DELGADO TO LOCAL RESIDENTS, OCTOBER 1899

Exhibit 1269.

[Original in Spanish. Unsigned letter. P.I.R., 886.7.]

KABATUAN, October ---, 1899.

I observe with regret that many towns are showing themselves indifferent to the present situation. Such indifference is censurable at all times, and in the present ease it is criminal. The time has arrived when all should contribute their efforts to resist a common evil such as is the present invasion. The enemy seeks to subjugate us as a tyrant and a despot, and tear from us our holy liberty which we have won with so much of our blood. This is a war of the people, for it is waged for our most sacred right, the right of liberty; and, hence, the outcome depends on the efforts of the people, and victory shall mean their welfare.

I regret, as I have already said, the inaction of so many of the towns of this Province, and I shall not be slow to correct this evil, and with severity if necessary - if the people persist in their present attitude.

We should respond to the situation with our efforts. The conditions that now exist are abnormal, and hence we should depart from our ordinary pursuits and take the initiative in the direction which these conditions demand by helping the work already under way. This campaign is not merely a test of the soldier's power to resist the invading enemy; this effort of the people is also to show their ability to maintain internal order by an upright and speedy administration of justice; to raise volunteers for the protection of the lives and property of the inhabitants. Its success means good roads and bridges to facilitate the cultivation of our fields, to help commercial transactions, to make possible the transportation of munitions of war for our army; it means, also, not only the ability to collect the crops we have planted, but the ability to set to seed the ground that is gradually passing out of cultivation with such crops as we may want in the future, such as corn, camotes, and other tubers which can supplant rice as the prime necessity of life. And, in a word, it further means the strengthening and consolidating of our internal life, so that the effort of the enemy to blockade us by land and sea will not bring about our starvation as a result, and so that they must ever expect sacrifices in fighting us. The contrary would be the case were we in a state of anarchy brought about by hunger, by vice, by malice, by immorality, and by laziness, which evils we should combat unceasingly and energetically. If the limited resources of the Popular Councils are not sufficient for this purpose, that is no reason why we should fold our arms and do nothing. On the contrary, we should redouble our efforts to relieve the situation, requesting the assistance of persons or wealth to get the necessary funds, and cooperating with the inhabitants in matters of labor, and in this way arouse the hearts and spirits of thc people by bringing them together and solidifying them. In this way can we secure complete unity among the popular elements.

With this end in view, I commissioned Seņor Mondejar to visit the towns of this Province, to express before the Local Councils the desires and intentions of this Government, to make suggestions as to the organization of local troops, and to have the roads and bridges thoroughly repaired; also, to encourage the cultivation of abandoned fields, and all such other measures as would assist the administration of the affairs of those towns, such as weekly gatherings (on Sundays) of all the Headmen and Cabezas de Barangay; all in accordance with the special interests and requirements of each town, wHh the approval of the Popular Councils, they, at all times to notify this Government in advance of their plans for its approval.

Politico-Military Governor.

To the LOCAL PRESIDENTS OF THE PROVINCE OF ILOfLO.