The record-union., 1898-06-12
Perils That Confront the Soldiers of Major
General Merritt.
Some Queer Facts About the Islands Uncle Sam May
Acquire-Corrupt and Oppressive Rule
of the Spaniards.

Rear Admiral Dewey may well repeat
the famous words of Marshal Mac
Mahon, "Jy suis; jy reste"-'T am
here; here shall / remain He has
Manila at his mercy, and when REIN
forced by 5000 troops under command
of Major General Wesley Merritt, the
new military Governor of the Philip
pines, and by the cruisers Philadelphia
and Charleston and the formida BILE
monitor Monterey, no force the Span
iards have at their disposal will be
able to dislodge him. Our soldiers,
however, will be face to face with many
perils. The climate is said to be worse
than that of Cuba. The heat is al
most unbearable to an unacclimated
person; deadly fevers are prevalent in
Manila, and the bubonic plague in epi-
demic form prevails at Hongkong, only
600 miles from Manila, and at several
points in the Philippines. This disease,
according to accepted reports, is more
fatal than yellow fever, and preys with
particular violence upon unacclimated
strangers. Trifiing earthquakes are of
almost daily occurrence, and now and
then one of tremendous force kills hun
dreds of people. Then there is the si-
moon that sweeps over sea and land,
leaving death and desolation in its
wake
The American troops, with Dewey's
example before them, will not shrink
before such perils. They are strong
and brave, and their leader, Major
General Wesley Merritt, is soldier of
experience who knows the magnitude
of his task, but is fully competent to
carry it out successfully.
THE EXPERIENCE OF CONSUL
ELLIOTT
Isaac NJ. Elliott of New York, who
was United States Consul at Manila
two years ago, tells some interesting
tales of the climate and of Spanish mis-
government in the Philippines. Span
ish officials in the Philippine capital,
alarmed at the growth of American
trade in the islands, and determined to
stamp it out, were angered by Elliott 5
vigorous defense of American rights.
Spain asked for his recall, trumping up
the charge that he was aiding the in
surgents. The Administration, unwill-
ing to offend the Madrid Foreign Office,
transferred Elliott to La Guayra. Two
months after Consul Elliott set sail
from the Philippine capital the colonial
officials had driven from the islands the
: last of the American commercial
ner, Blodgett & Co., which had built up
great business, the profits of 1895
amounting to 1924, 900, and the money
handled in the cash department alone
amounting to $4,000 600.
Heavy taxes had to be paid by the
last American company into the over
flowing private purses of the corrupt
Spanish officials, and these taxes in
creased as American sympathy with
the Cuban insurgents increased Span
ish hatred of Americans. Extraordi-
nary fines were levied. The Collector
of Customs at Manila receives three
fourthS of the fines he collects for the
Government, and the New York "Sun"
says it is matter of record that the
customs official who helped TO drive
Americans out of the islands put away
SIS, ,999 60 into his own pockets in twen-
ty-two months. The law provides that
an importer must pay a fine of 500 for
every article listed in the invoice not
found in the cargo Once the Amer
lean company paid S1OO fine because
one cobblestone out of thousands was
missing in a cargo.
A ROBBERY FOILED.
The most high-handed attempt at
robbery was made the summer before
Consul Elliott left the Philippines. One
afternoon "a customs official called at
the company's office and handed a bill
for S32, ,30S 10 to Blodgett, saying that
1t must be paid within twenty-four
hours Some smuggled goods had been
found in the suburbs of Manila, and the
customs collector concluded that he
could not make $4,000 in any easier
way than by charging the smuggled