Dean Conant Worcester, D.Sc.,
FRGS
The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British Geographers), often shortened to RGS, is a learned society and professional body for geography based in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical scien ...
(October 1, 1866 – May 2, 1924) was an American zoologist, public official, and authority on the
Philippines
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
. He was born at
Thetford, Vermont
Thetford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States in the Connecticut River Valley. The population was 2,775 at the 2020 census. Villages within the town include East Thetford, North Thetford, Thetford Hill, Thetford Center, Rices Mil ...
, and educated at the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
(A.B., 1889). He first went to the Philippines in 1887 as a junior member of a scientific expedition, and built a controversial career in the early American colonial government beginning in 1899 based upon his experience in the country. He was fiercely opposed to Philippine independence and a firm believer in the colonial mission. He served as the influential Secretary of the Interior of the
Philippine Islands
The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no),
* bik, Republika kan Filipinas
* ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas
* cbk, República de Filipinas
* hil, Republ ...
until 1913 when he began focusing on his business interests. He died in the Philippines having organized and managed businesses that included coconut farming and processing, cattle raising and a maritime shipping line.
[Sullivan, Rodney J. (1991). ''Exemplar of Americanism: The Philippine Career of Dean C. Worcester''. Michigan Papers on South and Southeast Asia No. 36, Center for South and Southeast Asian Studies, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. 395pp .]
Early life and education
![Joseph B Steere & students 1887](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Joseph_B_Steere_%26_students_1887.jpg)
Dean Conant Worcester was born 1 October 1866 in
Thetford, Vermont
Thetford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States in the Connecticut River Valley. The population was 2,775 at the 2020 census. Villages within the town include East Thetford, North Thetford, Thetford Hill, Thetford Center, Rices Mil ...
to Ezra Carter Worcester (1816-1887) and Ellen Hunt (Conant) Worcester (1826–1902), the youngest of nine children. He attended public schools in Vermont.
Worcester entered the
University of Michigan
, mottoeng = "Arts, Knowledge, Truth"
, former_names = Catholepistemiad, or University of Michigania (1817–1821)
, budget = $10.3 billion (2021)
, endowment = $17 billion (2021)As o ...
in October 1884, and he was part of the 1887–1888 zoological expedition to the Philippines organized by
Joseph Beal Steere
Joseph Beal Steere (9 February 1842 – 7 December 1940) was an American ornithologist.
Steere was born in Rollin, Michigan, the son of William Millhouse and Elizabeth Cleghorn (Beal) Steere. He received a B.A. from the University of Michigan i ...
in which they collected over 300 zoological specimens, of which 53 were deemed new to science. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1889.
Shortly thereafter in September 1890, Worcester and fellow zoologist
Frank Swift Bourns
Frank Swift Bourns (1866 – 1935) was an American ornithologist and doctor. He was involved in two different expeditions to the Philippines with Dean Conant Worcester to gather natural history specimens. From 1887 to 1888 they participated i ...
returned to the Philippines on a two-year zoological expedition funded by
Louis F. Menage
Louis Francois Menage (August 3, 1850 – March 18, 1924) was a real estate Speculation, speculator and prominent figure in early Minneapolis, Minnesota history. Born in Rhode Island, he settled in Minneapolis in 1874. Characterized as a "tycoon ...
, a wealthy
Minneapolis
Minneapolis () is the largest city in Minnesota, United States, and the county seat of Hennepin County. The city is abundant in water, with thirteen lakes, wetlands, the Mississippi River, creeks and waterfalls. Minneapolis has its origins ...
businessman who was the major benefactor of the Minnesota Academy of Natural Sciences.
Public service in the Insular Government of the Philippine Islands
![Dean Conant Worcester](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3b/Dean_Conant_Worcester.jpg)
When the
Spanish–American War
, partof = the Philippine Revolution, the decolonization of the Americas, and the Cuban War of Independence
, image = Collage infobox for Spanish-American War.jpg
, image_size = 300px
, caption = (cloc ...
broke out in 1898, Worcester was very quick to capitalize on his first-hand knowledge of the Philippines by engaging in public lectures and establishing himself as a leading authority on the country with the October 1898 publication of his ''Philippine Islands and their People''.
Worcester was an avid photographer during his time in the Philippines and his published photographs had a profound influence in shaping public opinion in the United States about the "exotic" Filipinos.
