' The voice and will of the Filipinos of to-day is the
voice and the will of these brainy, industrious, rapidly developing men
whose judgment in time the world is bound to respect."
This statement will be confirmed by almost any American resident in the
Islands. Most of the men who have risen to prominence in the Islands are
mestizos, and while in political life some of the leaders are merely
Spanish metis, the financial leaders almost without exception, the
captains of industry, have Chinese blood in their veins, while this
class has also taken an active part in the government of the
archipelago. Emilio Aguinaldo is one of the most conspicuous of the
Chinese mestizos. Individual examples might be multiplied without limit;
it will be sufficient to mention Bautista Lim, president of the largest
tobacco firm in the islands and also a physician; his brother, formerly
an insurgent general and later governor of Sampango province under the
American administration; the banker Lim Hap; Faustino Lechoco, cattle
king of the Philippines; Fernandez brothers, proprietors of a steamship
line; Locsin and Lacson, wealthy sugar planters; Mariano Velasco,
dry-goods importer; Datto Piang, the Moro warrior and chieftain; Paua,
insurgent general in southern Luzon; Ricardo Gochuico, tobacco magnate.
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