Evening star., 1900-07-16
-Four Troops, of Macabebe Cavalry
to Be Organized.
HARD TO RESTRAIN IN BATTLE
Fierce Tribal Hatred Between
Them and the TagaIogs.
COUNTERFEITING IN MANILA


Correspondence Ct the Associated Press.
| MANILA, June 1O.-The military author
| tiles have ordered the formation of four
| troops of native cavalry to be recruited
| from the Macabebes and officered by Amer
| leans. Major Batson, the originator of the
| idea of employing the Macabebe tribesmen
| as scouts, is to be commander of the new
| squadron of Filipino horse. The officers
| will be Capts. James N. Munroe, VIM. Z.
| Geiger, Francis H. Cameron, First Lieuts.
David H. Biddle, James Conway, Clarence
| c. Culver.
| The Macabebes have long been used as
scouts, and their value in such work has
| already been demonstrated. The present
plan of mounting them is intended to rem
| der them more effective by increasing their
| mobility. Many of army officers de-
| clare that we must eventually come to
general use of native troops to preserve
| order in the provinces of Luzon and else
| where. While several of our regiments to-
| day are using small details of Ilocanos,
| Visayans and even Tagalogs as scouts and
| guides. the organization of native soldiers,
with the notable exception of the Maca-
| bebes, has been objected to by the author
| tiles of Manila.
Natives Are Hard to Manage.
When the Macabebes are controlled they
do good work in their own line, but they
|
| and indscriminate killing. Several Amer
| lean officers have declined service with the
| MacabebeS on the ground that 1t was I'M
| possible to restrain them in moments of ex-
| citement. The Filipino country people IN
| certain districts remain in the mountains
| instead of coming back to their village
homes because of their fear of visit from
| the Macabebe scouts.
The Tagalogs and Macabebes are separat-
ed by fierce tribal hatred, and they are al
ways hostile to each other. The native
| cavalryman in the new mounted organiza-
| ton will take the following oath:
I'VE, the undersigned, do severally agree
| that will well and faithfully serve the
United States of America as scouts in the
squadron of the Philippine cavalry from
| this, the - day of - 1900, until the 9th
day of June. 1901, unless sooner discharged.
| This contract is made with a full knowl-
edge and in conformity of general order No.
-, all provisions of which. including the
pay and allowances established therein. are
hereby accepted and made part of this
contract And We do further agree to obey
and abide by all such laws, orders and reg
uiations as have been or may be hereafter
prescribed"
The pay of Macabebe soldiers will be just
one-half that given to American troops ow-
ing to the fact that they to be paid in
Mexican silver, while the Americans are
paid in gold.
Counterfeit Silver Coins.
The large circulation of silver money in
the Philippines has made an opportunity for
counterfeiters, and there is evidence of one
or more gangs in Manila and the pro-
vinces who manufacture spurious coins.
The counterfeiters make Mexican dollars
| from a baser and cheaper metal: the Amer
lean nickel is counterfeited, and the brown
five-dollar bills have been successfully i'm
itated.
But the cleverest and most successful
scheme Of all is the coming of American
silver dollars from Mexican silver dollars.
| The silver in a Mexican dollar, If stamped
| with the facings of our American silver
dollar, at once doubles in value, for any
one will give you two dollars Mexican for
one dollar American. The advantage of
| this scheme Is that sufficency of good
metal can be obtained by melting up Mex
lean dollars and when stamped with the
American facings the coins produce
| 100 per cent profit. Raids have resulted in
| finding several baskets full of bad money
in the rear of a Chinamans house, and a
Filipino was discovered with several dol
lars worth of counterfeit fve-dollar bills
and a box of recoined American silver dol
lars in his possession. The Chinaman and
the Filipino have made partial confessions
and given damaging testimony. 1t is now
evident that they are members of a gang
operating a large scale in Luzon and
in which there several Americans or
Europeans as leaders.