The Manning times. [volume] (Manning, Clarendon County, S.C.) 1884-current, 1903-11-04
MORAL LEPERS.

MOhAu uEl IUAeO.
Awful Conditions Of Social Life in the
City of Manila,
AS SEEN BY A COLORED MAN.
The White People are Doing Them
selves and the Poor Filipinos
A Great and Last
ing Wrong.
Two years ago the Atlanta Constl'
tuition published from it's special repre-
sentative in the Philippine islands a
number of letters showing that dis
graceful conditions figured prominent
iy in the benevolent assimilation" o1
the Filipinos. The statements made
by the Institutions correspondent
we're bitterly criticised by Republican
newspa pers, but just now it is the
Conetitution's time to laugh, if, in
deed, anything connected with the
conditions in the Philippines may b.
said to be properly productive OF
mirth.
r. Thomas Fortune, negro lawyer
who was recently sent to the Philip
pines in the role of special commits.
sioner, has written to the New York
Evening Post an eSting article ir
which be touches upon social condi
tions in Manila. Fortune says:
There are relatively few Ameri
can white women in the Philippine
islands. Those who are there have tx
20 away once every two years to re-
new their life. The climate eats then
up. Where white women cannot live
permanantly, white men will not.
This pregnant fact is the parent OF
many evils in the social life OF the
Philippine islands. which are so glar
ing that they cannot escape the notice
of the most casual observer. Mar
riages between white American mer
and Filipino women are regarded witt
as much horror as marriages between
blacks and whites in Tennessee. a
White chief Of bureau who married a
Filipino woman was Stunned by his
associates and bounded by his superb
ors, so that be was glad to find seclu'
sion in a common clerkship in another
department; but, being competent
man, be gradually recovered his 9th
cial position, but not bis social po.
sition. Just before I left Manila, in
May last, the local press was full Of
the story Of q Filipino woman who
was deserted by her American nus,
band. The story was as follows: a
Filipino woman in one Of the pro,
vinccs married an American. They
lived together for some time. One day
the American told his wife he was
compelled to 20 to India on business.
After his departure his wife became
suspicious and followed him to Ma
pilla. She discovered thai he had
taken passage on an army transport
then lying in the harbor, bound fol
the states. She appealed to the civl.
authorities to prevent her husband
from deserting her, as the Manila
newspapers phrase it, but she Wa>
told that they had no authority. Sbe
then appealed to the military authorl,
ties, according TO the local newspa'
pers, and got a like answer. The poor
woman, deserted and heart-broken,
was standing ON the shore as the
transport swept out Of the glorious
bay.
But this sort of agony is avoided
in the main by not marrying and Civ
ing in marriage. I was seated in the
third-story room Of a house in The
Tondo district of Manila one after
noon in April last. The weather was
warm and sticky. All the windows
and doors in sight were wide open
Across the way there was a row o.
two-story tenement houses, eleven in
number. My friend suddenly said;
There is condition for you. Those
eleven houses are occupied by eleven
American men and eleven Filipino
women. The house on the extreme
left is occupied by a colored Ameri-
can, who is married to the Filipino
woman. The other ten houses are oc-
cupied by ten white Americans, who
are not married TO the Filipino wo.
men. You will find that all Of these
men occupy subordinate positions in
the civil government. They are never
seen outside the house with these wo-
men, and they leave them when they
tire Of them. The condition is a COM
mon one here and id the provinces,
and it is much to be regretted And
as | rambled about Manila, as did all
the time that | was not in the prov
inces, I found that the statement
made by my friend was substantially
correct"
1t is fortunate for Fortune that he
is not attached to the regular army,
else be might be court-martialed and
dismissed in disgrace. But as it is,
the Constitution says that Fortune
has written only, what everybody
knows to be true but as truth OF this
kind is not popular with President
Roosevelt and his party, he is not
likely now to find thrust upon him
many invitations to stretch his legs