On 20 January 1899, Worcester was appointed by
President McKinley
William McKinley (January 29, 1843September 14, 1901) was the 25th president of the United States, serving from 1897 until his assassination in 1901. As a politician he led a realignment that made his Republican Party largely dominant in ...
as a member of the
Shurman Commission (First Philippine Commission) to make recommendations on how the U.S should proceed after the sovereignty of the Philippines was ceded to the United States by Spain by the
Treaty of Paris (1898)
The Treaty of Peace between the United States of America and the Kingdom of Spain, commonly known as the Treaty of Paris of 1898 ( fil, Kasunduan sa Paris ng 1898; es, Tratado de París de 1898), was a treaty signed by Spain and the United St ...
. He was again appointed on 16 March 1900 by McKinley as the only member from the Schurman Commission to serve on the successor
Taft Commission (Second Philippine Commission) where he served until 1913. As a member of the
Philippine Commission
The Philippine Commission was the name of two bodies, both appointed by the president of the United States, to assist with governing the Philippines.
The first Philippine Commission, also known as the Schurman Commission, was appointed by Presi ...
, he simultaneously served in the highly influential role of Secretary of the Interior for the
Insular Government
The Insular Government of the Philippine IslandsThis form of the name appeared in the titles of U.S. Supreme Court cases, but was otherwise rarely used. See s:Costas v. Insular Government of the Philippine Islands/Opinion of the Court, Costas v ...
. In this capacity he oversaw the founding of a number of agencies, including the Bureau of Agriculture, Bureau of Science, Bureau of Government Laboratories and the Bureau of Health. In 1907, he founded the Philippine Medical School and in 1908 laid the cornerstone of the
Philippine General Hospital
The Philippine General Hospital (also known as University of the Philippines–Philippine General Hospital or UP–Philippine General Hospital), simply referred to as UP–PGH or PGH, is a tertiary state-owned hospital administered and operated ...
, which opened in 1910 and has become the primary teaching hospital for the
University of the Philippines College of Medicine
The University of the Philippines Manila College of Medicine (CM) is the medical school of the University of the Philippines Manila, the oldest constituent university of the University of the Philippines System. Its establishment in 1905 anted ...
and a hospital for the poor.
Worcester had a keen interest in public health, but his response to a major 1902–04 outbreak of
cholera in Manila and other Philippine cities was highly criticized. The epidemic was particularly severe in the district of
Farola in Manila (near present-day
San Nicolas) that was home to many of the city's poorest. Worcester ordered the burning of hundreds of houses and forced quarantine of many frightened and homeless Filipinos.
Despite these draconian measures taken by Worcester and public health officials, 109,461 people died in Manila and elsewhere in the Philippines. Failure to effectively control this major outbreak and subsequent cholera outbreaks in 1905 and 1908 were major embarrassments for Worcester and drew the ire of the Philippine press often claiming that the public health measures were primarily aimed at clearing slums for the redevelopment of the valuable Manila seaport area.
In response, the Insular Department of Interior, primarily under the authorship of Worcester, published a history of these cholera outbreaks with an account of the agency's attempts to control them. In the monograph, he said that he went too far by ordering the burning of the houses in the Farola district.
''Aves de Rapiña''
On October 30, 1908, ''
El Renacimiento
''El Renacimiento'' () was a bilingual Spanish– Tagalog language newspaper. It was printed in Manila until the 1940s by the members of the Guerrero de Ermita family. Its directors were Fernando Ma. Guerrero, Teodoro M. Kalaw, and Rafael Palma ...
'', a daily newspaper in
Spanish
Spanish might refer to:
* Items from or related to Spain:
**Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain
**Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries
**Spanish cuisine
Other places
* Spanish, Ontario, Can ...
, published an editorial written by Fidel A. Reyes (1878–1967), its city editor, titled ''"Aves de Rapiña"'' ("Birds of Prey"), which denounced an American official for using his office to exploit the resources of the country for his personal gains. The article dealt with corruption in the colonial government.
Worcester was alleged to have used his anthropological research to seek out gold in
Benguet and exploit untapped natural resources in
Mindoro
Mindoro is the seventh largest and eighth-most populous island in the Philippines. With a total land area of 10,571 km2 ( 4,082 sq.mi ) and has a population of 1,408,454 as of 2020 census. It is located off the southwestern coast of Luz ...
and
Mindanao
Mindanao ( ) ( Jawi: مينداناو) is the second-largest island in the Philippines, after Luzon, and seventh-most populous island in the world. Located in the southern region of the archipelago, the island is part of an island group of ...
. He was also alleged to have profited from the illegal sale of diseased cattle meat and from the sale of overpriced land concessions on government property.
According to historian
Ambeth Ocampo
Ambeth R. Ocampo (born 1961 in Manila) is a Filipino public historian, academic, cultural administrator, journalist, author, and independent curator. He is best known for his definitive writings about Philippines' national hero José Rizal and o ...
