches and coral reefs, interest the traveler to an absorbing degree. There is no country in the Orient which displays so many and variegated marks of beauty and grandeur. But more misunderstood yet is the climate. For travelers, what are called the winter months in the temperate zones are as perfect as can be found anywhere upon the globe, and the temperature is at this season generally from 70 to 74 Fahrenheit. The hot season corresponds in time to our spring months, but the temperature only rarely approximates 100 degrees, and the heat is tempered by the constant sea breeze which blows unremittingly six months from the northeast and six months from the southwest. There are no such hot days and hot nights as are prevalent all over the."