The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1900-03-02

i piuoAuo was tne pusy PaIt Ol tn
city for the foreigner. It's prinoipa
street, the Escolto, extending from tn
Y warehouses facing a small stream run
ming at right angles with the Pasi
0 river, to the cathedral in the Quiap
Q district. On either side Of this were tn,
principal stores Of the city. The jewel
n ry stores would compare favorably witt
+ any that might be found in New YorI
, City or Chicago. They we're conducted
by German Jews. The dry goods shop!
4 bud almost every variety Of fabric suit
+ able for a warm country, and were con
ducted usually by Spaniards. The
drug shops, formerly, were conducted
J by Germans exclusively, but now one o>
the largest aud most prosperous Oh the
Escolta is that Of James r. Watson,
who conducts a branch store in connec.
J ton with his large establishment al
Hong Kong. One of the crying needs
at Manila today is an aEothecary who
will carry American drugs and patent
medicines, Stores containing India
fabrics, Japanese ourios, French, Ameri.
cnn aud Swiss commodities ave also
found along this street. The ubiquitous
saloon tourishes here more, perhaps,
than any other t%horoughfare in the city,
and while speaking of the saloon, upon
our visit to Binondo we were able to
see the names OF tho streets on the
corners, in a foreign language that
possessed no Significance to us. but you
may imagine our surprise on looking on
one or two large buildings, to be found
on the Escolta, we saw in imense let.
ters on transparenoies, that old sign,
the beer that made Milwaukee famous. ;
That was tho first indication that we
had Of American enterprise. Passing
still further up the street we camo TO
the hat shops and the foreign shoe
stores, together with the native engrav.
els md n few fancy grocery stores.
These were largely branch houses. of
some English firms doing business
either at Hong Kong or at Shanghi,
while the commodities they carried
were largely German and very inferior
III quality to those that were prepared
in the United States. AT the upper end
Of the Escolta is the postotfioe, a mag.
niicent building admirably fitted for
the needs Of the immense business that
is conducted within its walls. You
would not have any idea of what the
coming Of the mail meant to US while
we were there. The papers were
eagerly scanned, and just as soon as it
was known that a transport was in
there would be a wild rush to the post
office and every sort Of rig that might
be pressed into service would be made
use of by the various regiments to get
the ton or twelve hundred sacks of mail
to be taken to their quarters. Some
times there have been as great a num-.
Der as l,200 or 1900 sacks at q time to
be distributed; the paper mail being
left IN the sacks, SO much Of the letter
mail as had been sealed belonging to a
particular organization, aud these were
turned over directly by the postmaster
to the proper custodian for the mail Of
the various regiments. l may say in
passing that this was a part Of the
Chaplain's work to see that tho men oh.
tanned their mail and sometimes, when
there would be twelve or fifteen sacks
of mail such as these in a 9xl2 tent, it
would DO a little bit difficult to get it
IA soon as the men thought
that 1t out to be. 1t meant that the staff
must receive theirs first. The captains,
lleutenants and commissioned off.
GERS, together with the mon Of their
companies, must receive theirs in a
separate pile, and when one would re.
member this meant the unlucky mum.
her Of thirteen, 1t could be seen, at
least ut mail time, that the office Of
postmaster for Il regiment was also an
nnlucky situation for a chaplain.
AT the opposite end Of the Escolta
were TO be found tho hanks and the
large Wholesale commission houses.
This, likewise, was the entrance to the
Rosario or the business street of the
Chinese, This in itself was an unique
street, extending from tho Pasig river
the south to the largo church at the
entrance OF Santa CRUZ on the North,
In this locality, almost exclusively,
were to he found the Chinese. Hore
were to he found the furniture stores,
shoe shops, clothing shops, groceries,
lamp stores, oil, hardware, books and
jewelry peculiar to the Chinese. These
are not exactly streets, but rather ba-
or booths, aud are comprised of
possibly ten feet wide and fifteen
o II twenty feet deep, all connected to-
gether by II single wall in the front and
the back, The Chinese occupy these
exclusively, and it is NOT possible for Il
foreigner, or eve a native unless maj
ried to a celestial, to enter one of these
ms a place of abode, They are not a
bit slow, either, in their method of
business. ! remember one day that
! desired to purchase n hammer,
went III tho first store and inquired the
price of 1t and found that it was "A dol
lar, u seemed to mt that this was an
eXorhitant prioeo, aud | went out aud
entered tho poSt store that was like,
wise "A store S,,o ,;oa