The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1898-11-28
HARDSH|PS IN MANILA
Letter From a Jersey City
Soldier Stationed in the
Philippines.


Michael Lane. a member of the Astor
Battery. which is stationed at Manila. in
the Philippine Islands, writes from Manila
to William La Due, Of this city. The
! letter is dated October "a. and it reached
here on Nols mber %. Among the things
he says are:
"Let me congratulate you and the rest
| Of the boys that you were wise enough
TO stay at home. for we are getting the
| oughest kind Of a Teal. We nave no
clothes, as we lost them in the battle OF
August IS. We buy all our food on the
| outside and it takes all our pay TO do it.
we are getting used to it, however; but
we all seem to think that some one is
making a pile of money and depriving the
soldiers of their proper rations.
aWe suffer all kinds of hardships at
Camp Dewey, where the water is two
feet high at times, and where we get
nothing to eat for days but bareback and
horse meat. All around us there is plenty
Of good food. We have to sleep night
after night in wet clothes on the damp
ground, where all kinds of fevers prevail.
Then, again, we had TO dig trenches, cut
wood, and haul it miles. while there We're
plenty of horses and buffalos around to
do the work. Instead, they made horses
and cattle of us half starved and water
soaked soldiers.
Its all too true, but the frightful con-
dition of affairs thai prevailed on the
Newport after we left Honolulu was
awful. The water we had to drink you
could boil eggs in. The canned meats
got rotten from the heat, but the doctors
fixed it up somehow or other and gave it
to US for food. After going through all
this. the thought of going home on a
transport makes US feel bad. / can speak
for hundreds, who suffered more than we
did on the transport. They had TO live
on two meals a day, with hot water and
bareback for one Of them.
After fighting, it seems hard for young
Americans in the prime of life who will
never reach home alive after a trip on
the, transports, Smallpox is raging here
ard some of our boys are down with 1t.
Probably before this letter reaches you
some Of them viii be under six feet Of
the fever-breeding Philippine earth
Malaria and typhoid fever are here and
hundreds are down with it. At night it is
impossible to sleep because of the mos
quitoes. They are a hundred times worse
than in Jersey City.
IF the United States holds these islands
they will ave considerable trouble. The
men sent to run the affairs Of the islands
VIII never stay here for any great length
Of time. No matter how careful they are
Of their health they annot live here. Let
me say, however. that machinists. car
penters, electricians. bricklayers and hun
dreds of other mechanics can make piles
Of money here. The plumbing here, like
everything else. is about a hundred years
behind tho times. Those who fought here
are more than anxious to get home. TIE
boys are Disguised because 1t takes so
long to get any news from home. Our
officers tell us nothing.
The writer then goes on to describe the
city of Manila and the prices of the
various comn1odities of life. He adds that
Admira: Dewey is experimenting the
raising Of the Spanish vessels DESTROYED
by him. He says they are sights to
behold and that they were struck beneath
the line. One, he said, had five large
holes in her side. caused by the Balti-
moro's eight-inch guns.