Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-06-02
MANILA'S FUTURE
To Rival All Other Asiatic Cities in
Health and Beauty.
OUR PACIFIC TERMINAL CITY
Needs Cleansing, Smooth Streets,
More Schools, Fewer Saloons.
IT'S UNIQUE ATTRACTIONS


or Ceylon Manila will. of course, enjoy a
corresponding development, displaying all
the municipal merits and avoiding all the
municipal blunders Of the great cities of
the east. The attractions of Colombo and
Batavia, of Bombay. Madras and Calcutta.
of Singapore, Hong Kong and Shanghai are
to be noted and reproduced in the model
capital of the orient Whatever tends to
make these cities healthful, whatever rem
ders them beautiful and whatever gives
them increasing prosperity is to be adopted,
bettered if possible, and applied in the de-
velopment of Manila
In Asia the cleanliness which means
health is the first municipal virtue. The
filth which breeds cholera and the plague
Is to be the object of incessant assault.
Municipal housekeeping is to be character
lied by the of abundant soap and
water.
The Dutch and the English have per-
formed the miracle of compelling the Malay
and the Chinaman. packed in the close
quarters of city, to be clean. They shall
be clean also in Manila.
To He CIeanaed and Purified.
Our Asiatic metropolis will lend itself as
well to thorough and scientific drainage
and is as easily furnished with an ample
cities enumerated.
Like all of them but Hong Kong Manila
lies practically at the level. There is
no general sewerage system, though in the
old city sewer connections have been made
contrary to law with the extensive surface
drainage system emptying into the moat.
The dry earth or night-soil bucket sys-
TEN which has been introduced and ell
forced by the American authorities is
pected to solve one part of the sanitation
problem. while a reduction or cremation
plant will be a necessity of the immediate
future to dispose satisfactorily of the gar
bage.
Through the benefcence of n phianthro-
pist of the last century Manila is supplied
with water of very good quality from the
San Mateo river. the pumping station be-
ing over eight miles outside the walled city.
Ninety seven per cent of the inha bitants of
Manila use water from free public hy-
drants. and in addition all the streets are
sprinkled without cost and all barracks and
schools and many churches and public
buildings have free water. A small per-
centage Of property owners pay water
rent and a tax on meat sold at the mar
kets has paid the remaining expense. The
American task in this connection is one Of
development, improvement and adornment
and not of original creation.
Smooth Streets and Improved Trans
pOrtatiOn Facilities.
If il requires cleanliness of the individual
the municipality must itself keep in perfect
order the public spaces, the streets and
parks. The irregular stones of that part OF
Manila which Is paved give street sur
face which cannot be perfectly cleansed,
which jotS and wears the wheels of lighter
vehicles and which harmoniZes with and
serves as a defense for the abomina5e
means of public transportation which are
imposed upon the people. Sanitary consid-
erations require that the streets of Manila
shall, like those of the other capitals of the
east, be smooth and hard. Aesthetic and
economic considerations point in the same
direction. And when they have had the
proper effect the rough stones and the lrreg-
ular unpaved surfaces will disappear, the
uncomfortable and dirty carromattas and
other public vehicles will give way to cabs,
'rickshaws. bicycles and automobiles. The
carromatta men need not go out of bust
ness with the advent of the 'rickshaw, but
c!eansed and purified and improved as to
tEeir vehicles, they can share the carrying
trade with the 'rickshaw men, like the
gharry drivers of Singapore. The dirty
mule-drawn street cars must make way for
the underground electric system. In no
other respect does Manila compare less
favorably with the attractive cities of the
Orient than in the condition of its streets
and in it's means Of public transportation.
reform in this respect cannot be accom-
plished too quickly.
The well-regula,ed tropical city has within
easy reach for the sake of the health of its
"a hra hing nlacpS San9tOrilmS in the
hills or mountains, where the lungs can be
refurnished with oxygen and new vigor
given to the !anguid dweiler at the sea-
level in the tropics. Colombo seeks fresh
air In the hills at Randy in the noun
tains al Nuwera Eliya. Batavia refreshes
itself at Buitenzorg or at some mountain
sanatorium like Sindanglaya or Tosari.
Singapore having no mountain resort of its
own has recourse to Ceylon or Java. The
cities of India are well supplied with refugees
from the heat of summer in Darjeeling.
Slmla and other hill stations. For central
and eastern Asia Japan serves as a cooling
off place.
A Wealth of Health and Pleasure Re-
sorts.
Manila has close at hand and soon to be
in quick communication with it a wonder
full variety Of sites suitable for sanatoriums.
Mountains hills and lakes are in the i'm
mediate vicinity. At the mouth Of Manila
bay lies mountainous Corregidor, demon
strated through it's use by our army for
hospital purposes to be always cool and
healthful the ideal site of summer re-
sort which mingles in desirable proportions
the atmosphere of the hills and of the sea-
Within easy reach farther in the interior
are picturesque mountain towns, like Maja-
iay. with the waterfall of Botocan GOO feet
high and 60 feet wide. as an additional at
traction A twenty-mile ride in any drec-
tio,. from Manila will give any required
temperature. any desired mixture of sea
and mountain air. In his suburban resi-
dence the business man of the Manila of
the future will be able to sleep after an
hours railroad ride from the city in
temperature of 40 degrees Fahrenheit. Cool
and healthful spots may also be found
close at hand and easily accessible through
the Pasig fringing the great oasin of
Laguna de Bay.
Forty-five miles south Of Manila is Lake
CONTINUED on Twelfth PaSe.)