Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1899-11-14


in tie las. addition to our country. 1t
will be found better than pros
pecting for gold in the Klondike. For
so miles out of Manila the lands We're
in high state of cultivation and given
over almost entirely TO sugar cane and
rice. The region between San Fer
nando and Manila, which was aban-
doned last spring during the severe
fighting incidental to the advance Of
the army, shows fields now filled with
laborers-Chinamen- indus
triously all day long in the rice pad
dies. Men and women stand knee
deep and even to the waist in water,
wearing merely the outlines of gar
ment. When the rain becomes heavy,
the laborers seek shelter.
The rice planting season in this par
ticular section is very late and only
commenced when it was seen that the
United States troops had come to
stay" The Spanish method of war
fare seems to have consisted in hold
ing some of the important towns and
an occasional insignificant raid around
the country and then Il withdrawal for
recuperation and cigarettes. They al
lowed the Filipino insurgents to con-
troll matters and TO levy taxes and oc-
troi duties on all products going to
Manila over the railroad or by water.
And they did it with a vengeance.
The forests abound in valuable
woods, but yet in Il virgin state for the
want of marketable facilities. Some
of our Maine or Michigan lumbermen,
with their superior knowledge, would
coin money in these regions. The at
tempts at mining in the southern is
lands have been crude, but they prom
ise rich yields. Indeed one of the islands
is named Mindoro (mine of gold.
Railways are very badly needed, there
being only the 125 mile one extending
from Manila to Dangapan, which is
owned by an English company, and
along which the troops are operating.
1t has been torn up in many places by
the retreating F'ilipinos and is now un-
der reconstruction by our engineers.
Investments, if located SO as to re-
ceive the attention of the owners, will
prove remunerative in the highest de-
gree.
There is no market for unskilled Ia
Dor. The wages are too meager and
the climate too hostile to manual labor.
There is no reason why expert me-
chanics and engineers should not COM
mand high wages. Silversmiths who
can execute fine inlaid work earn con-
Siderably less than 81 2 day in Manila.
Some Papagna field laborers told me
the other day that they never see any
money. The employer feeds them and
their families, provides them with film
sy clothing and pays their numerous
tax rates.
The climate is more agreeable than
is generally supposed. Except in April
and May, the temperature is lower than
during many of the months of warm
weather in the United States. Through
July and August it ranges from so to
90 degrees. Between the hours of IL
a. IN. and p. III. the suns rays are so
direct and eneryating that Americans
are obliged to remain within doors. 1t
is this heat that causes the sickness
among our troops, and many of the
cases of exhaustion while on the march
are followed by malarial fever. The
diseases are easily controlled and have
. fatal termination very infreQuently.
From noon to > p. III. the stores are
closed, and shopping ceases, although
il is noticed that there is tendency to
break through this time honored GUS
tom. The streets are so narrow that
with each days increasing traffic prog
resS is very much impeded. But order
is gradually arising. Where there was
blockade of carriages, carl
bou carts and drays crossing on the |
Bridge of Spain, they are now COM |
PEELED to follow in single flea very |
simple arrangement, but it evidently |
had not occurred to the police. After |
$50 at night every one must remain in |
doors or be arrested and locked up-a
wise measure of precaution, for with |
out it insurgents, under guise of ami |
goes, could sneak through the mill |
tary lines into the city.
1t is observed with regret that the |
coming of our people should be marred |
by the frequent signs, American Bar"
American Drinks even the dead |
walls blazoned with advertisements of
American beer and WHISTLES. Neither |
the Spaniards nor Filipinos are accus-
toned to drunkenness, and the PERM
cious examples set by the Americans
are to be deplored. In the Chinese sec
ton the stores consist merely of a
small room opening on the street, hard
y large enough to accommodate three
persons. The workshops likewise all
open on to the sidewalk and are used
IS living and sleeping rooms as we'll
DIlZZI Ed nv HISTORIC Joke