Akron daily Democrat. [volume] (Akron, Ohio) 1892-1902, 1899-07-20

clapp6u MS banus Hho Ill AIdDldu
Nights pasha and had base menial
bring him the basin of water and towel
At j O'clock his carriage called for him,
and he, with his interesting family,
vent to drive and listen to the music
OF the Luneta, Picturesque enough he
looked in his shining white suits, of
which at least dozen were necessary,
fresh one every day His very shoes
were white. of cool canvas. carefully
done over with pipeclay daily to pre-
serve their immaculate appearance.
The pipeclaying of his masters vari-
GUS pairs of white shoes is part of the
morning work of the Tagalo house serv-
ant.
Everything new and convenient and
American is wanted here, from prompt
and correct business methods to door
locks that will fasten and neat little
KEYS that will tit them. When, sooner
or later, matters are settled here, there
will be as fine opportunities for Ameri-
can merchants and the investment of
capital as at any spot of thszG2abe.
Between, on the one hand nerous
duties, which remain precises as they
were under Spanish rule, and, on the
other, the competition of the United
States commissary department the civil
ian merchant just now has small margin
of profit. The Spanish tariff is higher
than that of the United States ever
was, amounting frequently to three or
four times the cost of the goods. 1t is
enforced still The duties are collected
by American soldiers for our govern
ment. Commissary goods for the Unit
ed States army are admitted free of
duty, to be bought by soldiers. But it
is natural for man to oblige his
friends. The salesman for the United
States army sees no harm in letting his
civilian chums who are merchants have
goods at army rates. There is nothing
in the Ten Commandments against it.
The two friends whack up together.
But the civilian merchant who is not
the commissary sergeant's chum and
who has honestly paid the high Span
ish tariff on his wares finds them spoil
ing on his shelves in this hot climate
while the commissary friend offers the
public goods at lowest San Francisco
prices. You can follow the result out
for yourself, and you do not need paper
and pencil to work the problem either.
Honest retail merchants have absolute
ly ceased to import certain lines of ar
ticles under these conditions. Thus not
only the merchants outside the ring,
but also the government suffers many
thousand dollars loss annually. This is
a matter the government should attend
to at once and either abolish altogether
duties ON goods coming from the States
or straighten out its commissary de-
partment here.
Heavy losses, too, are entailed on
American merchants in Manila by the
actual and constant theft of goods they
import from the States. | know one
dealer who has, in plain words. been in
the past four months robbed of wares
worth SO, They were shipped and
invoiced at San Francisco. In some in
stances whole packages disappeared
bodily; in others packages were broken
Open and part of the contents taken
and then fastened up again.
Whe her the robberies dre committed
on shipboard, whether by the Chinese
freight handlers at Hongkong or in the
custom houses here at Manila, nobody
knows. The things simply disappear.
The military authorities here do not
hold themselves responsible for goods
stored in the customs warehouses or
"go downs. as storage rooms are called
in the orient The heaviest losses are
on eatables and drinkables.
Commissary merchandising ar . the
loss of goods in transit from the States
to Manila are rapidly assuming the
proportions of scandal. Whether any
stealing occurs in the custom house or
not, that institution gets the credit OF
it, and for its own sake the United
States government ought to have a
grand clearing up time in these depart
ments without saying word about
it, and this even more for the sake of
the innocent than of the guilty, if there
are any of the latter.
Another condition works as hard
ship against the business man and the
capitalist at present. When we occu-
pied the city, the civil courts were
abolished. They have never been re-
esta blished So far as civil law goes,
Manila is in state of anarchy. There
is no way of collecting bill by legal
measures and no way of enforcing a
contract. Sufferers who appeal to the
military authorities are told to wait
| till the courts are set up again. They
| have waited for months and are wait
ing still. Able American lawyers who
understand the Spanish language are
also here waiting for the civil courts
TO reopen, but the order for ii is not
given The insurrectioD must be put
down before military attention can ue
turned to civil matters, probably. New
ertheIess it is irksome in the extreme
| to the civilian who wants TO go to
work.
am not writing this letter to enter
tain or amuse my readers, but simply
| to give information TO persons to whom
| it will be useful. Whenever yoCr dear
friend comes to you with any particu-
larly disagreeable and unwelcome piece
of news, he always prefaces it with the
remark that he tells you because you
ought to know it.. Hundreds of good,
energetic men at home and capitalists
of moderate means are hoping and ex
pecting to come to Manila, here to reap
the reward of industry and ability.
Their Judgment is not at fault either.
On this round earth today there is no
fairer, richer corner than these same
Philippine Islands, no place where en-