The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-07-03
MODE OF LIFE IN MANILA
CREDIT SYSTEM PREVAILS BECAUSE
NO ONE CARRIES MONEY.
How to Dress in the PhiIippines-Liv-
ing in style for Less than "a Dol
lar Day-The Manila he'd.
! E. stevens in New York Post.

J. E Stevens in New York Post
In Manila no one ever pays for anything
he buys at the time he buys it. for the thin
white suits that are everywhere worn are
not made for transporting coin. Bank-notes
are practically out of circulation and heavy
Mexican dollars stand at the head of a mot
ley family of 'tifty-cent pieces, Spanish pc
setas and huge coppers, to give weight
rather than value to the currency system
If YOU draw the first prize in the monthly
lottery run for the benefit of the govern
meat your 500, 900 is all paid to you in sill
yer "cartwheels' or subsidiary COINS and
you really feel that luck is after all some
thing tangible when it takes a heavy dray
or two to haul the results of your winnings
from the government office to the bank
dollar is about all the coin that prop
erly clothed resident of Manila can carry
about with him. and, as it generally turns
out. he doesn't need more, for the shop
Keepers, tailors, and bootmakers have all
been educated to recognize in the famous
'chit system" a necessary evil that springs
out of certain monetary and climatic con-
ditions, and are always ready TO accept the
small bit of paper on whichever your
name-you write an l. o. u. for the amount
of your purchase.
If the cook wants a new stove, or the
coachman a jar of "micI'' molasses to
sweeten up the feed for the horses, or if
the gardener wants a lawnmower, which
can only be bought at the English drug
store or the office boy a new rope for the
punkah write out chit for each of them,
and that's the last you hear from the trans
action till the first of the next month But
scarcely has that day come before all your
creditors send in their collectors to cash
those carelessly penciled "chits," and then
your Office is turned into money changers.
Armed with a big canvas bag of dollars you
pay out to first one and then the other all
day long; and to see your callers bite the
silver in the effort to discover lead, or drop
a dozen pieces on the hard floor to verify the
ring, is not to feel complimented by their
opinion OF your integrity.
About the only people that will not trust
YOU are the car conductors and the cab
drivers; but as car fares rarely amount to
over three coppers and cab charges to
'peseta-" 1T is easy enough to satisfy them
with prompt cash.
FASHIONS IN DRESS.
The general mode of dress adopted by
welI-to-do half-castes and Europeans of the
masculine gender throughout the Philip
pines. is simple and cool in the extreme,
consisting as it does of two pieces to the
white suit. top jacket that buttons high
pair of trousers-both made OF strong sheet
ing. The price is only $2-made to order.
A thick felt hat of broad brim, a pair of
white canvas shoes, a light undervest and
socks. and there is your Philippine costume
all the year round No boiled shirt to
bother with, no collar to wilt; everything
washable, everything but the hat and shoes
changed each day, and nothing hurt by
wettlng. About eighteen of these suits are
sufficient for a newcomer in ordinary
standing, and he must expect often to wear
two day. IL 1t begins to rain, there is
certain pleasure in being able to feel you've
got nothing on to hurt" and even the
natives shut their umbrellas on such oc-
caslons, carrying them only as a protection
against the SUM- and seem to enjoy feeling
the very thin cloth cling close when wet
me i costumes worn by the women are not
so simple, and are made up of the brilliant
calico skirt, with long train, that is
swished around and tucked into the belt in
front, the short white waist, with huge
Haring sleeves of pima fiber, that show the
arms and the costly pima handkerchief that,
folded on the diagonal, encircles the neck
as those worn by the men, and TO this day
the philippine pony is not altogether used
TO the swish of that crushed-straw berry
SKIRT train In fact, owe sudden upset
off the main road into muddy rice field to
the unexpected swirl of one of those long
trains as 1t was gathered around to be
1t probably costs less to live well In Ma
niia-during peaceful seasOns-than in any
the case of my messmate and myself for
example. We had good house, with three
bedrooms, parlor, and tiled floor dining
room, a hallway, reading room, kitchen
boys quarters, and bathroom with tiled
tub and shower A small stable, garden
and ten-foot iron fence to keep out the bur-
glars, VINO used to grease themselves and
proWl around naked at dead of night, seek
ing TO steal ponies or even carriage lamps,
completed 1plI!s our establishment Our cook. to
De ready Tor unexpected guests, served din
ner each evening for four, and got but forty
cents TO provide enough raw materials for
SIX courSeS-including the fireWood neces-
sary. AT the end of the month everything
going into the general mess account-house
rent (Sl5 a month";, wages of three servants
1000, drink, Ice, and llght-WaS added up and
divided by two. The result was astonishing
as S29 was the sum total of my monthly
snare To live in such state and entertain
lar day absolutely spoils one for subse-
quent existence in this country, and it is
TO wonder that many a misunderstanding
from Manila to England via the States
has been so overwhelmed by his first laun-
dry bill in San Francisco that he has taken
y through train for New York and sailed by
the hrst outgoing liner, without stopping
even to see the brides at Niagara or the
winter garden at the Astoria.
MARKETING METHODS.
The methods of marketing in Manila are
noteworthy in themselves. All meat, of
course must be eaten on the day it is killed,
since in the tropics even ice fails to
4'O9CANe HSH, HeSn or FOWL AS a result,
While beef and mutton are killed in the
early morning, few hours before the mar
ket opens. the smaller fry, such as game
and chickens, are sold alive. From six to
ten all the native and Chinese cooks from
many families come to bargain for the days
supply. After filling their baskets num-
nels OF them mount the little tram car for
me return trip TO their kitchens and pro-
Ceed 10 pluck the feathers off the live
CnchenS or birds as they Jog along on the
'front.' or rear platform. BY the time thew
nave arrived home the poor creatures are
almost bare of covering and keenlv suf-
IeIlns, they are pegged down by string
70 tne noor of the kitchen to await their
late. When the creaking of the front gale
announces the return of the master or mis-
IreSs OF the house, it is time enough tn
WING the neckS of the unfortunates and
shoNe them into the polling pot or roastinrr-
pan that seems but to accentuate certain
toushness which all cooked meat fresbi,,
AIileH possesses. / never visited our xitcb
6r 81 oLteher IMAM necessary. for to a Derson
- isn't up under the influence of a s p
narrowing. Niliiier was
sba ne stoves used everywhere are but small
ala - S9l lhehWare structures of a neculiar
,.-,,,.- S appearance, the toe of the Sboa
~ - IIIei a the hearth, the opening in FROM
wood and the inclosing ''lI0ner's ~ S'iS i ol
when rests single big BOT ar Let+I IN III 4I
our kitchen there were six stoves @ IN IN
each COurSe-aud fhefr 80. ~ohe lot