, Worcester objected to "insinuation(s) that he was like a rapacious eagle that plundered his fellow men. He was offended by the line that said he had: 'the characteristics of the vulture, the owl and the vampire.'"
Although the editorial did not mention names, Worcester felt that he was the public official referred to and filed a libel case against Reyes, as well as editor
Teodoro Kalaw
Teodoro Manguiat Kalaw (March 31, 1884 – December 4, 1940) was a Filipino scholar, legislator, and historian.
Early life
He was born in Lipa, Batangas on March 31, 1884. He was the third of four children of police chief Valerio Kalaw a ...
and publisher Martin Ocampo, among several others.
The lower court sentenced Ocampo to six months imprisonment and a fine of
₱2,000 and Kalaw to twelve months imprisonment and ₱3,000 fine and a verdict for moral and punitive damages for ₱25,000. The defendants appealed to the
Supreme Court of the Philippines, which affirmed the decision of the lower court and to the
Supreme Court of the United States, which sustained the decision of the Philippine tribunals.
Governor-General Francis Burton Harrison
Francis Burton Harrison (December 18, 1873 – November 21, 1957) was an American statesman who served in the United States House of Representatives and was appointed governor-general of the Philippines by President of the United States Woodro ...
pardoned Ocampo and Kalaw in 1914 after Worcester left public office in September 1913.
Nevertheless, the fines forced ''El Renacimiento'' to shut down.
Post-government and business career
In 1911 while serving as Secretary of the Interior, Worcester published a monograph ''Coconut Growing in the Philippine Islands'' in which he analysed the farming technology and economics of plantation culture of coconuts for production of
copra
Copra (from ) is the dried, white flesh of the coconut from which coconut oil is extracted. Traditionally, the coconuts are sun-dried, especially for export, before the oil, also known as copra oil, is pressed out. The oil extracted from co ...
and
oil
An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...
. By 1914 this publication had become a standard reference for investors interested in coconut products, and the passage of the
Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act
The Payne–Aldrich Tariff Act of 1909 (ch. 6, 36 Stat. 11), named for Representative Sereno E. Payne (R– NY) and Senator Nelson W. Aldrich (R– RI), began in the United States House of Representatives as a bill raising certain tariffs on goo ...
(1909) and the opening of the
Panama Canal
The Panama Canal ( es, Canal de Panamá, link=no) is an artificial waterway in Panama that connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Pacific Ocean and divides North and South America. The canal cuts across the Isthmus of Panama and is a condui ...
(1914) made for a favorable economic climate for importation of Philippine products, including coconut oil, to the industrial centers of the East Coast of the United States. Beginning in 1908, in his capacity as Secretary of Interior, Worcester acquired large tracts of lands in
Bukidnon
Bukidnon(), officially the Province of Bukidnon ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Bukidnon; fil, Lalawigan ng Bukidnon; hil, Kapuroan sang Bukidnon; Binukid and Higaonon: ''Probinsya ta Bukidnon''), is a landlocked province in the Philippines located in the ...
for the use by large-scale agribusinesses. After resignation from public service, he became more involved in the operations of the American-Philippine Company (AMPHILCO) and its three subsidiaries in which he was an investor: the Insular Transportation Company, the Bukidnon Plantation Company and the Visayan Refining Company. Considerable American investments were being made in these companies.
![Jones Law poster Philippines 1916](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/af/Jones_Law_poster_Philippines_1916.jpeg)
Despite Worcester's resignation from public office, Worcester remained as a focus of Filipino animosity largely for his unfavorable depiction of Filipinos in ''The Philippine Islands and Their People'' and his high-profile public opposition of the 1912 and 1914 "Jones Bills" that were eventually passed by the
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
as the
Jones Act of 1916 that restructured the Insular Government and began a process for full Philippine independence. On 24 July 1915, a popular protest broke out in
Cebu
Cebu (; ceb, Sugbo), officially the Province of Cebu ( ceb, Lalawigan sa Sugbo; tl, Lalawigan ng Cebu; hil, Kapuroan sang Sugbo), is a province of the Philippines located in the Central Visayas region, and consists of a main island and 16 ...
in which Worcester was denounced as the coconut agribusiness company manager, demanding his replacement. And in early 1916, Philippine nationalist
Maximo M. Kalaw wrote an editorial in the Cebu newspaper ''El Precursor'' titled "Mr. Worcester and the Filipinos must part forever" in which he asserted that the Cebu protests were like the protests against
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...
if early Americans were presented to the British public as mostly Indian savages that were incapable of self-government. At issue according to Kalaw was that Worcester had published in 1914 ''The Philippines Past and Present'' in which he again used the power of his photography to depict "primitive" Filipinos juxtaposed with photos of the modern infrastructure brought by the Americans, particularly during his own tenure as Secretary of the Interior. But the protests against Worcester subsided in late 1916 once the Jones Act was passed into law and the coconut oil exports were beginning to substantially fuel the local economy in Cebu.
