Page:The National Geographic Magazine Vol 16 1905.djvu/221

velopment and is in a large degree the cause of the numerous small land holdings. Another reason is the great productiveness of the soil and the variety of crops that can be raised on a small piece of land.

The average size of all farms in the Philippines is only 346.8 ares—equivalent to 8.57 acres. In the United States the average size of all farms is shown by the census of 1900 to have been 146.6 acres, making a ratio as to size of about 17 to 1.

The spaces of land between their villages are as a rule unpopulated, and these intervening tracts, frequently of great extent, are almost wholly uncultivated and practically unused, except in a limited way for grazing purposes or in the utilization of such wild growths of fruits, vegetables, or fiber plants as they produce.

In the archipelago, as a whole, by far the largest proportion of the 815,453 Christian farmers own the land they cultivate, while tenants who pay a share of products as rental come next in order numerically; tenants who pay their rent in cash, while not comparatively numerous, exceed the combined numbers of those who are designated as "labor tenants" and the occupants of land who pay no rent.

A comparison of the Philippine statistics relating to tenure with those given in the United States census reports for 1900 shows that the percentage of owners is much larger in the islands than in the United States.

More than four-fifths (80.8 per cent) of Philippine farms are cultivated by their owners. The great majority of individual holdings, regardless of tenure, are of small areas—88.9 per cent containing less than 5 hectares, 70.4 per cent less than 2, 49.8 per cent less than 1, and 21.7 per cent less than 0.35 of a hectare.

Pauperism is almost unknown among the people of the islands, their wants being few and easily supplied. Little clothing is required, and the simple food upon which the masses of the people subsist, consisting mainly of rice, fruit, and fish, can, as a rule, be had with little exertion. The few who, from old age or accident, are unable to provide these necessaries for themselves are usually taken care of by relatives or friends.

The total number of paupers in the archipelago, exclusive of Manila, on December 31, 1902, was but 478, or less than 1 in each 10,000 of the inhabitants. This may be contrasted with the corresponding proportion in theUnited States, viz, 12 per 10,000.

The number of criminals in confinement December 31, 1902, in the Philippines was less than 8 in each 10,000 of population. In the United States in 1890 there were about 13 in each 10,000 of the inhabitants. Considering the unsettled condition of affairs in the island during the six years prior to the census, the showing is not only favorable, but remarkable, and indicates that the Filipinos as a race are not especially disposed toward crime.

The most common crimes are ladronism, theft, assault, and murder. The causes are traceable to the ravages of the war, to the poverty and unrest which followed, accentuated by the subsequent failure of crops and loss of farm animals. In the majority of the provinces crime is said to be decreasing.

In most of the provinces reporting, the convicts are employed on public work, such as the building and repairing of roads and bridges. In a few of the provinces it has not been found ex-