, 1900-02-23
QUEER k|NOi0F VICE
PEYToN'S YARNS ABOUT AMERI-
CAN TROOPS IN THE
PHILIPPINES.
Soldier Makes a Reply-Shows What
$4,000 ''Drundarks and Gamblers"
Are Doing-Proves the Slanderous
Character of the Charges Made and
the Ignorance of Their Author.

Isabella, Negroes, P. l., Jan. 10.-Ac.
cording to a newspaper clipping thai
came to me from the states the Other
day, a man named Peyton, who is de
scribed as an e%x-soldier and a repre-
sentative of the brotherhood of st
Andrew, is telling the people at home
that the United States troops in the
Philippines are IA, 900 drunkards
rakes, and gamblers"
At the time Peyton left these islands
there were no soldiers here but regu-
lars, and only As, 0 of them. Conse-
quently, his statement is a wholesale
denunciation OF the entire regular ar
my over here as "drunkards, rakes,
and gamblers" That is the interpre-
tation that 10000 other mothers of reg
ulars in the states my mother, who
sent me the clipping Of Peyton's TRADE,
put upon it. l supposed there are 9TH
ers who translated it in the same way.
The other day a reputable newspaper
man in Manila, interviewed Major
Charles Mcclure, chief ~paymaster of
the United States army in the Philip
pines. Among other things Major Nc
Clure said that 65 per cent of all the
money sent here to pay the regulars
is either deposited with the paymaster
to be retained until the end Of the SOL
dier's enlistment or sent back to the
states in the form of ~paymaster's
checks.
Suppose that Peyton and Major Nc
Clure both tell the truth, We have over
here an army of AS 900 drunkards,
cent of their entire earnings. II old
Solomon had encountered a herd Of
profgates like that l think he would
have dropped dead Of heart disease.
Peyton then goes on to say that when
the Americans landed there were but
two saloons in Manila and hat now
there are 430. l do not know IL the
statement Is true. But l do know that
the inference Peyton means his
readers to draw is false. He evidently
expects people to conclude that prior
to American occupation the Fflipinos
were teetotlers or at least a most tenn
perate people. II nature had planted
a distillery in every mans back yard
in the states, l doubt if there would be
any saloons there.
Did Peyton ever hear of the beverage
called tuba? Does he know that all a ma
tive need do is to tap a %coacoanut tree
and in foul hours he will have two or
three gallons Of a most palatable bev-
erage that has a large percentage of
alcohol? Does he know that an ave
rage native seldom retires for the night
until he is three sheets in the wind
with tuba? Did Peyton ever hear OF
beno, the hard stuff that a native drinks
when he decides that it is time to kill
his father and mother? Does Peyton
know that the natives habiutally drink
enough tuba in a day to kill a hardy
American soldier and that a gallon Of
beno costs less than a glass Of Amer
lean whisky? Does he know that the
natives drink tuba by the coacanut-
shell? Did he ever smell Of the big
black bottle that hangs at the foot Of
the bamboo bunk in every native nipa-
hut? 1t was once Holland gin bottle,
but it is now refilled with beno each
day.
Peyton says that the natives are the
most religious people in the world.
They go to mas every Sunday morning
and put dukkos into the contribution
box. Certainly. And Immediately af-
ter mass they go to a cock fight and
bet the shirts of their backs. Did Pey-
ton ever see his most religious native
play Spanish monte? Did Peyton ever
go to a market place outside of Manila,