Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-29

group OF t1iplnoS cannot get tOE0tnoT WIN
out pitching pennies. shaking dice or play
ing some kind of game for stakes. AS
soon a servant or a workman gets nus
wages he starts for the nearest place that
money. and when it is gone he II apt to
p:lfer from his employer to get means to
play.
The other morning / gave q barefooted
urchin a penny for some little service. He
made polite bow and thanked me In
grave and decorous manner. As soon as
tho acknowledgements were made he let go
a shrill yell and started of as fast as ne
could run. A few moments later 1 saw MN
in the midst Of group OF urchlns about
the same age who were squatting on the
ground gambling for the coin. And when
he lost IL he came up to me and IN most
beseeching tone begged for another penny
In order that he might have chance 20
win 1t back. At the factories. at the DOCKS
and at other places where native labor -
employed, the managers Will tell you tnat
the wives of their workmen come arouna
on pay day to get the wages for fear their
husbands will lose them gambling before
they get home. Priests who have lived a
long time In the Philippines declare that
the vice is incurable, that it Is an inherent
passion, and that they long ago gave up
all efforts at reform on the ground that II
was much preferable to intemperance-an
it may be said that Filipinos very seldom
are intoxicated. and few OF them drink u
excess.
The Fighting Cocks.
AS YOU go about over here. in the cities
al well as the country, you are continually
meeting natives of all ages and conditions
with ROSTERS under their arms, petting
them as IL they were babies or poodle dogs;
and John Foreman declares that when ma
tive huts catch fire. as they do very often
and being made of palm leaves and other
inflammable material are consumed IN an
il,stant-the father of the family a.waS ;s
rushes to save his fighting cock ana tets MS
wife and children look after themselves:
In every back yard is a chicken coop hlie9
with fighting cocks of different ages ana
breeds and the master OF the househo'u
spends great deal OF his tlme Training
them for the ring. Petty fights, or re,
hearsals as you might call them, are held
at all hours of every day. All man mas 10
do is to yell for his neighbor on the otner
side of the hedge to bring cut ms rooster
and a scrap can be arranged in an instant.
Cocks that show nerve and fury receive
good care and are trained for the pit; those
that do not have their heads cut of and are
baked or Boiled for dinner. Hence there are
usually three or four birds in training Ill
every family, and on Sunday afternoons the
owner invariably takes the nttest one OF
them under his arm and starts for the near
est cockpit, which. since the American oc-
cupation, must be outside the city limits.
The country roads are thronged with peo-
pie walking and riding in vehicles of every
description drawn by ponies, horses, dom
keys. bullocks and cftrabaos, whole families
being packed into carts and wagons. men.
women and children, with usually one or
more chickens in the company.
The Cockpits.
The cockpits are enormous bamboo am
phitheaters, arranged like the tents of a
circus. with tiers or seats sloping down to
little" circle in the center. Outside peddlers.
fakirs, and other enterprising citizens set
CT dc fOT nj
food and drink and run games with all
kinds of gambling paraphernalia. The
grounds look like those of a circus.
Country people unhitch their horses, tie
them to the wheels of the wagons and then
make day of it wandering about gossip
ing with their neiehbors, patronizing the
eating stands and the gambling places and
blowing in as much money as they have
accumuia ted during the week before. There
are half a dozen such places in the vicinity
of Manila and half the population of the
province may be found around them every
Sunday afternoon. If the government should
attempt to prohibit cockfghting there would
be certainly a revolution. The best it can
do is to forbid it within the city limits.
Since 1873, until the American occupation,
the Spanish government recognized cock
fighting as a legitimate sport and made 1t
a profitable source of revenue. The year
before the war began it collected s149, 039
for licenses to maintain cockpits and SOL
S62 from gambling. Both vices were farm
ed out IKE the sale OF opium ana were
taxed like any other business. All cock
fighting was regulated by law, and the code
filled several pages of the Spanish statute
book. Public fights We're prohibited except
on Thursdays and Sundays and on religious
feast days; no person was allowed to stake
more than 800 upon a single contest. No
cock was allowed to wear more than one
metallic spur or gaff, and fight was Of
fcally over when one of the birds
dead ran away.
Fight Regulations.
Nowadays the fighting is limited to Sun
days and feast days, and there are no
official regulations, but each pit has it's
own rules, and the proprietors make much
more money than they did In Spanish times
because they are not compelled to share
their profits with the government. A small
admission fee is charged and the proprietor
has a small percentage of all winnings. He
also receives a fee for every cock entered.
Betting books are made by professionals
and pools are sold upon well-known birds.
but most of the betting Is wild and reck-
less by people in the audience and Is based
upon the judgment of the person interested
after inspecting the cock in the ring. Men
of all classes save every cent they can
spare during the week to lose 1t in an in
slant upon their own bird or the bird of
they will bet the shirts Off their backs to
show their confidence in their own opn-
ions.
The fights are very short. CATS of steel
as keen as stflettos are fastened to the
spurs of the birds and the struggle is over
the instant one of them happens to touch
the other in a vital place. Usually the
birds cannot come together without one
of them being badly hurt.