The record-union., 1899-03-03
BOYS OF WHITTIER SCHOOL
WHAT CAREFUL TRAINING HAS
DONE FOR THEM.
Many Are in the Army-Letter
From One of the Lads Now
In Manila.

Los Angeles, Cal, Feb. %, 1899.
Being a Trustee Of the Whittier state
School, have realized that many, peo'
PIE in California are wholly uninformec
as to the results Of the work in thai
institution. While now and then
young man is arrested and is heraddeo
in the newspapers as a whittier grad
uate,' yet, for obvious reasons, many
boys who have been in Whittier anc
whose lives since leaving there have
been respectable and creditable, have
never been mentioned, and the publie
are unaware of their conduct. From
my position as a Trustee l can point out
many instances that would thoroughly
convince the taxpayers of California
that this is one of the most important
educational institutions in the State
but my object in this communication
is to announce that, as a result OF the
military training of that school, and
the sentiments of patriotism which are
earnestly instilled in the minds of the
boys who are sent there, over seventy
five of the Whittier boys are now in
the United States army and navy. The
following letter that I have just re-
ceived will give some idea of these boys
and their citizenship:
Manila, Philippine Islands, January
IA, 1899.
My Dear Friend: I know you will
be kind of surprised to hear from me
way over here in the Philippine ISL
ands, and to know that a great many OF
our old Whittier boys are with the
different regiments, and some of them
are aboard vessels under Admira-
George Dewey. Every day I meet some
of the boys while I am out on the
street, but the one that surprised me
most was Charlie c., who belonged
to Company C in the Whittier School
I hardly knew him at first, as he has
changed SO much. I also met Charlie
H and Martin s. of Company A
They both belong to - Regiment Oh
the United States regulars, and are
both enjoying good health. Robert
R, Paul B and Joseph H are
two are both Sergeants of their COM
pany, and are very much liked by al
OF the soldiers. The California boys
are. on board transports out in the bay
waiting to receive orders for Iloilo, and
expect to leave for that place in a few
days.
l will try and give you a history OF
our soldier life in Manila, which I hope
will be of some interest to the boys al
the school. They have all read about
our capturing Manila, on Saturday, Au-
gust Is, 1898. Ever since we have been
in the city we have been kept busy
doing police duty and guarding the resi-
derces of Spanish officers and other
foreign residents, as the natives
are very dangerous people, in
fact, worse than our Indians
in America. and are ready to spring on
a person when his back is turned, but
will run when they are caught doing
anything wrong. They will steal every
thing they can lay their hands on. and
a great many of them have been killed
when stealing.
Now they say we are just like the
Spaniards, and that we do not treat
them right, but on the contrary, before
We came here they were most starved
and now they have all they can eat and
more too They are very lazy and dc
not care to work very hard. The Gov
erfment employs about 100 of them In
the navy yard at Cavite and about
1000 are employed here in Manila They
are paid ST a day in United States
money, and then they get 50 in Mexican
money for one of our silver dollars
They will work about six or seven days
and then they have enough money to
keep them for two or three months
as they can live on cents a day They
spend their time in sitting around
smoking cigarettes and having chicken
fights, which they have from morning
until night every day in the year.
We have been having a great deal OF
trouble with the natives on account of
proclamation which has been sent all
over the city and islands by Aguinaldo
who is at the head of the people and
who had been the cause of all the trou-
BILE with the Spanish before we came
here. The proclamation has excited the
natives. and now they want to fight our
solciers. Most of the natives have LETT
the city and are gathering an army to-
gether for a fight. They have COM
pletely surrounded the city. but we
keep them out, not allowing them to
enter in groups, and also search them
for firearms when We let them pass.
We soldiers have been kept in our
barracks for over two weeks and are
not allowed to leave them longer thar
fifteen minutes at a time as we expect
we will have to fight them any time
Well, il We do. we will teach them a
lesson in warfare that they will not
forget very soon. and when we are
through with them they will know that
they have not been fighting with Span
ish soldiers, but with American sol
diers, who lay claim to being the great
est fighters in the world
They are very barbarous in their
warfare. and do not think person is
dead until they have cut him up like
mince meat with their long SHARP
knives. I know it to be true. as / wit
messed three natives killing Spanish
soldier while we We're in the trenches