The San Francisco call., 1898-12-21

MANILA, Nov. 12.-Rumors of all sorts of trouble with France, Russia, Ger many and any other old power float among the soldiery down here as thick ly. strewn on the tide of conversation as refuse on the Paslg River. We hear that 5000 men are now on their way to reinforce us and that more are to come In the near future. All this may be so or. 1t may not be so. The First Cali fornia may have to take the field at any moment or it may remain in garrison until the end of it's two-year term of enistment-all these future events are mere possibilities and as uncertain as the love of Filipino coquette The boys are sure of only one thing-that they nave good quarters for the time being and, whether they remain where they now are for ten minutes or ten months they are going to get as much pleasure out or their habitat IS possible and sur round themselves with all the comforts and luXuries known at home which are capable of crude imitation down in this God-forsaken island.
 Consequent upon this determination there have sprung up within the con- mes Of our barracks various industries which cater to either the cleanliness, the conceit or the appetite of the regi- ment at so much per cater Each one of these industries does a thriving busi- ness and adds not little to the month ly income of its owner or owners. A peculiar thing to be noted in connec- tion with these evidences of American pregressiveness is the fact that, in nine cases OfIf Of vriI1 foly o business and do well at an employment that he has never touched before in his life and which is entirely foreign to anything he has ever before experi- enced.
 Thus the first laundry in camp was started by Tom Sullivan of Company hsr a. prominent member of the Cosmos and ether clubs, known at home for his shrewd business ability and as one of the citys bon vivants. Sullivan's ex- ample has been followed by lawyer and an electrician in Company D and by a theological student in Company H. Each of these four laundries does a rushing business, notwithstanding the Filipino competition they are obliged to meet.
 There are already two bootblack 6ld4uS h4llllIl l41E ACSl4AAClldA qucld- rangle presided over by a medical stu dent and a former bookkeeper, re- spectively, while a third is in process of construction and will soon be oper- ated by a gentleman who in civil life was a lily of the valley. leaving to others the tasks of weaving and spin ming.
 4 pie oven is in course of construc- t, +NnrOr1oIalr- A dal icacy will soon grace the company board, if the companies come up with the. requisite amount of dinero.
 One regular tailor shop and about twenty individual concerns, consisting in each case of from one to three men handy with the needle and shears, look after the apparel of our military Beau Brummels, while every man who owns a razor has started a barber shop. Journalists are counted by the hundred. No previous experience in the news paper office is at all necessary. All q man has to do is to pay for printing and his paper is started. What he has printed is a secondary consideration. This applies to those journals outside of military circles even more than those whose editorial criticisms are circum- scribed by gold braid and stripes.
 A magazine is being started by some of the boys in c Company and will put 
 the proprietors told me yesterday that he had never seen the inside of maga- zine office in his life, but modestly ex planed that he intended to commence in only a small way-something the size ( of Harper's or Lippincott's, for in- stance.
 l dislike to speak of myself In my own articles, but in connection with the strange boughs upon which we army birds roost I may say that l myself am acting as assistant to our chaplain, Father McKinnon. This is humorous, but it is a fact.
 The contemplated prizefight, of which I wrote in a former letter, came off yesterday afternoon and was a regula- tion San Francisco affair in every par ticular. By this I mean that there was more wait than fight; more promised than performed, and the crowd passed out at the conclusion of the perform ance feeling satisfied that it had re- ceived about one-half of one per cent