Evening star., 1901-07-12
BEING AMERICANIZED
Filipinos In Manila Rapidly Adopting
Our Customs.
PLAY BALL AND RIDE BICYCLES
Still Fond, However, Of Cock
Fighting and Monte.
CHANGING CONDITIONS

L =
Sergeant Louis W. Martin of Company b,
LIST Battalion, United States Marines, now
stationed at Cavite, in the Philippines. has
written another interesting letter to his
brother-in-law, Mr. Benjamin Neff Brouner
of No. 1925 F street northeast, this city.
1t was dated April 25, and will be found a
| valuable contribution to Information about
the Filipinos, as it cleverly contrasts for
mer conditions with those now existing.
The letter, in part, was as follows:
We are having some very warm weather
ont in this part of the world now, as these
three months-April, May and June-are
the hottest months of the year here. In
July the rainy season sets in and lasts
| about three months, after which We have
six months nice, cool weather, when it is
| as pleasant as any one could wish it.
guess you know all about Aguinaldo being
a prisoner in Manila, where he has been for
the past month. He thought he was very
smart in keeping out of the way so long,
but General Funston was smarter than
he, and played about as smart a trick on
Aguinaldo as could be played. I saw an
account in The Star of the surrender of
General Trias, who was Aguinaldo's right
hand man, and was in charge of the insur-
rection in southern Luzon. Do you remem-
Der my writing you about the hike we took
through San Rogue, Carload, Noveleta and
Cavite Viejo last January? Well, we
thought at the time we were looking for
Aguinaldo, but since Trias has surrendered
at San Francisco de Malabou, which is only
about four miles from Noveleta it must
have been the latter that we were looking
for. But the rumor got abroad that Aguin-
aldo was at Cavite Viejo which was his
home, and where his mother now lives so
we were hustled out at IL pm. to look for
him.
You have no Idea how these people out
here have improved IN every way since the
Americans have taken these Islands. Since
L came mere, eighteen months ago, all man.
mer of changes have taken place Two
months after landing here I was sent down
to the southern islands, Basilan and BaIa-
bac. | was at Fort Isabella for five months
and Balabac for four months and a half.
1t Is small island in the Sulu group the
farthest south of all the Philippines, and
Is Just across sixty-mile stretch Of water
from Cudat, British North Borneo, and
$50 miles from Sandahkin,. one Of the chief
cities OF Borneo. At Cape Melville, Bala-
bac Island. our government has a light
house, where there is a marine guard sta
toned to protect the government property.
The guard consists Of one sergeant, one
corporal and ten privates. They are the
only white people on the island There are
six Filipinos there who look after the light
and see that it is kept In good order: all
the rest of the inhabitants are the Moros.
whom you know all about as l see very
accurate descriptions of them in The Star
written by Mr.. Frank G. Carpenter. He
gives good description Of the life and Gus
toms Of the Moros. The nearest American
garrison to the light house Is at Jolo $50
miles north, so You see We were quite a
distance from civilization, but we always
receive the papers, and in that way kept in
touch with the outside world. You people
In the states knew of things that occurred
within a short distance of us before we did
1t was when l returned from that trim
ant aho
people, and how fast they were becomiug q
Americanized.
A Boom in Bicycling.
When we left here you could not see,
and the Filipinos had never heard of such
thing as a bicycle, but when we came
back we could see them everywhere and
everybody rides one 1t is great sport for
them. The tandem is great favorite with
the young folks, and you can see all sorts
Of senors and senoritas riding around the
streets on tandem. When we first came
here they were using a glass tumbler full
of oil. with wick stuck in it for light.
Now they are using the electric light, and
some of them do not know what to make
of 1t yet. They do not understand how
you can turn little knob and make all
the lights flare up at one time. They stand
on the corners in the evening when the
lights are about to be turned on, just for
lilc pui pose VI seeing dbl lNe llSntS go up
at once. 1t is pretty sight to stand on
the sea wall here at night and look over at
Manila. 1t looks like New York at night
when looking from Staten Island. Manila
is situated just across the bay from here
and is in plain view all the time. 1t is
about the same distance as Alexandria is
from Washington. We can go there at
any time We wish, as the government ferry
goes there three times a day, but Just at
present we are not allowed to stay there
over night as the bubonic plague has
broken out there.
Natives Speaking English.
The Fflipinos are picking up and using
our language altogether and they seem to
like 1t better than the Spanish, and very
soon do not think they will be using any
Spanish at all, but only their native tongue
(Tagalog) and English. They are living
much better since the Americans have
taken charge than they ever did before,
for they are getting more money. The gov
ernment has doubled their wages and the
soldiers here are spending more money
than the Spaniards ever did, while the
price of everything has more than doubled
since we came here. The soldiers have no
one to blame for that but themselves, as
they started 1t.
There are two of the largest churches in
Manila that 1 ever saw-Catholic churches
as that Is the religion Of these people
We do not see as many friars here now as
we did when we first came. Then the city
was full of them, but now we hardly see
a friar in a week.
Good worR of Y. NJ. c. A.
The Young Mems Christian Association
is doing great deal of good here, and
quite a number Of natives attend the meet
ings. The association has nice, cool
building that the authorities set aside for
it's use. The branch here Is In charge Of
a Mr.. Hunter, and he does everything in
his power to make it pleasant for the boys
There Is a library connected with the as
sociation, and we can always get books
to read and all the magazines. fellow
can go there when he Is not on duty and
have quiet game Of chess, checkers or
day that would otherwise seem long and
dull.