Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1900-05-17
) NEWS FROM
OUR COLONIES.
= NooONo cOCO

L
3;ano who made tour of the Philip
mines last wear while the first volunteer
regiments were camping on the tra1l OF
the insurgents, pays very iauoaIoaS
tribute to the character of the men co.u-
nosing the invading army. Writing IN the
| PHILADELPHIA Post, he says: The AMER
can soldier looks the master; his race ID
the face Of nobility; his stride is the
stride Of a prince In the Pninpplnes, ~
| China. in Japan, he looks the lord OF Tue
land. He has fine loftlness OF coh-
duct. He goes every place. All doors
omen before him. He absorbs everything.
He has the spirit Of acquisitlve lnqulsl-
tiyeness. In Japan, every street OF every
MORT at which he touches is full OF nm.
| The shops are infested by him. he IN
spects the palaces with the curiosity OF
| ;ntellipence. He wanders among the
| temples Of the ancient gods, mooei'n
Omar meditating new Rubalyat. az
the giant tombs of the dethroned ono
| guns he sits and muses. on the ceaseless
| tide of time which changes all and nnanv
submerges all. He is learner at nrst
hand. No printed books or papers for
| him when the book of the world is De-
| fore him. No painted map for him when
! the chart of the earth itself is DeneatH
his feet. No dry nor fanciful account for
| him Of the strange peoples of humanity
| first homes when he may see ana know
| and absorb the spirit of those peoples
| themselves"
A belated war story comes from Ponce,
Porto Rico. and is told by Lieut.. Juan
Arato Of the Spanish engineers. "When
the war broke out" said the lieutenant
'.we found that our supply Of ammunition
| of all sorts was very low. Some was new
and some old; some was black and some
| brown: some was old-fashioned and some
was smokeless and mysterious. Ihere
was one lot of brown smokeless powder
which was marked, Use with care! very
powerful! Keep cool and dry! and to 1t
was attached legend that it had burst
| Krupp field gun l determined to try 1t.
| employed a small charge in gun, ana
to nv surprise it refused to go OFT. MY
gunners were very much Disguised, ana
one of them said: Bah, this is no good
| for war I'll use it for cooking our sup
per- We all jumped as he threw dou-
| bile handful into a small camp hre. Judge
| of our feelings when we saw the nre 90
out. / afterward learned that powder
of this sort deteriorates with age, and
| that long before this case was opened IL
was as harmless as wet sand.
:-:-
The plant which is being erected in
| Manila by the United States Government
| for refrigerating and ice making is an
enormous affair, with a capacity for cool
| ing, at one time no less than 5000 beef
carcasses, 1900 sheep, 100 tons of sailed
meats, as we'll as for the storage OF I'M
mense quantities of eggs, vegetables, but
| ter and other articles, enough to supply
| the army in the Philippines for months at
| a time In addition it will be capable of
producing fifty tons of ice per day and
| 5000 gallons Of distilled water. The ice
will be manufactured by the ammonia
| process. The building will be nearly 300
| feet square and about fifty feet in height.
go
| In Porto Rico the laboring classes are
on the verge Of starvation; there is work
| for them to do, but the planters who
need their services are without funds
with which to employ them. Even the
Porto Rican people do not know, nor do
they realize, the condition into which the
| islands people as whole have been
| thrown. The distribution of relief sup
plies was discontinued temporarily some
weeks ago. AS a result many people be-
| gan to drift in from the country districts
| to the larger towns, where some rations
| were distributed. Recently more than
sixty ragged, starving women walked to
Ponce from Narinjito, twenty miles away,
| to present petition to the Governor
| General.
| The Cuban company, of which Sir Will
| liam Van Horne is president, has secur-
| ed options upon all of the railways in
| Cuba. Gen. Samuel Thomas of New
| York, who is one of the directors, made a
| hasty trip to London, where the roads
are owned, and returned yesterday with
| the options in his pocket. The Sagua
| railroad will cost the syndicate $3,OOO,-
| 900, the Caibarien railroad 100000,
| the Saviniala road $5,OO0,O0O, the Glen
| fuegos $2,500,O0O and the Jucaro line
| $S,OOO,OOO. 1t is the intention of the
| syndicate to purchase, consolidate and ex-
| tend these railroads over the entire ISL
| and.
| The division Of customs and insular
| affairs Of the War Department has given
out comparative statement of receipts
at the customs port of Manila during the
years 1893 to 1897, inclusive, with the re-
| ceipts of the port in 1899. Also receipts
named comprised tonnage, taxes, import
duties, export duties, fines, seizures, etc.
The receipts by years were: In 1893, ST.
| 1O9,540; 1894, $685., 269; 1895, 81, 26S.-
234; 1896, $2,421, 532; 1897, 81, 91e, $40:
1899, $685., $50.
-:-:-
It is stated that in three months un-
der the American plan the school attend
ance in Cuba has been raised from 1000
to $4,000 pupils, with 1000 teachers Al
though English is taught, the teachers
employed are Cubans. No local school
taxes are raised. The school expenses,
which it is expected will this year reach
100000, are paid from the island
treasury. The teachers wages are high
er than those paid in the United States.
go
A correspondent asserts that as place
for permanent investment Guam has