Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-11-21
Lieut.. Shaw Denies That They Are
Lazy.
his EXPERIENCE ION LUZON ISLAND
Says Natives Work as. Steady as
Average Americans.
LABORERS EASILY FOUND
5 EXPERIENCE ION LUZON ISLAND
LABORERS EASILY FOUND

CAMP STOTSENBURG,
Province of Manila
Luzon, 2. l..
October 15 1900.
The Star of September l, 1900, contains
a very Interesting article on the Fair Fill
pima" by your Special To the soldiers
here the article is full of interest for it de-
scribes in a very readable manner scenes
and people now quite familiar to us. The
article is not only very readable but in the
main very correct pen picture of the lives
and manners Of the people. One statement,
however, is according to my experience,
hardly correct.
The writer says: THE men are lazy and
cannot be gotten to work for more than
few days at a time"
1 must say that after year in various
parts of Luzon. l cannot agree with the
writer
l agree with the writer in his statements
about the industry of the women. but from
my own observation 1 have found that
every one works-men, women and chill
dren. l have been in this section of the
country since last January, and have failed
to the lazy male Filipino SO much
written about.
A Town of Shoemakers.
In January and February l was stationed
at Mariquina about ten miles from Ma
Mia The, town has about. 5000 people, and
is noted for its shoes All the are
shoemakers, and work at their trade six
days in week from daylight to dark. and
often by the light of poor lamp.
They make leather and canvas shoes of
superior quality, and wooden clogs or sue
cos" The women do part of this work,
especially in cutting out, and they do the
stamping the leather toepiece of the
''suecOs." Every Monday one man from
each shop loads the weeks work into
cart. or bundles 1t up In two bundles, one
each end of a stick. and carries 1t to
Manila The gardens around Mariquina
are quite good, and all the blowing and
heavy work is done by the men.
From this camp can see natives at work
everywhere blowing, getting ready for the
new corn crop
The fishermen Of Laguna are male. They
fish at night. and every morning the fisher
men came to MariQuina from Taytay, or
Caianta, or Pasig. across rice field five
miles wide under a burning sun. with 100
pounds of fish in two baskets on a pole.
They came not only to Mariquina, but they
went on seven miles to San Mateo.
Around Manila hundreds of men and boys,
as well as women. make living by getting
firewoOd and taking 1t to market in town.
The women help cut it or tie it up, but the
men and boys always carry 1t. Men and
boys cut all the grass used for forage IN
Manila They come out as far as this place
and carry great bundles of grass to town.
The women as a rule, carry vegetables to
town, but the men carry milk. Every day
l see many men with jar holding three
gallons Slung on each end of a short stick
trotting into town.
l have often seen the men come through
Mariquina on their way from San MateO
to Manila with ten gallons of Cocoanut oil
in two cans Slung on stick From San
Mateo to Manila is seventeen miles. and
these men made the round trip every day.
Work in the Fields.
The work In the rice and cane fields is
done by both men and women. The men
pillow and harrow the rice fields, working in
mud above their knees. They also build or
repair all the bikes built to hold the water
on the land. The rice is first planted thick
ly on one square, then transplanted. being
set out in rows about eight inches apart
each way. The transpanting is done by
both men and wOmen-in fact, by every one
The people work in parties of twenty-five
or thirty. and with each party is a musi-
clan. The workers. above their knees in
mud, work backward. sticking the rice into
the mud with a rapidity that is astonishing.
All the blowing Of the canefield and the
cutting of the cane is done by the men.
The women help only at the sugar mill
They feed the furnace with the refuse cane
and feed the cane to the stone crusher.
The men do all the rest. At Montalban
above San Mateo, the men are lumbermen
well as farmers. They cut bamboo,
rattan and great timbers for the Manila
market and raft the stun down the river
1t may not be work, but | imagine an
down hardwood tree two or three feet in
diameter with an ak the blade of which
is only two inches wide Yet the natives
do that. They square the timber with
rude AIDES or hatchetS or rip it up by
hand with great saws.
When rice is harvested the work, like
transplanting, is done by every one. The
rice is thraShed and hulled by women as
a rule, but the at work in their
cane fields at that time. 1t is however
usual sight on moonlight nights to see
both men and women pounding rice or hull
ing 1t in a handmiN- L have never had
any trouble in getting all the labor L want
ed here.
Work barracks.
Last spring (A1ay. June, july We built
barracks for a regiment at three stations
in this valley l had charge of the work
at Montalban. AS high as 225 men. carpen-
tiers and laborers. would be at work at one
time. The carpenters We're paid peso 60
cents gold a day, the laborers half as
much. 1 had no trouble getting labor or
keeping 1t. l could have had twice as many
men as 1 employed. Men would beg for
work, tell about being 'muchO pObre'' or
having "muchO pickaninnies." and 1t was
SO everywhere-more men than we could
use. And we kept the same men as long
as we wanted them. They did not change
every day.
on the whole, they steady workers
fully much so as the average American.
It is true that they have many "hestas,"
but that is part of their religion, taught
them by the priests. They observe them
first as religious duty
The men gamble 1t is true The women
seldom gamble on cock fights, but they
bet on monte and very often the dealer
at monte is a woman.
But do not imagine that the man does
not work Any one who travels about the
country here will soon see that the man
does his share of the work. Every one
works. They have to work to live.
GEORGE A. SHAW
First Lieutenant, 9th Infantry, L. s. V.