The Pascagoula democrat-star. (Pascagoula, Miss.) 1878-1920, 1899-11-17
GEN.. JOE WHEELER.

V6Vs SV6 VIl1II6us
He Writes an Interesting Letter from
the Philippines.
NASHVILLE, Tenn, Oct. 29.-The
following letter has been received from
General Joe Wheeler, in the Philip
pines:
'Santa Reta, Isle Of Luzon,
Sept IS, 1899.
"Van Leer Kirkman:
"My Dear Young Cousin-I have
now seen much OF the country and the
people in that part of Luz0n for about
fifty miles north of Manila. In every
town there is magnificent stone
church and a convent or monastery.
The insurgents have a great antipa-
thy to the priesthood or friars, and
they have dismantled many Of the
churches. The value of the church
and monastery OF town seems to be
equal, in many cases, to the value of
all the rest Of the buildings in the
town.
"The more / talk to the people the
more | am convinced that the insur-
gents are actuated, in a measure, by a
spirit OF communism. and in their
talks their most serious objection to
the church seems to be the fact that
ecclesiastical organizations own SO
much OF the property, and one OF Ag-
uinaldO's most earnest demands is
that all the church property be con.
liSclted.
"There is a general impression that
the insurgcnt army is made up very
largely of people without property,
and that people who have property de-
sire the Americans tn control so that
they can have protection, and feel
that their property is secured to them,
but | find that there is also fear or
apprehension among some of the
wealthy that il Americans control,
and give universal suffrage, the power
of the wealthy people would be taken
away and their hold on property very
much impaired. l think that if the
wealthy people would be assured that
they would be protected in their prop.
erty rights by the United States it
would have very good effect.
"The frlars and priests are charged
with all sorts Of oppression and mis-
demcanors, but it must be remem-
bered that friars and priests are very
numerous. and in so large body
there will be found every posi- BILE
phase Of character ard disposition.
Some of them, no doubt, are Oppres.
sors of the people, exacting in the col
lection of rentals from the land, in.
dulge themselves in many ways, and
lead lives very different from what
should characterize the life of Il priest
But there are very many good mer
among them. The statement that
have seen that 70 per cent. of the pe0
ple of LuzOn can read aud write is q
great mistake. 1t may be true OF Ma
Mia, but it is not true OF the rura
districts, and the percentage of illite
racy in the other islands is much lar
ger than in Luzon. The appearance
mode of life aud method Of perform
ing work is to-day very much like Il
is described in the Bible at the tim,
and even before the Christian era.
r "The people dress very much as the.
, did 1000 years ago. To-day ! spen
some time in watching natives clean
ing shucks from rice. The method O
sheling and cleaning is primitive an
7 no better than it was two thousan
years ago.
NEARLY everything can be grow
here, but oranges and bananas are NJ
so good as in other localities, the res
son, no doubt, being that they seem t
, give them no cultivation whatever
a Coffee is grown, which is said to b
|. superior to mocha. Rice is the prir
q cipal product, and a failure OF tia
i. crop would cause a terrible famine,
# the people depend almost e0tirely VI
l. on it for food.
. "Sugar IS the principal crop for e.
port. The greatest amount exporte
I. In any one year was 2Sl ,6Sl tons; tn
= was In 1898. Corn grows very rapid
i and the ears reach their full growt
Q about sixty days from the time {
planting. There Is great abundant
4 Of very valuable timber 10 these ~
r ands, and many varieties of beautilu
d hard woods under their native names
= such as mahogany, black walnut'an
i ebony. Gold, copper, coal, iron, SUI
phur, lead, building stone, petroleum
= and vuano are found.
4 1--WE are now seven or eight mile
I from Porac, where an insurgent fore
7 has been stationed for some time, bu
!. aroundhere aud through this vast va