Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1900-08-21
speclaL Correspondeace ca IL AkoUs:

Apart, 2. L., June 2O--As my
home is in the city of Rock Island, 1
take great interest in. writing to your
paper from the Philippines. L am a
soldier. situated in the city Of APART
with my regiment. l will try and
give you a brief description of
APART and the Filipino as we see
him. Apart. with q population of
~ 900, of whom l 800 are Chinese,
is situated on the extreme northern
coast of the island of L1zon. at the
mouth of the Cagayan river. which is
navigable by large boats about IS
miles south to the very pretty little
town of Sabloc- APART is one of
the principal seaports of northern
Luzon and is the head shipping point
of nearly all the tobacco. which is the
chief product of northern Luzon.
Experts say it is of fine grade, but
we who smoke it think differently,
chiefly owing to the bad curing of it.
the Filipino not having as yet become
adept in that line.
APART has two business streets,
Chinese merchants occupying the
greater portion of them and in no way
being in favor with the average Fill
pino. The celestial, living as cheaply
as he does, is satisfied with a smaller
profit, thereby enabling him to under
sell the native. When the Americans
came here the town was in a filthy
condition Ono wonder disease is prev
alent among the natives), but with
the strict sanitary system that made
it's appearance with the Americans the
town mas changed considerably and is
now quite respectable place to live
in.
The Fill pinos who inhabit this part
of the island are known as "Cagay-
ans similar to the "Tagalog." with
brown yellow color. moderate in
stature, with skull symmetrical, cheek
bones prominent and chin round and
small. The Filipino is as a rule scru-
pulously clean about his person, but
cares not how clean his food or sur
roundings may be. He is very relig-
ious. catholicism being his only creed
1t is a common thing to see him go
from church, unite a game rooster
which has been staked before entering
the church, and proceed direct to the
cockpit. which is about a stones
throw away. Give two-thirds of the
Filipinos a fighting cock and a peso
(S1 Mexican) to bet with and they are
in their glory. They will not work
until their funds are exhausted.
Then only will they work for a short
time. get peso or two ahead and of
to the cockpit again. You could not
get Fill Pine with a few pesos in his
pockets to work for $40 in gold day.
This has been proven several times in
our endeavors 10 get him to work un-
loading cascoes (small boats An
other peculiar feature of the average
Filipino IS that he places no value on
time. He would not sell. not even if
you bought 500 articles ut a time.
any cheaper than if you had bought
only one. He would rather sit there
and sell them one by one, thereby
showing that time is OF no Importance
to him. Now as regards the Filipino
woman. She is indeed an Industrious
individual, performing nearly all of
the manual labor. She tills the soil,
packs everything in the way of farm
products on her head from a single
banana to a load large enough for
mule to pack. Take the women
away from the average Fllipinos and
they would starve on account of their
laziness. The quarters that are oc-
cupied by Companies A and b and de-
tachments of G, 10th infantry. are
those which were formerly used as a
convent by the Spaniards and
adioin the somewhat picturesque
church of the town, which is situated
on one side of a plaza (square), Com
Pany d. 10th infantry, occupying
quarters directly opposite, also for
merly used by Spaniards. In the
center of the plaza bandstand is
erected, where music by the regimen
tai band is dispensed every evening.
thus making the evenings very enjoy
able.
The duties performed by the troops
stationed here are somewhat varied,
APART being the supply depot for all
the troops in this district which COM
prises the provinces of Cagayan-
isabella and Nueva-Viscaya. Detach-
ments are sent regularly with rations
for the troops stationed on or near
the river fully 40 miles south, and
it is a somewhat hazardous and labor
ious duty. the men being frequently
compelled to wade in the water and
push the cascoes, which contain the
commissary supplies. over ssndba
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