The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1898-05-06
MANILA ON THE PASIG
DESCRIPTION OF THE POOR AND
RICH IN THE PHILIPPINES.
Old Town of Manila Is n walled city,
with Protected Houses-Taxes I'm
posed on the Masses.

tongue-seemingly made up of great many
combinations, but they can also manipulate
Spanish with various degrees of failure. The
Chinaman talks "pidgin Spanish" and ''pid-
gin Tagalog." together with his own Chi
nese. The city is built on the fiat, sandy
land formed by old river deposits, and is
scarcely more than a foot above high water.
Fifteen miles inland from the entrance to
|. Manila bay rise the high mountains that
form the backbone to the island. but with
in the city itself there is neither mound nor
hillock. Through the town lazily flows the
river Pasig, fed from an inland lake at the
foot of the mountains. 1t divides the COM
munity into two parts. Stretching up the
right bank. as the river is entered from the
bay, lies the old walled city of Manila
proper with its moss-covered walls, its
weedy meats, ponderous gates, heavy draw
bridges and buttressed buildings, while OPP
posite runs the main quay. Further up, be-
You'd the city bridges, is located the gov
ernor's palace. The Spaniard lives within
the walled city, with it's crowded houses
and cramped thoroughfares, but the Ger
man, the Englishman and the native choose
the more open suburbs that stretch along
the bay or up the river.
The native of Manila started out to be
Malay. but with years of Chinese and Span
ish influences about him he has passed
through Il series of gradings that leave him
a Filipino nondescript pure and simple.
The natives have long been looked upon as
subjects fit only for servants and taxation.
Indeed, it would appear as if the chief, if
not the only, end for which the government
is organized ana maintained is to pillage
the natives. The same abominable system
of tax farming which was in vogue in the
provinces of the old Roman empire. and
which Cicero denounced so bitterly nearly
two thousand years ago. is in full swing
with all it's abuses in the islands of the
Philippine archipelago.
Spain has no use for her dependencies eX-
cept as a source of torture-wrung additions
to her depleted treasury and field for the
chiefs. The infamous Weyler is credited
with having accumulated during his three
years incumbency of the captain general
ship of the Philippines a fortune of several
millions of dollars-more, 1t is said, than
twenty times the whole amount of his au
thoriZed salary.
While the means employed by the Span
iards in the iegalized robbery and oppres-
scendants of the Spanish inquisitors and of
the traditions of the darkest middle ages.
they are in many respects highly ingenious.
cies Of passport or ticket Of leave which
must be possessed by every person. male
and female, in the island over eighteen
y
gatherers.
ROBBERY BY THE CEDULA:
The cedula must be renewed annually at
cost varying from $3.50 to as much as $40,
according to circumstances, depending
chiefly upon the chances of obtaining the
amount the victim is assessed. To appre-
ciate this one rlust bear in mind that mems
wages are often as low as cents day. If
man pays less than So for his ceduia he is
obliged to give the government from fifteen
to forty days free labor in the year. There
are many other mean schemes resorted to
to draw blood from the stone of Philippine
poverty. A native has to pay a fee for per-
mission to kill a. hog or a buffalo, and even
for the privilege of pressing the oil from
his own cocoanutS. In fact, the cocoanut
grove itself has to pay tax, as everything
has the Philippines. The Chinese resi-
dents in addition to the cedula personal,
have to pay special tax, and in many
ways they subjected to the most shame
less injustice.
The levies of the church and state have
played havoc with the small savings of the
poorer classes, and have led to the forma-
ton of the secret orders resulting in insur-
rection, and which to-day back up the at
tempt to throw off Spanish rule. The pow
erty-stricken village of matched houses,
Mfh ts grass nuts ns ana nd
church, whose solid walls and lofty tran
septs could almost shelter the entire set
Element, has shown where the drain came
an one side The frequent arrests in Man
Has streets of men and boys who could not
produce receipted tax bills from their pock-
cts al the command of the civil guard"
and who were then pressed into service In
the native regiments, to be sent off to fight
dsrefs Of that graye
yard for many at the south, have shown
the provocaton for revolt on the other.
Especially IN the last few years has this
revolt spread into many of the districts, and
the government, with it's eye to funds for
putting down the outbreak, has sought to
find fEn 81 Of hn nat i've ri i'm
plicated and 1t has so found them, with the
result that the large estates of some of
Manila as wealthiest men with half-caste
sion, while the owners have disappeared or
been imprisoned. Executions have been fire.
quent. The big band on the esplanade has
discoursed gay music as groups of insur-
gents, with hands bound behind them, have
been shot on the green grass opposite.
Guards have been doubled, meats cleaned
out, drawbridges pulled up nightly, pass
words given. and challenges made.
Those who could do so have left Manila.
Spaniards and Chinese have gone home. and
those who remain have moved into the pro-
lection of the city walls around old Manila
in anticipa ton of bombardment by the Ash
attic squadron of the United States navy
The natives, however. generally favor de-
molishment of the city if necessary to rout
WEALTH OF PHILIPPINES.
The entrance to the harbor is twelve miles
in width. The land Notifications are weak
and the fleet of Spanish war ships drawn
up at the mouth of the bay is almost en-
tirely depended on for the city's protection.
After the famous Manila hemp, the great
est wealth of the Philippines is in sugar,
as is that of Cuba. While Cuban tobacco
in the shape of fragrant Havanas rules
the market of the new world the Manila
cigars supply the demand of the old world
The United States buys a goodly portion of
the exports of the Philippines the bulk of
which is shipped from Manila
rev fgureS Will assist in giving an ac-
curate idea of the Philippines. The area of
the entire group nearly equals that Of Cali
from 10000 to 10000 square miles THE
principal island. Luzon on which Manila is
putt, Is approximately equal in area 10 H.
linois, or about 5000 square miles The to-
tai population is slightly in excess of that
of New York State. and now numbers 0O0
Luzon alone exceeds Cuba in area by IA 900
square miles, and has over double the pop
ulatDon. The second largest island is Min
danao This is to the south, and occupies
nearly the same area as West Virginia or
$4,000 square miles.
any other city on this group OF islands is
the home of barbaric, unciviized people
In Manila are colleges with advanced Cur
riculuns and modern facilities of all kinds
notably the fine institution of the Jesuts
whose famous observatory contains one OF
the most complete collections of seismic in
struments in the world
Of the several millions of people in Luzon
not over half a million are beyond the con
troll of the priests, whose efforts to preserve
order are respected that lawlessness II
is said; is seldom displayed within the sphere