The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1899-10-30
VIEWS OF JOE WHEELER.
The General Writes a Letter Com
meniing On Philippines.
NATIVES DISLIKE FRIARS
AGUINALDo WANTS CHURCH
PROPERTY CoNFISCATED.
Wealthy People Fear Loss of Control
If Universal Suffrage Is Given
Inhabitants of Luzon Are Hitter
ate-Islands Are Productive
Tagalos Only Are In Rebellion.

Nashville, Tenn, Oct. 29.-The follow
ing letter has been received from Gen.
eral Joe Wheeler, in the Philippines:
Santa Rita, Island of Luzon. Sept. s
1S99.-Van Lear Kirkman-My dear
young cousin: l have now seen much
of the country and the people in that
part of LuZon for about fifteen miles
of Manila In every town there is q
magnificent stone church and convent
or monastery. The insurgents have q
great antipathy to the priesthood Oh
friars. and they have dismantled many
of the churches. The value of the
church or a monastery of a town seems
to be equal in many cases to the value
! of all the other buildings in the town,
The more ] talk to the people the more
I am convinced that the insurgents 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
organization owns so much of the prop
erty, and one of Aguinaldo'S most ear
nest demands is that the church prop
erty be confiscated.
There is a general impression that the
insurgent army is made up very large
| ~ VI peOplG MllHOul ana ludt
people who have property desire the
Americans to control, so that they can
have protection and feel that their
property is secured to them, but 1 find
that there is also a fear of aDDrehen-
sion among some of the wealthy that
if Americans control and give universal
suffrage the power of the wealthy peo-
pie would be taken away and their hold
on the property very much impaired.
ir,l-
be assured that they would be protect
ed in their property rights by the
United States it would have a very
good effect.
Charges Against Friars.
These friars and priests are charged
with all sorts of expressions and mis-
demeanors, but it must be remembered
that priests and friars are very nuner-
Gus, and in so large a body there would
be every possible phase of character
and disposition. Some of them are, no
doubt oppresSors of the people, exact
ing in the collection of rentals from the
land, indulge themselves in many ways
and lead lives very different from what
should characterize a life of priest.
But there are very many good men
among them.
The statement that 20 per cent of the
people of Luzon can read and write is
a great mistake. 1t may be true of
many, but it is not true of the rural dis
tricts, and the percentage of illiteracy
in the other islands is much greater
than in Luzon.
The appearance. mode of life and
method of performing work is today
very much like it is described in the
Bible at the time of and even before
the Christian era The people dress
very much as they did 1000 years ago.
TODAY l spent some time in watching
natives cleaning shucks from rice. The
method of Smelling and cleaning is
primitive and no better than they were
1900 years ago.
A Productive Country.
Nearly everything can be grown, but
oranges and bananas are not so good
as in our localities, the reason, no
doubt, being that they seem to give
them no cultivation whatever Coffee
is grown which is said to be superior to
Mocha. Rice is the principal product,
and a failure of that crop would cause
terrible famine, as the people depend
almost entirely upon it for food.
Sugar is the principal crop for eX-
port. The greatest amount exported in
any one year was 261,6S1 tons, which
was in 1898. Corn grows very rapidly
and the ears reach their full growth
about sixty days from the time of
planting.
There is a great amount of very valu-
able timber in these islands, and in
many varieties of beautiful hard woods
under native names, such as mahogany,
black walnut and ebony. Gold, copper,
coal, iron, sulphur, lead, building stone,
petroleum and guano are also found.
There are many different tribes living
in these islands, the only ones in active
occupies some eight provinces in the
neighborhood of Manila, and their assoc |
citation with Europeans has made them !
more civilized than other tribes.
People Planting Rice.
We are now seven or eight miles from
Poraca, where an insurgent force has /
been stationed for some time, but |
around here and through this vast |
valley the people are engaged in plant |
ing rice. ] have been riding around the |
outskirts of this place, and the fields |
are dotted with men, women and chill !
dren, planting rice. ! am confident that |
a brigade of cavalry could easily travel |
through a great part of the island.
The Suez canal brought the Philip |
pines much nearer TO Europe and has
greatly increased its commerce.
General Wheeler goes on to say that
the exports of hemp and coffee have
gradually increased year by year. and
says that the cotton tree is found
growing in an uncultivated safe in
many islands of the archipelago.
Wild cotton, he says. is useless for
spinning, as the staple is extremely
short. but perhaps by hybridization and
careful attention its culture might
become valuable TO the colony
ii is a common thing TO see wild |
,otton trees planted along the high
Dad to serve as telegraph posts. BY
he time the seed is fully ripe every leaf
las fallen and nothing but the burst
ng pods remain hanging to the
branches.