silver question further than to consent that it exists, and is in the simplest form of statement, whether the change in the market value of the two money metals is natural or artificial.  It is necessary in common candor to state that the most complete solution of the money metal embarrassments would be through the co-operation of Asia and America.  Europe is for gold, Asia for silver, and the Americas divided.  Japan is an object lesson, her approximation to the gold standard has caused in the Empire an augmentation of the compensation of labor.  This is not wholly due to the change in the standard.  The war with China, the increase in the army and navy, and the absorption of laborers in Formosa, the new country of Japan, have combined with the higher standard of value, to elevate wages.  All facts are of primary excellence in the formation of the policies of nations.

CHAPTER IX

The Philippine Islands As They Are.

Area and Population—­Climate—­Mineral Wealth—­Agriculture—­Commerce and Transportation—­Revenue and Expenses—­Spanish Troops—­Spanish Navy—­Spanish Civil Administration—­Insurgent Troops—­Insurgent Civil Administration—­United States Troops—­United States Navy—­United States Civil Administration—­The Future of the Islands.

General Frank V. Greene made an exhaustive study of all reports of an official character regarding the area, population, climate, resources, commerce, revenue and expenses of the Philippines Islands, and prepared a memorandum for the general information that is the most thorough and complete ever made, and is the latest and highest authority on all the subjects to which it relates, and they include the solid information the business men of the United States want respecting our Asiatic associations.  The memorandum is herewith submitted in substance, and all the particulars of public concern.

Area and Population.

These islands, including the Ladrones, Carolinas and Palaos, which are all under the Government of Manila, are variously estimated at from 1,200 to 1,300 in number.  The greater portion of these are small and of no more value than the islands off the coast of Alaska.  The important islands are less than a dozen in number, and 90 per cent. of the Christian population live on Luzon and the five principal islands of the Visayas group.

The total population is somewhere between 7,000,000 and 9,000,000.  This includes the wild tribes of the mountains of Luzon and of the islands in the extreme south.  The last census taken by the Spanish Government was on December 31, 1887, and this stated the Christian population to be 6,000,000 (in round numbers).  This is distributed as follows: