The times., 1899-03-12
OUTSIDE MANILA IN
THE PHILIPPINES
Facts About llOilO, Cebu. and
Mactau.
Features of the Islands Nat Gen
orally known.
sio. Progress of Civilization and
Commerce in the Provinces Tn
der Spanish Rule
q. b. Fiskc. in the New YORK Heraidl

a B. Fiskc. in the New YORK HeraidO
Until within the last ten months the only
place in the Philippine Islands of which
even the name was familiar in this country
was Manila. and little Was known of that
Little more was known about the rest of
/ the archipelago in Europe. except in linn
tied commercial circle and among the off,
cials of Spain. To all intents and purposes,
fer the world at large Manila was the
Philippines, and the effective sovereignty
of Spain extended only from the colonial
capital through the lower and coast prov
inces of Luzon and over few other places
where it was sustained entirely by military
and naval stations.
Of the siXty-nine provinces and districts
established under the colonial authority
only nineteen had nominally civil govern
ments. and all of these. save the neigh
boring island of Mindoro. were in Luzon.
At the same time more than half the prov
inces and districts of that island-thirty-
nine in all-were ruled entirely by mill
tary officers. subOrdinates of the Captain
General at Manila while all the civil gov
ernCrs were Spaniards, appointed by the
same officer in his capacity as Governor
General. In the provinces which had civil
governments the Spanish authority rested
mainly upon the influence of the friars and
parish priests.
Newly Opened Ports.
Along the eastern coast line of the archi-
pelago, facing the Pacific, for more t'--h a
thousand miles-over half he'"nglhs 10
LGZon, with its long peninsula s1retehlHs
to the southeast-the SpaniaNs mad hot
established a single port in nearly three
centuries and a half of occupation. In
90 afra
practically excluded f-sm the Islands, and
the only mort for me old Spanish trade
monopoly was Vanilla The ports opened
IN cor,rnerce since then are Hoilo, Cebu.
Sulu and Zamboanga, and the two last
named have remained utterly insignifi-
cat as trading places. With complete
rack of modern means of internal commu-
nicatiOn. except the one railroad from Ma
Mia TO Dagupan, there has been little in
dustrial Or commercial development away
from these few seapOrts; and Spanish au
thority in the Visayas and the southern
islands has only been maintained in their
vicinity, and has been there presented 10
the people wholly in the military and
ecclesiastical guise.
The Fisayas constituted one of the three
military general divisions" MindanaO
being another. and the third having its
headquarters al Cavite with jurisdiction
over the military provinces and districts
of Luzon. In the general division OF
the Visayas. under the brigadier general
who was its military governor. were eleven
provinces and districts, under the COM
mand of subordinate officers. The largest
OF the islands, Panay was divided into the
three provinces of Iloiio, CapiZ, and An
tique, and the district of Conception, and
the next largest, Negros, into the two pro-
vinces. Negros Occidentales and NegrOs
Orientales. Each Of the islands of Cebu,
Leyte Samar and Bohol constituted a
military province by itself, while that of
Romblon included group of small islands.
Facts About iiOiiO.
The provincial place of greatest interest
just now is noi,o. II vas made an open
port for foreign commerce in 1855, b -cause
the land upon Panay and the neighboring
Island of Negros was peculiarly adapted
to sugar cane. and foreign capital had
slowly pushed It's way in and established
Plantations. and getting the product 10
market BY way of Manila was difficult
and costly process. Before that llCi rad
been struggling and slovenly fishing vii
lage on a fiat shore, through which a
sluggish creek of ''estero,' flowed, and it
was visited only by the native coasting
craft and the pushing Chinaman. Its sit
uation on the creek into wh.ca the Rio Jaro
flows Is what has made il the chief sea-
port of the Nisayss aud IL has grown n
nothing but an uuattractiye station for
collecting and sending of the marketable
products ofE this and the neighborins i'll
and Chief of these is still sugar. but
considerable sapan wood has been added
to it and some tobacco, coffee, hemp, and
hides Sapan wood is the raw material CT
a valuable red dyestuG. The town is on 4
strip OF fiat ground between the ere ard
the coast much Of which has been made
by filling in. 1t terminates with sand
spit. upon which the Old fort stands Yes
sells Of fifteen feet draft can make their
way I'D the stream Or estuary TO the rude
wharves. but larger ones have to keep
outside.
Population and Character.
The town has a population Of about T.
c00 and has grown up irregularly with
the increasing trade along struggling
streets which are intolerably dusty in the
dry season and slough OF filthy miro in
the wet There Is the customary public
square or plaza, with a church and con-
vent and the government house facing
upon il, but the prominent feature of the
place is the warehouses and wharves for
the shipment Of the all peryading saccha-
rine product of the region. There are sub
staatidl houses with heavy posts running
tIp the corners. stone walls for one story
,,J ,.ary,,a .isd irnu roofs hut the native