Evening star., 1901-09-07
Incidents Of Hemp Seizures in the
Island of Leyte.
CONSOLATION NATIVES DISCONSOLATE
Pen Pictures of Conditions in
Our Far-Off New Possessions.
CIR A Fly FILIPIN o
Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star.
CONSOLATION, LEYTE,

Special Correspondence Of The Evening Star
CONSOLATION, LEYTE.
Philippine Islands, June o. 1900.
This town Is now experiencing the hard
ships Of war. The steamer Youna arrived
here two days ago, with Lieutenant Price
of the 43d Volunteer Infantry in command,
and the presidente (mayor was notified by
him that he came for all the abaca (hemp)
in the vicinity, and for the mayor to notify
all the business men to get their hemp
ready and bring it down and load it on
to the steamers lighters.
The presidente was staggered at first, as
he has a fortune himself invested in hemp
stored here. He politely asked the lieuten-
ant If the people were to be paid for their
hemp. to which inquiry the latter replied,
NO; it is confiscated, but if any of the
people from whom l take hemp wish to
go with me to Tacloban and see the gov
ernor, to put in a claim, they will be per-
mitted to do SO on this steamer" 1t is now
rumored in the town that the lieutenant
has changed his mind and will not allow
the owners of hemp to go on the same
steamer, but they must go by some other
boat. War Is hell" when 1t takes ones
al! as it will do in many cases here. Tie
greater part of this hemp has been brought
into the town since the soldiers have been
stationed here. The people had an idea
be open to commerce, and the hemp flowed
into town only to be seized by the govern
ment's agent as contraband Of war.
The people are thoroughly broken up over
1t, and the women do nothing but cry. We
are asked many times during the day by
them: why Is this, why does the govern
ment take our hemp and not pay MS for 1t
Our reply invariably is, "Yo no Sc Il do
not know.
The lieutenant says the chances for the
people to be paid are very slim. The owners
of the hemp are weighing it and making
a record of 1t before sending it t. the boat,
but the government has no agent checking
it off, and as it is all thrown irto the holi
of the steamer the chances of payment are
indeed slim
This place is held by the government
to be the hotbed of the insurrectos on this
island, although there have never been sci
diers stationed here before, Owlr:y possibly
to the scarcity of troops.
The troops here are commanded by
sergeant at present, as Lieut.. Raoul, the
&C mmanding officer. is off on hike" after
insurrectos, leaving a small force here to
guard the property. When the Youna ar
rived in port and Lieut.. Price informed the
sergeant what his mission was the latter
was in quandary what to do, the lieu
tenant had no written orders to take the
hemp from here, but said that he came
away from headquarters In such a hurry
that he did not wait for orders.
Sergeant Was Suspicious.
The sergeant thought the lieutenant might
possibly be an adventurer who came in to
make a stake and used the governments
name to further his ends. There was, how
ever, a detachment of the 1st Infantry on
board who came with us from San Fran
cisco on the Fitzpatrick, so the sergeant
came to the conclusion that everything
must be all right and he gave consent for
the hemp to go, not. however, till he had
dispatched messenger to inform the COM
manding officer.
All the natives that can be. found have
been pressed into service loading the boat,
which must be CALLING to the ones who are
losing their all. They think it Is pretty
tough to have to give up their hemp with
out payment and then be compelled to
load 1t on the boat besides with no assur-
ance that they will receive pay for their
labor.
Tomorrow being Sunday, the Filipino's
principal day of the week, he does not care
to work, as he usually devotes 1he fore
noon to affairs of church. the afternoon to
cock fights and gambling at monte. The
women do not attend cock fights and say
they do not approve Of them, but they do
not object to their lords participating in
the sport" as they must have diversion.
The presidente has been notified to have
fifty men at work loading hemp a. 5 am
He has reported 1t is impossible TO comply
with this order. as all Of the men have
left the town for the mountains. This is
no doubt true, as very few men have been
noticed today. Possibly some of them have
gone to join the insurrectos, if they do not
already belong to them.
We had been notified to be always on the
alert, as this section is full Of insurgents
we were told, and that they were mingling
with daily but fortunately there has
been no evidence of it as yet We have
marched out in all directions since taking
station here, and have met with no opposi-
ton, in fact have encountered but very
few people on our ''hikes" as the farm
houses all deserted. The people were
evidently warned of our approach and de-
camped.
Good Way to GueIl Insurrection.
Doubtless 1t is one Of the best ways to
quell the insurrection by seizing all prod
ucts which are convertible into cash or
arms. 1t Is hard on the innocent, as all
Of these people declare themselves to be,
but 1t will surely reach the guilty. They
say that the seizure of their hemp will re-
duce them all to poverty and starvation
but nature is too generous on these tropi-
cal islands to allow them to reach that
depth, sustaining food Is growing Wild
within easy reach.
A senorita, daughter of the wealthiest
man here, told me that she could not un-
thought was always just, should take the
peoples hemp without payment. THE
Spaniards, with all their bad laws, never
treated us like that" she declared. 1 told
her that the United States did intend to
treat them justly and that 1 thought If
proper claims were put In they would be
paid in the future.
SUNDAY MORNING, June %, 1901
The presidente reported promptly at 8
o'clock this morning with the information
that he could only get five men In town
that would work on Sunday The lieu
tenant then gave orders to the sergeant to
send patrols through the town and herd
up all the native men. This was done, and
seven men only were found, who were press
ed into service. The loading of the steam
er progresses very slowly, and even II the
government confiscates the hemp there will
not be great deal to the credit side of
the ledger, as the steamer Is chartered, I
am told. at 5000 per day.
Women Business Takers.
The military headquarters here are crowd
ed this morning with women asking for in
formation. The men are of the opinion
that their women can talk better business
than they can. they keep out of sight
Most Of the hemp in town Is owned by a
family named Prudencia. One of the
daughters, a charming senorita, transacts
the business for the firm, and she made
pretty picture with all her finery. Her
father being absent in Manila. she asked
perrnisstop a hold the hemu until his