The record-union., 1898-08-14
WHAT DEWEY CAPTURED.
AN OLD SHIPMASTER,S LIVELY
YARNS ABOUT THEM.
Cinnamon, Not Spaniards-Wild,
Unsubdued Tribes-A Fight
With Humming Birds.

ing in the Philippine Islands with
view to altering them to suit Yankee
notions, he is going to be everlaStingly
surprised. In the first place, he is
| going to find that the Chinese are the
| real masters instead of the late Ia
| mented Dons, just as they are to-day
| virtually in control of nearly all the
| islands of Malaysia. In the second
/ place, he is going to find that the dis
satisfaction of the revolving natives is
directed as much against the Chinese
as against the Spanish, and that the cly
| against cheap Chinese labor rings out
as wildly at Manila and elsewhere in
the islands as it did in this country
prior to the restriction of Chinese i'm
migration
After this declaration Captain John
| w. Merritt of San Francisco paused to
take breath and to stroke monumental
meerschaum He is a retired shipmaster
who has seen forty-five years of gales
and calms on the bosom of the Pacific
and was spinning yarns for the enter
tainment Of group Of friends and a
New York Sun" reporter
THE population of the Philippines
he continued, lis the most heterogene-
Gus to be met with in all the Kanaka
islands. They say it numbers S,00O,000
souls, / was going to say, but bless
you, most Of them are just the com
monest kind of black and brown bodies
meandering around at the dictates of
the most corporeal kind of impulses and
instincts. The mountains are filled with
wild tribes of diverse origin, few of
which have ever been conquered or sub
dued by the Spanish. They are as fero-
cious as Cerebus and as black as his
master. Among them are the negritos
little niggers,' that means, trans
lated They are wiry. tough and bad
little giants, who yield only to such
civilization as is introduced by powder
| and ball. Theses fierce tribes swarm all
over the 200 islands in the group, and
/ venture to say that not one-half Of
them have ever been under the Spanish
yoke.
THE Tagals, who live on the larger
| islands, like Luzon and Mindanao, are
rather peaceful people and do a little
farming between cock fights. Then
comes the Basayans, who are great
fishermen and live on the water be-
tween the islands. They carry on a
| desultory sort of commerce and stir up
revolts. The Malay Indians form the
ma jortyof the population under Spanish
rule. with the Papuans good second.
Native whites and Europeans are about
100000 strong, while the Chinese and
the half castles of India, who have been
drifting into the Philippines for ages,
number collectively about 125, 900. So
you see, the Caucasian, Mongolian and
Ethiopian divisions of the human fam
lily have all contributed share to the
islands
NATIVES EXTREMELY LAZY
Now the natives are lazy to a SUI
perlative degree. It's that way In all
the Kanaka Islands, and the generous
way in which good mother nature has
provided for them is enough to excuse
their shiftlessness. Go out and lie
down under the first tree at night and
enjoy sleep. In the morning roll over
on your back, shy your boot up into
the tree and down comes breakfast.
That's their way Of reason Z it out
and most of them practice 1t. Their
laziness and general improvidence the
Chinese have been quick to
seize upon and turn to ad-
vantage-no opportunity ever es-
: capped Chinaman. He is active, capa-
BILE and unceasing in his efforts when
he turns his hand to labor or mechan-
les. I'M commerce he is the most astute
merchant on the face of the globe. In
finance he is without superior
So the Chinese have become the me-
chanics, clerks, traders, shopkeepers
and bankers of the islands, and there
fore the real power. Their energy and
capacity made them indispensable tc
the Dons. In return for their faithful
offices and the handsome presents they
bestowed upon the Spanish officials
the Chinese were allowed to have civil
regulations and a police Of their own
Ostensibly they acknowledged the rule
of the Spanish Governor General his
Ministry and advisory juntas, and
bowed down before it in humble self
abnegation; but in their wide sleeves
they snickered and sneered at it,
Hated, despised, but wholly envied
by the natives, the Chinese have never
sought to placate their enemies, but
have aided the Spanish Government in
!, maintaining that balance of opposing
interests on which the Dons relied for
the support of their own institutions
Thus have they gone on for years, fat
tening on the great wealth of the Phil
ippines, giving large sums to the Span
times what they have paid, and strip
ping the natives of lands, products and
. labor until conditions became unbear-
able even for the easy going tribes, and
the rebellions followed. The ultimate
triumph of the insurgents would mean
the annihilation of the Chinese, for
like all Malays, the natives are supine
and inactive in peace, but unrelentins
and tireless when bent on revenge
INCALCULABLE WEALTH THERE
IF the United States will hold on to
Manila or take possession of the entire
Philippine group they will confer un-
bounded benefit upon the Americar
merchants engaged in the Pacific trade
and add considerable to the revenues
of our country. Besides, the cost OF
the war could soon be repaid into our
Treasury from the tax on imports and
exports imposed at Manila alone
don't pretend to discuss the vast ad-
vantage that port offers as a coaline
station and general Government depot
in the Far East, which is subject for
the consideration Of the statesmen; but
I argue from the point and experiences
of an old trader with an eve to h,,s,
ness. There is no calculating. +bx
wealth of the islands Mos of the
products brought to this countrv ars
coffee, indigo, sugar cafe. tobacco (s
government HohopoN }, spices, pepper
pima linen made rom the nineannlt
fiber, hats and rordage. But locked ur
IN the man. mountains of the island
are miipons of tons of iron, copper