The daily morning journal and courier., 1903-08-15
OUR CIVILIZATION IN MANILA.
Some Phases of it Noted by the
 Editor of the New York Age.

Some Phases of 1t Noted by the
 Editor of the New York Age.
 The growth of the American barroom in Manila and in the provinces has only been outstripped by the Standard oil company, whose product I found every where in southern and northern Luzon. But an alarming feature of the matter, as I saw 1t all over the island of Luzon, is the fact that the Filipinos and China men are taking to American whisky and bottled beer like fish to the water. The little brown fellow cannot stand up under American whisky and beer. They bowl him down and out in short order. It is very unusual for Chinanen to drink American beer, but from observa- tion and information. am sure that the drink habit is growing alarmingly among them, in Manila at least.
 | was seated in the third-story room of q house in the Tondo district one afternoon in April last. The weather was warm and sticky. All the windows and doors in sight were wide open. Across the way there was d row of two- story tenement houses, il in number. My friend suddenly said:-
 There Is a condition for you. Those Ill houses are occupied by II American and Il Filipino women. The house on the extreme left Is occupied by colored American who..is married to the Fill pino woman. The other 10 houses are occupied by 10 white Americans, who are not married to the Filipino women. You will find that all of these men occupy subordinate positions iii the civil tgoEerfirnent. They are never seen out side the house with these women, and they leave them when they tire of them. The condition is a common one here and in the provinces, and it is much to be regretted" And as rambled about Manila, as did all the time that was not in the provinces.I found that the statement made by my friend was subs tantilally correct.
 s asked my friend to tell me why there were so many American prisoners in Bilibid prison. He said: Why, the American set here have set a pace in living which calls for the expenditure of vastly more money than the small fry can earn; they, therefore, have to steal. If you will notice 1t, you will find that hardly week passes that the arrest of some American is not announced in the daily newspapers for misrepresentation of trust funds. Living here is very ex- pensive, and those who fly high have to pay dearly for it. The number of Americans here who are in debt all the way from $1O0 to $5OoO would surprise any one. The civil and military autho- rites do all they can to check an i'm moral living, but the evil was planted in the days of army occupation, and it Is hard to,root It out Then, the social conditions, here are such as to en- courage high and immoral living. There are very few amusement and diversions here and the American hotel and saloon are common places of resolt; and the number of American saloons in Manila is remarka ble. The number of Americans is comparatively small. Those who have small incomes mingle on equality with those who have large one, if they are people of education and character. The natural result follows. Those with small incomes live beyond their means. too. often in the effort to keep in the sWin, and Frequently fetch up in the Bilibid or become fugitives from justice" A colse study of the situation convinced me that diagnosis was substantially correct.-T. Thomas Fortune in the New York Evening Post.