Halfway measures are always misinterpreted and used
to the detriment of the Government among the ignorant followers of
the outlaws."
These views prevailed.
Blount has claimed that the death rate in the Albay jail at this
time was very excessive, and cites it as an instance of the result
of American maladministration.
Assuming that his tabulation [493] of the dead who died in the Albay
jail between May 30 and September, 1903, amounting to 120, is correct,
the following statements should be made:--
Only recently has it been demonstrated that beri-beri is due to the
use of polished rice, which was up to the time of this discovery
regarded as far superior to unpolished rice as an article of food,
and is still much better liked by the Filipinos than is the unpolished
article. Many of these deaths were from beri-beri, and were due to
a misguided effort to give the prisoners the best possible food.
Cholera was raging in the province of Albay throughout the period
in question, and the people outside of the jail suffered no less
than did those within it. The same is true of malarial infection. In
other words, conditions inside the jail were quite similar to those
then prevailing outside, except that the prisoners got polished rice
which was given them with the best intentions in the world, and was
by them considered a superior article of food.
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