The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1900-10-26

stationed man to hold shade over
him and keep flies from him. The
poor devil who sold his life for the
man he worked for lay cooking in the
boiling sun, just as he fell, killed a
dozen times. They prepared the body
of the planter for burial, washed his
corpse, put clean clothes on him,
handled him with every care; while
the poor chap who worked for about
five cents day was hustled off and
never heard of again. The other was
carried in a bier to the church at
Iriga, bells tolled for hours, a mass
taking over two hours, finally followed
by all the church dignitaries IN their
pomp and fnery, choir and band. he
had money the other had none, and
here lies the whole secret OF the Phil
ippine instruction. That they are in
league with the insurgents is an es-
tablished fact. On several occasions
l, myself, have seen them flashing
signals to the mountains and report the
same to the officers of the day. Their
own servants denounce them and tell
the boys of their goings on. This is
a fact and no hearsay. They fear
Americans, for the Americans will
surely do away with such shallowness
and Hypocrisy. They simply bleed
the poor of every cent they can earn.
To me, it reminds one of the pagan
days of long ago. 1t is high time
civilized nation took hand in the
affairs of the orient.
''While I firmly believe there is
great future for the Filipinos, it will
take years to undo the ideas instilled
into them from the Spainards. Mod
ern ways and means, American CAPT
tai, and fair dealings are going to
make a splendid people of a down
trodden race. At present they are in
dolent and lazy, having all the man
ners of the Spanish. While they are
very clearly about washing and bath
ing, their homes are a fright, and
they live in shacks of bamboo covered
with grass. The evil smells are aw-
full Degenerated to extreme, lacking
knowledge of agriculture, consequently
their food stuffs are very much run
down. Rice, for instance. is very
small The fruits, such as bananas,
are tasteless; cocoanuts ditto; pine
apples are no more like those of the
West Indies than chalk is like cheese.
The hemp plantations are immense
and grand, covering thousands of
acres Their modes of preparing it for
commerce are very primitive, and
transportation to the coast for export
very laborious. Their timber is of
great value and beauty. You should
see them saw a big log into boards.
They have saw something similar to
a fretsaw and many days are spent
cutting a single plank. What would
they say to one of our steam saws?
Nearly all of their timber is hardwood,
such as teak, mahogany, lignumvitae,
tall graceful trees of beauty. In front
of our quarters are several trees like
palms. The leaf is about two feet
long, resembling ferns, and of emerald
color, and one blooming mass of
red and yellow centered flowers. Such
tree in the States would cause great
comment. A more beautiful sight I
have never seen. In fact, the whole
foliage over here is simply grand. ~
"This is the rainy season and it
makes soldering pretty tough Still,
nothing stops the boys from doing their
duty, and they are doing it well, and
America should be very proud of her
soldier bows.