The leader. [volume] (Brookhaven, Miss.) 1895-1905, 1903-10-28
A LETTER FROM THE ORIENT.
Prot. Wayne WeIborn Writes Interestingly
From the Philippines.

Ellisyille News.l
Through the kindness of George
Welborn, the News is permitted
to publish the following very in
teresting letter from Prof. Wayne
Welborn, who was recently APP
pointed assistant secretary of
agriculture for the Philippines,
and is now in Manila:
Manila, P. |. Sept. 4, 1908. :
Dear George was very glad
to get your letter and the photo
graph. l have been here two
months, but not knowing the
language of the natives, nor
Spanish, feel | haven't learned a
great deal yet. Transportation
and means of communication are
dreadfully poor here, all of which
renders doing and learning things
very slow. Weather is pleasant
for the most part. This is the
rainy season, but ! have seen
more rain in Mississippi than ]
have seen since I've been here.
From study of weather records, /
find it is never so hot here as
Miss, for most of June, July and
August, and the nights are always
pleasant. My health has been
splendid so far. There is some
cholera here, but wonder there
is not more. The poorer natives,
and that means the greater ma
jority, eat snails, crickets, grass
hoppers and locusts, and I am sure
wouldn't draw the line at sJohn,
McDufie's humbug. You can
inquire at Laurel and learn more
of this last bug. The women all
smoke and the babies are said to
be weaned on cigarettes. The
people are as small as the Japs or
Chinese. The great majority are
lazy, improvident, but | never
see them drunk or disorderly.
There are some things in the arts
that they are very expert in. In
spinning and weaving they beat
our mothers and grand-mothers
two to one. The beautiful fab
RIGS they make out of silk, pine
apple leaf fibre, Manila hemp,
etc., would make any woman's
mouth water. Bob and I can re-
member when my father and yours
made rope by handmade ma
chinery. The natives here beat
anything they ever did in this
line. You will, perhaps, have a
chance to see all of this at St.
Louis Exposition, as we'll as large
numbers of their people, their
houses and the manner in which
they live. The Philippines will
have an enormous exhibit there.
There are a great many Chinese
here, who are the thriftiest bust
ness people in the Orient, by all
odds. When the average Filipino
has combed game ROSTERS feath-
ers and tried ON his gaff and
trained him a little and then taken
long siesta, or nap, he has about
done days work. Not so with a
Chinaman. He believes in the
8-hour day, but wants to put in
two of these in each "a hours. He
is willing to do the hardest Of
work. He is a marvel of econ
omy and thrift, and is a born
trader. If. John Chinaman can
get little dirty hole in the wall,
he will get few goods and sit
down over them and make for
tune if it takes him 20 years.
They own most of the market
stalls and smaller places of bust
ness. While Mr.. John Chinaman
skins his natives on the inside, his
sons, the little Chino Mestizoes,
meaning half-bred Chinese and
natives, win all the marbles that
the little Filipinos can rake up out
on the streets. John Chinaman,
merchant, has not generally been
in business long before he has at
tached unto himself the best look
ing querido in the neighborhood.
Querido, pronounced Kare d 0
means Mistress, or wife without
l Il I - II