The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1898-05-11

friends nor %nelghbors express any as
Constituent. II children come OF the un-,
Ion they are well educated and richly
lowered when they marry. These chill
dren call their father godfather and
theic mother 'g%odmother.' Everywhere
well received, nobody inquiries whether
their birth was legitimate or not"
II the establishment Of the natives OF
the Philippines as to the character OF
their religious teachers has largely con-
tributetl to the transformation of the
dociie convert into a spoller Of santua-
rics and an incendiary of converts, the
brutal liarshness OF the Spanish system
OF taxation has finished the process.
Not al! of the native tribes. by any
means, pay the poll tax, but those who
do are bound to pay for every female,
without property Of occupation, the an
nuai sum OF 81. The poll tax on every
male native Is the same, but he must
pay 81 more II he cannot or will not work
fifteen days each year at roadmaklng.
There Is q supplementary tax on every
man or woman having any kind Of
handicraft, profession or business. and
a business Is literally construed to in
clude the sale OF a few betel nuts, q
bunch of bananas, or a basket Of man.
goes. Country people who come to town
to sell poultry. fish, or any article OF
food whatever have also to pay an extra
tax. The native farmer, whether he
owns a rice field, . few acres OF sugar
cane, or raises %any'other kind Of agri-
cultura! product. sells his crop as IL
stands to some half-breed Chinaman,
who In turn sells It to the representa-
tive of one OF the European houses who
handle the commerce OF the islands.
From the product OF his fields the native
retains little more than Is necessary for
n bare subsistence; what little superfiu-
ity he may have Is employed in satisfy
Ing his passion for cock fights, and his
fondness for %parading, candle In hand,
in religious professions.
The organization OF the Philippine In
surrection Is a very curious study. It
began with the Masonic lodges which
were introduced into the Islands by. the
Socialists who were banished to Manila
after the outbreak at Carthngena. These
exiles at first kept their Masonic broth
erhood to themselves, but the creoles
and the half-brceds of the archipelago
having manifested a desire to be atllla-
ted with them. were finally initiated.
The latter quickly organized lodges OF
their own. and in n few years the roll OF
Freemasons was swelled to from $4,000
to 20, 600 members. Thus II came about
finally. that men OF pure Malay blood
had their secret assemblies. as well as
the Spanish and Chinese half-breeds.
All over the islands there were, formed
ln1yayT i-rau,r. w tl,f. rottt-n fnnu,,a4 m
Karipunan.
Considering the influence exercised on
the simple minds of the Islanders of
Oceanlca by all that appears to them
mysterious, symbolic, or enveloped In a
highly Imaginative ritual, the eYtraor-
binary development OF these secret socI-
| cities cannot be called surprising. The
philosophic or Soclalistic Ideas that may
have found root In the parent lodges OF
| Europe found no place In the Philip
pines. The native became n Freemason
simply that he might pass through an
ordeal which he regarded as out OF the
common. Every adept was required 10
make an ,incision on his arm. and with
the blood which proceeded from 1t to
mix the blood Of the member who militia
ted him. thus making oath to devote
himself TIL death 20 the secret society
which he had Joined. This practice had
some terrible consequences. Every man
having q scar, m his arm became, from
that very fact, suspected by the Span
ish authorities; sometimes the cut on
the arm was all the evidence needed 10
send n mar 10 prison.
What may be called. however, the de-
termining cause OF the multiplication OF
Masonic lodges In the Philippine archi-
pelago was that the natives were able
by this means to express behind closed
doors their grievances, their hatreds,
and their aspirations for liberty. In a
country where the inquisition OF Philip
r.. has still It's nominal representative.
where the civil censorship Is .exerclsed
with n rigor and unscrupulousncss
without equal elsewhere, one may i'm.
agInc with what Joy entire populations
sought entrance to the ranks OF Free.
masonry. The native lodges of Manila
and its suburbs. In fellowship with the
Great Eastern of the Peninsula. mum.
bered sixteen when the insurrcctton
broke out, In July. 1896 In each of, tie
provinces OF Cavite. Batangas. BClacnn,
and the Pampanga there, were from ten
to twenty lodges. There. were at least
one in each Of the other provinces.
49,
Yellow JnunIirc Cared.
Suffering humanity should be sup.
l a. 4 = -.