The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1901-10-27
is A LONELY SPOT
CHARACTERISTICS Of THE ISLAND
OF GUAM AND IT'S
PEOPLE
FRIENDS OF THE AMERICANS
Natives Refuse to Speak the Span
ish Language, and Reply in
-, English When spo-
ken To.

Here at Guam, only few degrees north
Of the equator, nestles in the heart of
the Pscifc one of the most advanced
outposts of our new empire, says Charles
A. Conant in the st. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat. Beautiful almost beyond the har-
Dor of Honolulu are the yerdure-coyered
bluffs which rise like the palisades of the
Hudson around the entrance of the har-
Dor of Pitt. A nearer view, with the tall
cocoanut palms. the little thatched huts
the picturesque two wheeled wagons
drawn by caribous, the smiling natives
does not dispel the favorable impression
first given of the tropical beauty Of this
little island of the Pacific. When it comes
to living here, however, the navy officers
and marines have a different story to tell
it issnot the climate to which they object
for that is often not less balmy than the
ocean breezes of Swampscott and Maria
gansett, but the terrible isolation from
civilized life. The Filipino prisoners are
banished here and some of the officers
say their Punishment is nearly as bad.
Until the Buford steamed into the har-
Dor few weeks ago a transport had not
been seen here for three months, and
fresh supplies, such as civilized man Uses,
had become corresFondilgly scarce.
When Commander Schroeder received
word that ne was relieved of the govern
took less than six hours for his family
including wife, three daughters and two
sons, to pack all, their belongings and get
them aboard the Yorktown.
4 Guam is the. largest and. best OF the
Carolines. Germany quickly gobbled up
the rest as soon as the treaty of Paris
settled. it that the. United States would
take only Guam. Negotiations between
Germany and Spain were already going
on secretly and informally while Spain
was making her! forced bargain with the
United States, but decency required that
they be kept quiet until the peace treaty
was signed Guam is different in many
respects from the Philippines. On every
hand one sees evidences of the friendly
feeling of the natives instead Of the sui
len hostility or forced courtesy which
greets one about Manila. When the great
typhoon swept over Guam last year the 1
generosity with which the American raw
al commander distributed ratfons and
sought to extend other aid was revela-
ton to the people. From Spanish sell
fishness and incompetence they had
learned the lesson that the governing
power always takes, but never gives.
No regular system of taxation was in
force then, nor is now, except work on /,
the roads; but Spanish governors knew
how to exact periodical presents in tie
medieval form of donations upon royal
births, marriages and visits.
Everything Spanish, indeed, is the petri-,
fed image of the Spain of three centuries
ago. Bad roads or none, utter ignorance
of santa ton, the superiority of church
over state, are =heritages of the Spanish
regime found at every turn. In the
chapels unroofed by the typhoon still
melder the official church collins from
which the dead were dropped into their
native earth. A few rafting wooden
draw bridges over the creeks, bearing
ponnpous names-Puente del Rey, Puente
del Espana-are the sole memorials O:
Spanish engineering enterprise. The har-
Dor here, at Pitt, said to be the best in
the Carolines, is full of reefs, and even
launches cannot approach the little pier
with safety even at high water The old
fort in the harbor, built in 1891, looks like
toy from the stage setting of some
Spanish play of the fifteenth century. 1t
was this fort into which the legend of the
Spanish war represents the Charleston az
Pumping two shells before she discovered
that the fort was unoccupied, and had
not mounted a gun for years.
1t is not surprising in.view of the little
which Spain did, even for her own inter-
ests in the island, that the memorials of
her sway are in process of rapid efface-
ment. Me no speak Spanish, me speak
Americana, was the answer of the little
native boy who followed our party to the
beach near the road to Agana and offer
ed to get US some cocoanuts Most of
the natives, from long habit, still prefer
Mexican and Spanish money to American
but this little fellow, evidently taught
of the benefits of the gold standard, init
mated that 10 cents" would best suit
him. Another little fellow of ten, asked
in5broken Spanish the way to the officers
club, caught at once the word club
trotted briskly ahead of us for four
squares, and then hurried off, without
any thought of recompense. Questions
pat in broken Spanish often elicit such
answers as yes, SIR and this is far
from being the limit of native capacity
for English. 1t is rarely called English,
however: it is always Americana" This
progress in the new tongue is not limited,
moreover, to the port and the road to
the capital. In the isolated little fishing
settlement near the mouth of the harbor
the head man, as he cut open -cocoanuts
for-us with his bolo, talked quite freely
in the new tongue which the new gov
mo nnrrxy