Historians Rodney J. Sullivan and Michael Culinane have both pointed out that this later muted response toward American businesses in Cebu was largely because some of the leading families such as the
Osmeñas and the Kalaws themselves were major beneficiaries of the economic development brought by Worcester and the other Americans.
In 1914, Worcester also had become involved in the cattle ranching operations at the Diklum Ranch (another subsidiary of AMPHILCO), a 10,000 hectare tract of grasslands on the Bukidnon Plateau in
Manolo Fortich, Bukidnon
Manolo Fortich, officially the Municipality of Manolo Fortich ( Bukid and Higaonon: Banuwa ta Manolo Fortich; ceb, Lungsod sa Manolo Fortich; tl, Bayan ng Manolo Fortich), is a 1st class municipality in the province of Bukidnon, Philippines. ...
, near the port city of
Cagayan de Oro.
Cattle ranching began in Bukidnon in the mid-1900s from shorthorn
The Shorthorn breed of cattle originated in the North East of England in the late eighteenth century. The breed was developed as dual-purpose, suitable for both dairy and beef production; however, certain blood lines within the breed always emp ...
stock originally imported from Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...
, but Worcester had taken what had been learned from experiments undertaken by the Bureau of Agriculture to crossbreed cattle from different parts of the world, including the zebu
The zebu (; ''Bos indicus'' or ''Bos taurus indicus''), sometimes known in the plural as indicine cattle or humped cattle, is a species or subspecies of domestic cattle originating in the Indian sub-continent. Zebu are characterised by a fatty h ...
from India for better performance and disease resistance in a tropics. And later in the early 1920s he promoted the introduction of the newly developed Santa Gertrudis breed from South Texas into the Philippines as well. Worcester also had close relations with Dr. William Hutchins Boynton (1881–1959) the chief veterinary pathologist with the Philippine Bureau of Agriculture who by 1918 had developed an early vaccine for rinderpest
Rinderpest (also cattle plague or steppe murrain) was an infectious viral disease of cattle, domestic buffalo, and many other species of even-toed ungulates, including gaurs, buffaloes, large antelope, deer, giraffes, wildebeests, and warthog ...
, a devastating disease of cattle. In addition to the corporate Diklum Ranch, Worcester also managed his own ranch located in Barangay Lurugan, Valencia
Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...
, which was then managed by his son Frederick after his death. With Worcester's scientific approach to cattle ranching, the business became highly profitable and provided enough supply to greatly diminish cattle imports from as far away as China and Australia that had been occurring since the Philippine–American War had reduced cattle production by as much as 90%.
Worcester died on 2 May 1924 in Manila due to heart disease, and was buried at his hometown of Thetford, Vermont
Thetford is a town in Orange County, Vermont, United States in the Connecticut River Valley. The population was 2,775 at the 2020 census. Villages within the town include East Thetford, North Thetford, Thetford Hill, Thetford Center, Rices Mil ...
. In the reports of his death the Manila newspapers ''El Debate'' and ''Manila Times'' recognized his shortcomings as a public official and political polemic
Polemic () is contentious rhetoric intended to support a specific position by forthright claims and to undermine the opposing position. The practice of such argumentation is called ''polemics'', which are seen in arguments on controversial topic ...
ist but acknowledged that he was an outstanding entrepreneur and major contributor to the three Philippine businesses of coconut farming and processing, cattle ranching and seagoing transport.[''Manila Times'' 4 May 1924.]
Selected publications
His publications include, besides various academic papers:
* ''The Philippine Islands and Their People'' (1898)
* ''The Non-Christian Tribes of Northern Luzon'' (1906)
* ''The Philippines Past and Present'' (two volumes, 1913; new edition, 1914)
References
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
*
American-Philippine Relations: A Guide to the Resources in the Michigan Historical Collections (Article with Dean Conant Worcester)
by Thomas Powers
Dean C, Worcester Collection of Philippine Photographs
at Newberry Library
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Worcester, Dean Conant
University of Michigan alumni
American diplomats
American zoologists
American ornithologists
American non-fiction writers
1866 births
1924 deaths
American expatriates in the Philippines
Secretaries of the Interior and Local Government of the Philippines
American photographers
Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
People from Thetford, Vermont
People of American colonial Philippines