The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1900-12-25

time. Turkeys were ordered in enor-
nous quantities from Chicago dealers
and shipped tC San Francisco, so as to
be laid down in Manila and in all the
seaports of the other islands in abundant
time for Christmas day. A special order
Tor 5000 plum buildings was arranged for
In advance from a packing house in
Chicago and the transports have been
sailing for weeks out of San Francisco,
freighted down with Christmas boxes and
Christmas supplies.
1t was the intention of the war depart-
ment to supply every army post and gar
rison of the United States, no matter
where that post or garrison might be.
The turkeys and cranberries and pUd-
dings and other presents were to be in
the Philippines in time so that the por-
ton OF good things that belonged away
up at Appari, on the north coast Of
LuZon, or away down at Tawi Tawi the
little island almost in sight of the coast
of Borneo, could be delivered in time.
The supplies that had TO be carried to
the little garrisons away up in the noun
tains Of Luzon and to the little seaports
of the islands south were all to be given
to the commands for which they were in
tended in time for Christmas-nCt WASH
ington's birthday. Life is hard at best
for the men on foreign service with the
colors, and the soldier at Christmas time
is apt to become unhappy and homesick
and it was the intention to lessen that
feeling as much as possible and make
the boys in kahki as happy as possible
under the circumstances that the elabo-
rate preparations have been made by the
government. 1t has all been kept secret
until now. Uncle Sam did not Tip It
off, to the reporters pren1a turely.
Cuba and Porto Rico, of course, will
be easy to supply, being only four days
Hxyh cot fYfV, V i
being fairly well supplied between the
more important cities by railroads. Be-
sides, it is only day and a night by
steamer across from Florida to Havana
and Christmas cheer can easily lump
across that short distance and then ram
lily all over Cuba, especially when Uncle
Sam is behind it. Hawaii, too, will he
easy to supply, because there are so
many lines of passenger steamers plying
between China and Japan and America
that stop there, and all of the government
transports to the Philippines also cali
there
China will not be hard, as all of our
troops, except the legation guard, who
are in China, are at Tien-Tsin. The le-
cation guard at Picking are only eighty
miles from Tien-Tsin, and the railroad.
which is partially repaired, can carry the
supplies through without trouble The
men Who will be the hardest to reach. of
course, will be the small detachments
scattered about in the Philippines There
are $4,000 soldiers there, and they are
spread broadcast over all those many
Islands from Luzon down to Tawi Tawi.
The seaport towns will not be so hard to
reach, but the troops stationed back
in the interior will have their troubles
over their Christmas
The bull carts, with the precious tl1r.
Keys and present on them are liable to
attack at any time as they go painfully
crawling across the country by wander.
ing bands Of natives, who will see
rich prizes in the Christmas stores. Blu
1t is certain that the soldier detail beard.
ing the bull trains will fight as they
never have fought before over the Christ.
mas cheer that Santa Claus has sem
them from the great Chicago concern ir
Chicago, and if any of those hull train.
are captured it will be only after a hare
fight. Only in China will Christmas
seem much like it is in the United States
that it, far as the weather is con
cerned. In Pekin and in Tien Tsin there
will be snow and ice, with naked trees
and gloomy skies. But all the colonie.
are in the tropics, and the day will bt
as warm and clear and the sky as blue
and soft as a June day in the United
States. In the Philippines Christina:
comes at the hottest time of the year
and while it seems odd to the people IL
America, yet it is true that sunstroke OF
Christmas day is not an unusual thing il