A surprisingly interesting, yet objective and fact-based, account of American rule in the Philippines. The book highlights the challenges faced by the Americans charged with governing the country, such as sanitation issues, education, and even the corruption of American officials. The author, a journalist who spent time in Texas and then Shanghai before coming to the Philippines, gives some astute observations which still ring true today. For example, in the last chapter on Philippine Independence, he notes that an independent Filipino government would have problems dealing with the Moro question, among others.
Contents:
The Islands and Their People
America’s Discovery and Conquest
The Amateur Colonists
The Building of a Nation
A Country of Invalids
A Fool-proof Government
Pesos and Centavos
Developing Philippine Industries
Linking the Islands
American and Filipino
The “Mutually Hostile Tribes”
Philippine Independence
