The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-06-20
A~MERICANIZING MANILA
1T Is DIFFICULT WORK, 4 Is BE-
ING DONE THOROUGHLY.
Cuttings from the Press of the Philip
pine Capftal-Girl Reporter I'm Boys
Clothes-Changing Methods.
New York Press.

reading. One item tells the inhabitants
that there are tons of rat poison at the
Office of the superintendent of health, and
those who are too poor TO buy IL can have
it issued TO them free Of cost. Manila is
| overrun with rats. and rats are active
agents in the spreading OF the bubonic
| plague. which has appeared in the city.
In the days of the Spanish rule the inhab-
itants used to keep pet snakes. whose bus
mess it was to keep down the increase in
the rats. Now, however. the efforts of
these snakes are supplemented by the
Health Board of the city by the use of rat
poison. The Health Board complains OF
the lack of cooperation on the part of the
natives with the efforts being made 10 keep
the city clean. In view of the appearance
| o. the plague a general slaughter of the
rats has been ordered. and inspectors are
going about to see that the order is en-
| forced.
One of the sensations of Manila of late
seems to have been the appearance there Of
a woman who writes for the newspapers
| and whose name is Miss Beebe Bean. This
enterprising person wears mans clothes
| after the manner of DR.. Mary Walker and
came out to the Philippines disguised as a
cabin boy on a transport. Before Honolulu
| was reached the sex of the handsome cabin
boy had been discovered and Miss Bean was
| ordered ashore. She slowed herself away,
however, until the ship was at sea again.
and when she came forth from her hiding
place promptly was placed under arrest
and confined in a Stateroom with a sentry
before the door. When the transport
reached Manila and an officer knocked at
Miss Beans door to tell her that she must
go ashore under arrest he found that the
~ rttxra had Ao--, loo wing nnlffa little nnfQo
How she got ashore is a mystery, but there
she is walking about the streets of the
Luzon capital in male attire and writing
pieces for the papers. Miss Beebe Bean
is known Familiarity in Manila as Jack"
and has already had exciting adventures.
She has been mixed up in a runaway, has
saved the life of a soldier and has been laid
up with a fever in a hospital. When Beebe
Bean was a cabin boy on the transport she
| was known as Benny" She was working
for the San Francisco papers when she con-
Guided to enter upon her Philippine adven-
ture. Miss Bean says she has letters of
encouragement and recommendation
from Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, Miriam Michael
SON and DIR. Alice Shaw.
INTERESTING STATISTICS.
The American. a Manila paper, gives
| some interesting statistics concerning the
population of the Philippines and the num-
Der of civil officials which will be required
to run the government of the islands. 1t
says: Manila, with its $40, 900. 900 trade, its
110, 600 population and its position as the
| metropolis of Luzon, will require a larger
force of officials. In this island alone there
are l23 cities having a population of from
5000 to 10000 each, in addition to 15 cities
having a population of less than 5000 and
more than 1900 each. To administer the
governmental affairs of this single island,
| with its 3,5OO,00l inhabitants, will require on
a conservative estimate the services OF
$500 officials a. an annual cost of $3.50. 900.
This assigns only one official to each 1000
of population, which official must be a sort
of composite postmaster, revenue collector,
| Judge and clerk of all work. and he must
be satisfied with an average salary of $1,000
a year. In Mindanao. with its Clio. 600 popu-
lation, there are only eight large and
| eighty-four small cities, but in Cebu there
are twenty-four cities over 5000 and sixty
cities under that figure, with a total popu-
lation in the island of $4,000. The island
called Panay has 81. 900 souls, with thirty
four cities over the 5000 mark and sixty
one under that figure. These are not saw
age shacks, but centers of industry. of ag-
riculture and of commerce., many of them
with cathedrals, schools, palaces, telegraph
and postoffices. Between 1900, 900 and TO-
900. 600 people occupy the Philippines"
The market reports of Manila are inter-
esting as showing the cost of sustaining
life in the luxuriant tropics. The prices are
quoted In Mexican silver. which is about
half the value of American gold. Potatoes
cost 5 cents a pound and onions 10 cents.
| Cabbages sell for % cents a head and
pumpkins are worth 30 cents apiece. Fish
is cheap, but. strange to say. fruit is high.
Bananas sell for 25 cents a dozen and or
anges for 35 cents q dozen. while one large
Chinese orange costs 20 cents, and cocoa
nuts are worth s cents each. Some of the
fish are unknown to our markets There
are the dorado. the dapa, the bocadulce
and asasa, which will be news to Ameri-
cans. The bocadulce il the most expensive
fish on the list and sells for 40 cents each.
Il 4 A.,~It IN 1a .A41 f@-
means "mouthsweet. A first grade hen i'm
the Manila market sells for $40 The regu-
lation of the markets In Manila seems to
have been the object of several experiments
since the American troops lave occupied
the city.
STAMPS AND AUTOGRAPHS.
According to the Freedom. the rage for
stamp collecting was one of the factors
| which made the work of the Americans
harder in Strengthening out the market
tangle. Soon after the American troops
established. and the army officer placed in
charge sought to find out the old Spanish
| customs in this regard. But it appeared
that there was not an American soldier in
the whole army of occupation who had not
| q relative or friend who was engaged in
either the collection of stamps or of auto
| graphs. The result was that before the
officer detailed had taken charge OF the
bureau the stamped headlines of the docu-
ments in the Old Spanish Office, as well as
the signatures of the officials who had au-
thorized various DEGREES, had been torn of
and mailed home. However, Lieutenant
Lathrop, the American officer placed in
charge of the bureau, seems to have been
a man OF resources, as the following ex-
| tract will show:
Don Francisco sainz and the ~well-known
Chinese capitalist, Don Carlos Palaca, were
the market and cl1lIgbfQr ho1lca rnptrac-
tors under the last Spanish administration,
and up to the capitulation of Manila on the
18th of August, 1885. las both had filed
claims against the American government
of occupation for sums which they had
during the Spanish administration de-
posted in the municipal treasury, as a
guarantee for the fulhllment of their con-
tracts. they were ordered TO bring certified
copies of their contracts with the former
city government Of Manila 10 the provost
marshars Office for investigation. Captain
Belford of the Board Of Claims having no
transfer in his office, the documents were
turned over TO the license bureau for trans
lation, as the interpreter in that office vol
unteered TO do the work. And at the same
time he obtained for the head Of his Office
a thorough knowledge of the administra-
ton of those branches of the city govern
ment during Spanish rule.
From the capitalization of the city up TO
the time that the markets and slaughter
houses We're placed under the charge OF the
license bureau the markets had been al
lowed to practically run themselves, and
had become so abominably filthy as 10
seriously menace the public health. The
Divisoria market in Binondo and Tondo