The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-03-09

government.
"The hotels run by the natives in
tho city are quite diverse: that is, they
differ in the and in the way the
food ia cooked. The Hotel de Orient
is considered the finest, and perhaps is,
if price is any criterion. Canopied
bedstoads, large, we'll ventilated rooms
and light furniture constitute the apart.
ments. The table is about the same in
all Of the hotels. The Spaniard or ma
tive rarely partakes of breakfast. They
begin eating at midday, when you are
served with a cup Of chocolate and a
biscuit. In the afternoon, from 5
O'Clock until s. is served the principal
meal of the day. There is indelibly
fastned upon my mind the menu-a
bottle Of claret wine of doubtful vint-
age appears Oh the table first; a stack
of six plates is placed before you, the
top one being S soup plate. Now, this
soup is fearful. and wonderfully made,
and the wise man asks no questions as
to the kind served. but simply takes it
on faith. The next course is usually
maccaroni the third course. fish the
fourth, chicken; the fifth, some kind
of a vegetable; the sixth, beefsteak,
and then comes the pastry, which
possibly may be a doughnut or an
American cracker, 4 piece Of French
cheese and a cup of black coffee. Oh,
how often did we sigh for a piece Of
American pie. but, having no stoves
with an oven, they were not able to
produce these. Some two or three
months previous to our departure from
Manila I discovered a place where You
might obtain pie and flannel cakes, and
I can promise you that when I had put
many of our boys onto a good thing.
that shop did nothing else but bake pies
and cakes, and the demand was greater
than the supply.
"It has been said by several writers,
or more properly speaking, by writer's
whose name is legion, that the United
States is responsible for the number
of saloons at Manila. This is a mis-
take. While it is true that the number
Of saloons was increased Immediately
after the occupancy Of the island by the
Americans, the American soldier and
officer is more responsible for this than
anyone else, for men who were holding
licenses from the Spanish government
to sell their wares and merchandise
were enabled to put in a stock of liquors
under their old license. and the govern
ment was powerless to interfere, and
the spectacle soon presented itself to us
of seeing grocery stores, drug stores,
furnishing shops and various and
sundry other establishments converted
into the saloon, and my positive kDowl-
edge, from a careful survey of the
whole field to find whether the state
ments that were reaching US from the
United States were true or false, did
not enable me to discover a single
American that was engaged in the sa.
loon business in the city of Manila.
They were made up Of Germans,
French, Spanish, English and some
other nations, but again / repeat, not
in a single instance did I find a saloon
whose owner was an American citizen,
SO you may say that another lie is
nailed to the masthead.
POSSIBLY the largbest establishment
that the Americans were the most in
terested in was that Of the James R.
Watson company, limited. Not only
was it a drug establishment, but largely
engaged in the manufacture of aeriated
waters. Cinnamon were almost wholly
employed in the manufacture of these,
and whatever may be said as to the
dirtiness of the Cinnamon in the
United States, here it is an absolute
fact that he was scrupulously clean. I
have visited the establishment at
frequent intervals, and I discovered
the greatest care in the cleaning of
bottles, the mixing of the ingredients
and the manufacture Of the various
light drinks there made. It as won
how much of this stuff was sold,
and although the daily output was
2, 900 bottles, they were unable to sup
ply the demand.
Eat the time of our entrance into the
city everything was at i standstill.
The banks were closed, the stores were
barred and the streets had the appear.
of a dead town. There was the
greatest fear, and the people absolutely
not engage in business, not
knowing whether their stocks and their
would be safe if exposed
to the public for barter. This condi-
tion had existed for some three months
our entrance, and you may i'm
agine that there was a grateful class of
people, at least for the time being, that
welcomed the American soldier step.
ping foot for the first time upon Spanish
soil, and within the mex two months
business men told us that business was
of greater volume than it had been for
AL entire year before. I did moi say
anything, but again noted the prodi-
eality Of the average American in
throwing his money to the birds, and
when the natives and the for
who were engaged in business