The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-07-18
SALARIES IN MANILA
PAYMENT or GOVERNMENT EM-
 PLoyEs IN ISLANDS.
High Cost of Livirg-Uncle Sam Does Not Allow His Workers as
 Much as They Really Ought
 to Get-Rents areEnormous.


 Considerable has been written of late in the United States concerning salaries paid government employees in the Philip pines. Itinerant Congressman and others have made 1t a feature of their interviews and reports nfoGt of them characteriziug such salaries as excessive. In some eases tables have been published showing the salaries raid. while others have sought to fortify their conclusions by indulging in personal reflections upon member of the commission and their subordinates. Most of such articles are not only mislea ding, but unjsfst to the many who are stalking their health,a and future prospects in scrv- ing ourS rSgove-nment in these islands. To merely publish the amounts paid as sala- ries is special pleading. for it makes nc count of the conditions under which such salaries are earend. Simply because ;.n annual salary of three thousand dollars in the United States represents certain possibilities in the way of service and comfort people are expected to believe that 1t furnishes a general standard. and that a person receiving four thousand dol lars fer tho same service in Manila is overpaid.
 A Point Overlooked.
 Those who have taken 1t upon th:m- selves to declaim against the rate of pay in the Philippines have failed. either through partis3nthip or ignorance, to en- Tighten the people as to the price paid fer life by Anglo-Saxcn in the tropics. A pleasure sail about the archipelago as a guest upon government transport or the feeting experiences of a wandering cor respondent with expenses paid) hardly furnish basis for dealing with the prac- tical question of what salaries can induce good men to come to these islands and re- main here in spite of climate and environ mont.
 Had our learned Congressmen and others taken the trouble to examine Eng lands pay-rolI in India before giving their reflections to the pubic they would hardly have pronounced the salaries paid fin the Philippines hgh in comparison. Had they thought also of writing to our civil service commission In Washington they would have found how difficult. if net impossible 1t is to induce stenograph- CTS to come to the islands at $l0O per month. even with the promise of trans portation and substantial increase after six months. Our visiting friends bear a rather close analogy to the worthy spoken of by KipHng in his poem, "Pagett, M. P" and we would recom- mend that subsequent visitors read about MT. Pagett before rushing into print. Had those who have treated the question of salaries cared to represent the situation fairly to the people in the United States they would have told something about the cost of living and the many other things which make life a mere serious problem here than at home.
 The Universal High Prices.
 When the American forces occupied Manila the industries of the islands had already suffered from over two years of war. To this paralysis succeeded the in- surrection against our authority, which completed the demoralisation of the pro- ducing industries. To the ravages of war and outlawry were later added the Il,in- derpest among the cattle and the pest of locusts in the crops.
 The result was and is that in land of plenty Americans have been compelled to import practically all their food stuffs. Meat has hal to be brought in cold stor- age from Australia. vegetables from Hong Kong and other Chinese DO ts and cam red goods and other necessaries from the United States and abroad. Add to the first cost of these goods transportation charges and duties and the profits of the trader and some Idea will be had of the bare cost of living in Manila. From $l5 to s1ol. gold, per month is the usual price for good board and lodg ng while seldom can anything satisfactory be had for less than $50. In the early days civilian ern- ployes of the Government had the benefit of the army commissary. but with settled conditions this privilege was withdrawn For men with families who must keep house the situation Is even worse.
 Enormous Rents.
 Manila, while city of something over two hundred and fifty thousand inhabi- tants, has comparatively few fine houses. while there has been little or no building since American occupation. The great influx of Americans, both army and civil ian with the consequent demand for hcu- e3, ha5 raiscd rents to an almost pro- hibitive figure. Houses which rented for $50 (Mex.can) per month in Spanish times TOW command $15) or more, while fre- quently 1t is impossible to get them at any figure. A corps of servants must be maintained to do the work accomplished in the States by onelor two, while almost every person is compelled to own his own transportation. MaRila's one-horse car line starts nowhere, goes nowhere and runs when 1t pleases. Nobody who Is in- terested in reaching any particular point at any particular time ever uses it. AS the climate forbids walking, and no de- pendence can be placed upon securing
 
 to buy and support one's own conveyance. Here again, one Is met by war prices.
 Native ponies which formerly brought from $50 to $60. tMexican), now bring iron, S20O to $500, while ordinary vehicles cost from $500 to SG00 in gold. Forage for the horses is brought from the United States or Australia and Is proportlonately expensive Prices Lave gone up every whe.e and for everything. It may be ar gueSl that this Mutation Is abnormal and that with the restoration of peace prices will fail. 1t will he a long time, how ever. before the country will! be able to produce in abundance those things t6 which Americans are accustomed, XwliiIe settled conditions are apt to brtSg such an influx of Anne. leans and fGgeigaers as to constantly keep theyS demand above the supply. Only in th2 matter of street transportation IS theEs any prospect of immediate change.
 The Price 13sid for the Office.
 The mere cost of living, however inn portant though it be. and close as it touches thei lives of most. is not the most serloAs question to be answered when ceGsidering the price of life in the Topical East. To most men such a Ire kneans separation by half the world in kindred and friends; 1t means a cSmplete break with plans and hopes and Ambitions that have occupied and per 5haps filled years of time and labor. and ,,bich oa annot b9 again resumed. It means