Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-08-15
A Chatty Letter on War and Other
Philippine News.
WITH A GOOD WORD FOR TIE NATIVE
A Saucy Message From the Insur-
gents Offering Amnesty"
DEATH RATE MODERATE


Special Correspondence OF The Evening STAR.
MANILA. P. L, July Is, 1900
Today is steamer day." as the big trans
port Sherman sails this afternoon for
home. Not only that. but the Indiana,
Flintshire Wyefield and Relief are expected
to sail for China with reinforcements and
supplies, while we are also hourly looking
for the arrival of the Thomas with lots of
mail. These American mails astonish the
old inhabitants here. Formerly the arrival
of a vessel with one hundred mail bags was
an event almost unprecedented: now, since
our occupation, mails Of five hundred sacks
are fire. luent. and sometimes eight hundred
arrive by single steamer. The collection,
outfit and dispatch of troops for China was
big task. in the case Of the 9th regulars
last month. but the various departments
here are in a state of fighting efficiency and
orders carried out promptly. AS to the
actual state of affairs in China we are al
most entirely in the dark much more so, l
dare say, than you at home The papers
here have very little cable news, but what
little they get Is utilized by being repeated
in every succeeding issue of the paper for
about a week; indeed, the entire sheet is
practically reprinted day after day, and
people continue to buy it. only in the hope
of finding something new. A sensational re-
port about the wreck of the Oregon was
published couple of weeks ago, denied. re-
published, REDEEMED, and on. At present
few. If any. here know whether the entire
story was false, or if 1t was founded
fact, or If the ship is now all right
and at Taku, total loss on some
reef or qucksand. locality unknown. So
you need not think that we in Manila are
close to the scene of trouble in China. We
are 1000 miles away in actual distance and
for all practical purposes farther off than
you are, at least as regards information.
Those who can do so vary the monotony
in Manila by little excursions to neighbor-
ing points. 1t IS a pleasant drive out to the
water works, about a dozen miles to the
eastward the Mariquina river. The
muddy water is pumped up into reservoir
a couple of miles back and is conducted
thence to Manila in two big black pipes
that be all the way except for
occasional dip under hill. The reSer-
voir is rooted over with masonry and earth,
the top resembling an ordinary field with
several covered ventilating openings and an
occasional weak spot fenced around to keep
people off. The entire lot of land, six or
eight acres. is incloSed by a stone wall
with driveways through it. The only plaus-
ible explanation as to why 1t was rooted
over that the water is thus kept fresh
and cooler. and the best explanation
to why Aguinaldo'S forces did not break the
pipes is that it would have injured his own
friends in and about Manila more than the
Americans The lay of the land about the
waterworks is very pretty, and when the
road is put in first-claSS order, the country
pacified and electric railroads built, there
ought to be a lot of pretty country villas
built there. The bluff, said to be at ele-
walton of some two hundred feet above
with it's occasional nipa-hut village, to the
high hills north Of the great lake, Laguna
de Boi. a glimpse of which can be seen in
the distance.