Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1902-02-15
MATTERS OF LOCAL INTEREST

tile natives Will say tnat III they are
hungry it will again. and most
natives have to be rather hard pushed
to feel the necessity of working any
way, and thus they will expect corn to
DC given them, as right, and if it is
not given out they will hold it as a just
cause of revolution. and l think that
this phase ofthe question should be very
seriously considered before any system
of discriminating giving is resorted
to even to save lives. though l would
place the giving of medicine in an al
together different category and say
that it would be good policy to give it
out even if il must be continued year
after year and become permanent
sy STEM for there is no trouble for any
native in good health to earn a living if
he tries, while from the general i'm
provident character of the natives it is
next to certain that he will not have
money enough ahead to buy medicine,
and to compel him to borrow money
may result in slavery to himself and
family.
And that brings us to the financial
and slavery question on these islands.
1t may be something of surprise to
some of the people in the United States
to know that we have slavery system
here or what virtually amounts to the
same thing. Now. do not think l am
going to dig the government for not
Overturning it, for l have no doubt
that ii will be taken care of all in
good time and the old laws of Spain
will be replaced by new and whole
some laws which will prevent all this,
but it cannot be done in year. for re-
form must come slow in this country.
Money is very scarce here and fabu-
lous amounts are paid for interest.
Why the interest extorted from these
people would make Il Yankee pawn
broker turn green with envy. A case
came to my notice a few days ago. A
native wished to borrow $40 for IS
days and for this he offered at the end
of is days 10 pay back SIG giving a
mortgage on land or a cariboa for the
safety of the money. At the end of
is days he returned to the lender with
the SIG and then said that if he would
let him take the Sc he was to pay for
interest for Il days he would pay him
s12 at the end of that time so the man
got $22, or $12 for the interest on $40
for IS days and Sc for II days. This.
however, was the interest paid by.
man who could give security, the poor
er people who cannot give security pay
much more.
Under the Spanish law at present in
vogue here, a man can let out his own
child to work for another to pay a sum
of borrowed money, and as neither party
expects that the money will ever be
paid it is virtually a form of slavery.
Then worse than that under the Span
ish law a child is responsible for the
debts of the father, and if there is no
money to pay the debts the children
may be taken and compelled to work
for the man who loaned the money, and
he has the right to name the wages of
the child. There is one case of this
kind which has come to my notice. 1t
is the case of girl, perhaps 20 years
of age. Her father died a few years
ago owing a man in the town, 500. AS
he left no property it was incumbent
on the girl to pay the debt, but she
had no money so she was compelled to
work for the man who held her fathers
note, and he paid her the munificent
salary of 10 cents month. These in
stances are common, and the natives
understand very well how to make the
most of them, for a servant is respOn-
sible for losing or breaking anything
and so they will put one of these peO-
| pie to work with some old broken ar
ticle or a sick cariboa and keep him at
| it till the article is rendered useless or
| the cariboa dies and then they will add
| the price of a new one to the original
| debt, so that native in this condi
| ton of servitude can never hope for
release till death comes to relieve him
of his debt and place it on a childs
| shoulders if he happened to have left
one. This is merely one of the many
conditions which the American people
will find to relieve, and no doubt it
will be done all in good time.
One thing that can hardly fail to
cause any thinking man on these is
lands to feel sorry, is the friction be-
tween the military and civil authorities.
Now there can be no question but that
it requires the cooperation of both to
make this government a success here.
and the constant little discourtesies
between the different branches cannot
but result in harm to all concerned.
All Americans here are obliged to go
Iloilo to get permission to buy arms or
ammunition, and what possible good
they can imagine it will do them there
to try to insult a man because he be-
longs to the civil service here is beyond
me. l had an experience there, short
time ago, which would have been
amusing if it had not been so
aggravating. 1 knew of none of the Of
ficer's peculiarities when l went in. but
soon found them out or some of them,
when he informed me that he did not
approve of my having a rifle out here,
though hundreds of natives have them,
and that he proposed to take it away
from me. AS l had gone through all
the red tape | was told on about its
registration, 1 naturally felt a little
irritated at his cool reference to the
fact that the police could protect me
and l did not need the rifle, and he
thought would not be allowed to keep
it, From this point on our CONVERSE
ton was highly entertaining apparently
to those about the place, but it finally
ended by his giving me the requisite
permission. l have since heard of a
number of instances of a similar char
acter. Then on the other hand while
the lieutenant of troops at Jaro was
out one night. thieves broke in and
stole his safe and went off with it. He