The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1899-07-24
FROM MANILA.
The State Journal COrrespOn-
dent Writes Interestingly
Describes the Country Around
ParanaqUe.
CURRENCY QUESTION
Is a Most Tangled Affair and
Few Understand 1t.
Visits New Islands and Learns
of Their Ways.
The Literature and Ancient
Legends Mentioned.


Especial Correspondence State Journal
Manila, P. T.. June II, 1899.-Parana-
que, a city of about $4,000 inhabitants,
at the mouth of the Paranaque river
several miles south of Fort San An
tonic. Abad, which has been for months
an insurgent stronghold. together with
Bacoor and other towns in the same
province will soon fail into the hands
of the American troops.
Early yesterday morning ten guns
of the Sixth artillery and the six. eight
and twelve inch guns Of the Monad-
mock, Helena, Princeton and Monterey,
lying close inshOre, opened fire and
continued the bombardment until late
in the evening. The Fourth United
States cavalry, 9Th, 18th, 18th, 14th,
DIST and 22d regiments Of infantry and
the First Colorado regiment formed in
a quarter circle beyond San Pedro Ma
cati and advanced in that position on
Paranaque, driving the rebels before
them, keeping up a heavy fire. General
LawtOn commanded the left wing and
General Hall the right. Our losses are
reported to have been five killed and
p wounded, some very dangerously
The move was a most decidedly
strategic one and will result in speedy
defeat of the rebel forces in CaVite pro-
vince.
on the north line, above San Fernan-
do, no fighting is being done and pre-
sumably the FilipinOs are bus1ly en-
gagged in building entertainments from
which hard fighting viii have to be
done to disIOdge them
The Americans holding the Pampan-
ga province, pass the time between do
ing outpost duty, playing base bail,
eating fruit. shooting monkeys and
listening to band concerts Business in
all of the principal cities, including San
Fernando and MalOlOs is becoming
very brisk and considerable building is
being done. Nearly 100000 F1lpinos,
men, women and children have entered
our lines and are following peaceful
pursuits. Crops are being planted ana
houses, bridges and roads are being
repaired, preparatory to the setting-in
of the rainy season.
Wonderful improvements in all INES
are being made in Manila under the
American regime. Every description
of business is being opened up and COM
panies for the AmericaniZatiOn of the
Archipelago are being formed every
week Among these is the InsuIar
Commercial company, just organized,
for the purpose OF introducing Amerl-
can manufactured articles into the ISL
ands and exporting hemp, tobacco, su-
gar, cOcOanut oil and hardwood lum-
Der.
For. perversities, complexities, difficult
ties and impOssibilities, Manila IS one OF
the most wonderful places it has been
my misfortune to be in. refer partlc-
ularly to the currency of the city 1t
would seem that all the artificial eccen-
tricities Of the place and people ana the
natural cussedness of the climate are
concentrated in the monetary system
in existence in the principal cities or
LuzOn and the most important OF the
other islands. I am told that during
the Spanish regime here, it was bad
enough-it was so bad that it seemed
impossible for it to be worse, but now
we have the proof that 1t can Under
the Spanish rule Philippine currency
was an extremely complicated affair;
in fact it was so much complicated that
it constituted the study of nfeume,
and some people who devoted their IlVes
to the study of 1T used to make money
out of it at the expense Of people whose
time was otherwise occupied. Some
times a peso was peso and sometimes
it was a problem in fractional equa-
tions; sometimes the Philippine dollar
was a Mexican and sometimes it was a
Spanish dollar or three franc piece
Oftentimes there was gold currency
without any gold, but at all times and
under all circumstances the banks, eX-
change brokers and a few clever Chin
amen managed to juggle with the huc-
tuatiOns in money and currency legls-
latiOn so as to score all ways
Never was a puzzle invented which
drove men pell-mell into mad houses
more maddening and eXaSperatlng than
the Philippine copper money. Nomin-
ally, the coins in actual circulation were
the peso, 100 centtmOs, the peSetas 20
centimOs and the media-pesO, and the
media-peseta and the duos centimos
and the centimOS- In actual pracIlce all
small change is considered in reales
and quartos. If one has purchases to
make. it requires almost all OF his time
figuring out how many reales there are
in peSeta and how many quartOS there
are in uncentimO and what is the sig
nificanCe of the expression quatrO y
ocho or four reales and eight quartOs-
how much is that2 Some copper coins
are duos centimOs, some are I'm centimo.
others are a cent and a quarter, and
most of them are more like fOrsaken
pants buttons than anything else Now,
suppose you buy a cigar and give the
man an American nickel or dime and
the price of the cigar is two cents, Mex
lean or FilipinO-how much change do
you get2
This query brings up the GROWING
complication. What is dollar at the
present time2 There is no rule or law
to decide the question; whether a dollar
is a dollar or two dollars or whether it
is $3.50 or fifty cents There is no cur
rency law. A sort of mysterious method
of calculation is in use among bankers
and bimetalhc experts, whereby the
lucky owner of a dollar with an eagle
on the back of it, loses a cent or two or
three and sometimes as much as ten,
every time.
1t is wonderful And I don't under
stand why currencies should be in the
category of wonderful. The Philippines
and particularly the people in them who
have Uncle Sans money are at the
mercy of exchange fluctuations in Hong
Kong, Singapore and London. There is
no legal tendeT-anything goes from a
Chinese copper coin with the center
punched out to an American eagle or
double eagle. Governments are for the
purpose of attending to such matters
among other things, but it is a regret
table fact that our government let's US
American esiles of the Orient shift for
ourselves so far as the regulation of the
currency Is concerned and American
trade is materially crippled thereby.
I have just recently returned from a