Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-11-13
MANILA IMPRESSIONS.
Price of Cigars, the Climate, Ants,
Chinese, and Self-Government.


The general appearance of Manila is
not imposing, the buildings being usu-
ally not over two stories in height,
through fear Of earthquakes The
streets are paved and rather wider than
those in Cuban cities, and are lighted
by electricity. The street cars are
Drawn by the diminutive ponies. The
shops are very interesting, both in the
Chinese quarters and ON the Escolta.
The latter is the principal business
street There are new and curious gar
ments in beautiful light and soft silk
At prices that are extremely tempting.
Mems silk paJamas, for example, ut
$3.50, would cost at least five times as
much in the United States. Khaki uni
forms, made to order cost $3.50, just
about half the American price. Any
thing involving labor Is usually cheap.
Laundry work is done well, the usual
prices being from 3 to ) cents apiece,
while work is done at the penitentiary
for cents each piece.
The enterprise of American brewers
S everywhere in evidence. Every blank
'enceand dead wall announces the mer-
is of respective brands, giving quite
home feeling until one discovers that
Deer costs so cents a bottle The tempt
ng sign of Ice cream proved ON investi-
cation to be delusion
At the great tobacco factory la In
sular" some 5000 are employed, and
we were courteously shown through
all the departments. Cigars are the
only cheap luxury in Luzon. Cuban
cigars are not to be had, though. to
suit the preference of some English
md Americans, LuZon cigars have Ha-
5ana labels on the boxes. The filling
IF the cigar is known as tripa (tripe),
he wrapper being called capa Ga cape
~ overcoaD. Everyone smokes every
where except in the churches. The
women smoke cigarilos. The cultiva.
ion of tobacco was Il Government
monopoly until 1891. Fines, imprison-
ment and bodily punishment We're in
iicted remorselessly upon Illicit grow
arS of tobacco.
Good cigars can be bought for 81. 40
l hundred, and the very best each ci-
gar ICON anillo papel plata o oro,"
wrapped in silver or gold foil, only cost
;6 hundred. The cigar lacks the fine
Havana flavor, but those at $240
hundred are quite good enough for or
linary smoking, far better than the
Usual ten or twelve-cent cigar in the
United States, and without any rank
odor or taste. The best tobacco, the
Escalante leaf, is raised in the northern
part of LuZon. A very fine leaf is also
grown in Degros, Cebu and Minanao;
hat from Cagayan is probably richest
n flavor. Cigars are the only manu-
,actured articles exported. The ware
houses of La Insular factory were piled
up with tobacco leaf two and three
years old.
AS to the climate of Manila, after
one is acclimated 1t is all question
IF "the point of view" Some say,
lovely" "healthful;' others, deadly"
The latter are putting the case too
strongly. The climate is enervating
md the many restrictions on diet cause
digestive disorders. No one can exert
II cooler ATTITUDES.
And yet this is beautiful country
10 look upon-fertile, with well-culti-
vated sugar and rice plantations beau
.iful drives along fairly good roads,
shaded by bamboo and palm and ba-
lana trees. The absence of oranges
and lemons cannot be understood, with
far greater heat; nor are there any
other fruits-bananaS and pineapples
eXcepted-to which we are accustomed.
The country houses or huts are built
IN poles about four feet above the
ground, the better class of houses be-
ng on foundation pillars of stone and
masonry. There are no windows, the
openings being partially closed with
sliding panels. The floors and inside
walls are of split bamboo, the roofs
generally of nipa, sometimes of tin or
| galvanized iron. Banana and palm
| tres embower even the most lowly.
The Chinese and the ants are the
)nly busy objects in the country; the
ants are omnipresent. A bit of sugar
left on my table attracted within ten
minutes thousands Of them. The ant
nils in the cultivated fields are mounds
| four feet high and as large around.
1t is said one species will burrow
| through n wooden chest and destroy
all clothing therein in Il day.
The great mass OF the people in Lu-
lon. and presumably to an even greater
axtent in the other provinces, cannot,
after the years of oppression under
| Spanish and Church rule, be capable
Of self-government for some years to
come. The result of turning 1t over
to the Filipino leaders would be an un-
stable government, with greater op-
preston of the lower and ignorant
classes than even existed in the past
As they realize the just treatment ac
corded to them by the United States
a happier era will dawn upon these
poor natives and their work, morals
and physical conditions will be i'm
proved. Once they know they will gel
money for their work, instead of the
Did rewards of blows, fines. and i'm
prisonment, permanent peace will be
assured.