Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1899-02-09
Something About Iloilo.

Yankton Press and Dalsotan: Mrs.
Hugh l.. P. Chiene. OF Yankton, who at
one time resided in the town OF lloilo ISL
and Of Panay in the Philippine group.
writes as follows concerning that town
and country for the Press and Dakotan:
"Iloilo pronounced EeloeeloJ, the capital
OF the island of Panay. the third largest
island Of the Philippine group. is at tho
present time the headquarters of the In
surgents. or rather the natives who are In
rebellion against Spain. These people are
mostly CROSS between a Malay and
spaniard. and are very Ignorant as rule;
Of course. there are exceptions, some OF
being amongst them. The lower or the
working classes have never had a chance
to improve themselves as they have al
ways been denied education and their
Vices have been fosteTed by the spaniards.
The working class. who comprise the ma
jority. are people quite capable of being
civilized. but 1t must be by kindness, as
they are very sensitive. When once they
come to understand America and Amer
leans ways of living and progressing
their reformation will be easy.
II have lived amongst these people
quite in the interior. and was the only
white woman there for nearly three years
and was treated with every respect and
hours by boat from Manila, OF some 5000
or 10000 people. mostly Nestigos, which
means half Spanish and half native. some
Spaniards and Germans, and when ! was
there, there were about 100 British and
two Americans in the town. The business
of the day occupies about six hours. from
10 to 4, the rest of the time being spent
in sleep and pleasure. Hardly amy of the
women of any class do any work men be-
ing used as cooks and do all the house,
work. The island of Panay is fairly
healthy, the average of the thermometer
being 81. The trees are continually green,
and all have lovely flowers The chief
crops are sugar. rice, hemp and coffee,
which are taken by small boats called
lorchas from all parts of the island to
1!oio and shipped by steamers to all parts
of the world. Potatoes. etc, will not
grow there All these necessaries are
shipped in from Hong Kong; -four oil and
lard from Ameri.a most of the canned
stuff and liquor from Europe. and there
is no lack OF the latter. very little tea or
coffee being consumed. The national
drink is vino" twine). and the staff of
life is rice There is endless variety Of
pineapples being very abundant.
"1loi!o has splendid stores of all kinds.
quite as good as Yankton or Sioux City.
vlding you have the needful. Everything
is very expensive.
81 have often been asked by friends
here what opening there is for young men
less for anyone to GO there unless he has
ample capital. or unless he is already ac-
quainted with people there, orpeople doing
business there. 1t is not like the western
states-a poor mans country-as native
labor is all the way from u cents up to so
cents a day-that being good pay. An
other thing. in order to make any head
way there a person must understand and
be able to speak two anguages-Spanish
and a cultural spoken by the natives
called ''vosayas."
"Of course these islands Ill undergo a
complete change for the better under the
happy auspices of the American govern
ment. and no doubt will ultimately add
another lustrous star to its world-famed
banner"