Cottonwood report. [volume] (Cottonwood, Idaho) 1893-1901, 1898-11-18
OUR MANILA LETTER.
Malate Barracks Manila.
Oct. 2 1898.

O6df OlloS dt tlOuiC.
1t is Sunday and no drill, so
| will try and write YOU :. few lines
it may be sometime tho before the
mail leaves here again. | have tried
to send you a letter every time the
mail goes out for San Francisco,
though once or twice / was on out
post, and did not get to send you a
letter. Your letter Of August 18th
came to me on last Thursday, you
were in hopes you might get let
ter from me on that day, but /
think you were disappointed, you
would not get my letter until the
first Of September sometime, you
must remember it is a long way
from Honolulu to Manila, and it
was about month after | left
Honolulu until | had a chance to
send you another letter, From this
time on you will prabably hear
from me little regularly. | have
not written to Fred because we got
report some two weeks ago that
those in the second call were being
mustered out of service, if that is SO
he may be out of the service before
this. We get all kinds Of thories as
to the length of time we will have
to remain here, but my idea was
when l enlisted that l would be
discharged as soon as the terms of
peace were settled and the treaty
signed.
Some of the boys that. get few
papers say McKinley's idea is that
he can hold the volunteers for two
years according to the law under
which they were enlisted, but my
opinion Is that we will be out of the
army in less than six months.
We are along way from home
and it takes sometime for them to
move an army of men that is SO far
away. / have been in hopes that if
the United States retained these is
lands we might be given an oppor-
tunity to be discharged here, but /
am afraid we will not get the chance
There is the finest kind of ebony
and mahogany woodon the islands,
the only kind of lumber here is
mahogany and oamphor wood.
There is only one "wittledig" saw
mill on the island, and l think
there is a fine opening here in the
lumber business; most of the lum-
ber sawed here is done by hand, if
we could be discharged here we
would get from 4 to 5 hundred dol
lars apiece Say if four of us could
get little backing from some one
with means, and put in a little saw
mill we could make a good stake
for all concerned in it.
Mcfarland, Snider, Reed, and l
have been taking oi Tins consider
able, Snider is a U. of Idaho cadet,
that came with Reed and | from
Moscow, and Mcfarland is a young
man of 30 years. Some five or six
years experience in a wholesale and
retail house of Portland, there will
be other openings besides this if
the U. S.. retain the islands, in this
case American clerks, merchants,
and business men would oe in de-
mand and would be in the lead in
very short time.
From all I can learn there is con-
siderable gold in the mountains, but
as the Spanish government exacted
$75 out of every 800 worth of gold
there has not been much done in
that line. There is race of wild
natives in the interior of the islands
that bring gold in and trade to the
merchants for goods. But am told
these natives Go not know the value
of the gold they bring down and
that the merchants swindle them
out of it and ship it out under an
other name SO as to keep from pay
ing the Spanish government the
greater part of it.
Reed says if he gets a chance to
be discharged here he is going to
see the interior of the islands, the
merchants and natives here are
making more money now than they
ever did before in their lives. The
natives have almost got the idea
that the Americans are made of
money, they always want about two
or three times as much as anything
is worth, SO you can imagine the
times we have bartering and trad
ing with them. We are crowded
pretty close in our quarters now,
but yesterday we were given cots
and mosquito nets, SO we can enjoy
the nights adittle better, we have
been sleeping on mahogany floor
for nearly two months. And | vas
beginning to think my bones would
wear through the hide. / do not
think the climate here, is nearly as
bad as it was Represented to be be-
fore we came here, there is five boys
from Co. D. in the hospital sick