Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-23
AN APPEAL FROM JAPAN
Touching Letter Received by
Commissioner Macfarland.
SOME VALUABLE DATA
PRESERVING FILIPINOs' RECORDS
OF THEIR RESURRECTION.
Veterans of the Civil War Rapidly
Passing Away-New Orleans Re-
cent Efforts to Get Trade.
BY VIM. E. CURTIS.


the post Office addressed to His Imperial
Highness, the Lord Mayor of Washington"
which. for obvious reasons, was laid upon
the desk of that amiable and eloquent man.
Henry B. F. mcfarland, president of the
Board of Commissioners of the District OF
Columbia. Mr. Mcfarland blushed when
he saw the inscription and endeavored to
conceal it from his colleagues, but from his
manner they suspected that something i'm
portant had happened. But the letter was
as much of a mystery to the District Com
missioners as the handwriting on the wall
was to their predecessors in Babylon. SO
they sent it to the Japanese legation to be
translated, where it was found to have
been written by Tajima Hisakichi of XII,
Wakayama prefecture, Japan.
Tajima is a schoolboy, and he writes that
he and his playmates are anxious to raise
money for the purpose of assisting the fam
lilies of soldiers killed in the war. They find
1t a difficult task, for so many of the peo-
pie are poor; nevertheless, each Schoolboy
is trying to do what he can, and several OF
them, who have been collectors of postage
stamps, decided to offer their treasures for
sale for the benefit Of the fund. 1t occurred
to them in their conferences that perhaps
they could get a better price for their
stamps in foreign countries than in Japan,
particularly for such rare issues that
COMMUNICATING the silver wedding dnnlVef-
sary of the emperor and empress AS he
has no acquaintance in America and knew
of no one to whom he could appeal he says
that he took the liberty to send the stamps
to his imperial highness, the lord mayor OF
the capital city of the United States, and
begs him to sell the stamps for what he can
get and remit the proceeds at his convent
ence.
Tajma says that every schoolboy in
Japan has the warmest admira ton and at
lection for the people of the United States,
and knows that they are the loyal friends
of japan in the present struggle On that
account he feels emboldened to make the
appeal, and ventures to hope that he will
not be regarded impertinent or as beg
gar. For anything that the lord mayor can
do for him he expresses in advance his
warm appreciation and thanks.
Mr. Mcfarland and his associates were
quite touched by this little manifestation of
schoolboy patriotism, and have sold some
of the stamps at good prices. If any one
who reads this wishes to show sympathy
for the Japanese cause and stimulate the
patriotism of the schoolboys of Xii let him
send contribution to Henry B. F. Mac
farland, Commissioner of the District of
Columbia, Washington, D. c.
Valuable Historical Data.
During the insurrection in the Philippines
and afterward the United States troops cap
tured the archives and records of the in
surgent army, comprising about 100000 doc
uments. These were sent to Washington,
and during the last three years have been
carefully examined and arranged in the
proper order of sequence, SO that they may
be quickly referred to. They are almost
entirely in the Spanish and Tagalog Ian
guages. Many of them are written upon
scraps of paper with lead pencils and are
illegible. Others are written in ink, which
has almost faded out. Others are badly
cd and hot a,,iJ,
can be drawn from them, and great mass
are of no Importance or significance what
ever, but will be carefully preserved.
Out of the entire lot between 10, 900 and
10000 documents have been selected, which
are considered as contributing to the his
tory Of the instruction from the stand
point of the native insurgents and as
throwing a searchlight upon the motive,
purposes and methods and capacities of the
Filipino leaders for self-government. Theae
documents were captured in many different
places, and the subjects to which many OF
them refer are unknown to the officers of
the American army. By publishing them
now, when the memory of the participants
In the insurrection is still fresh, explana-
tory notes can be obtained in the most i'm
portant cases, and it would be unfortunate
If such contributions to history should be
lost These documents form the only ma
terial from which that chapter of the his
tory of the United States be written,
and our national relations with the Philip
~ s.s-5 ;tt-o,,+ 80. -. 49, os
~ "a Ua.~at ny W.
siuei atioii; iieiee .ne ~ nan
mas askeu LIZ az app e I',,, VI
IuL lieii iot, ~ ~ 80 n, W. a. al
~ s en- are toriipie'eiS "iianseo anu ieaoS
ioi 'he pi'ii'ei'
Veterans Passing Away.
o,--.,,aa.o,,o. W. 90 .ho ,,.,,,;o,, oe,oo
Inn vac VI ''i' Peii'ioii oii,oe
tod the house committee on approprla-
IONS 'he o.l'e, uay ma. 'ne ,a'e ~ iloi
was now higher than was ever known he
foro ord mat thew were diving off at on
a,aroo a rate Of 10 a dov which is "A 10
a year The actual decrease in the pension
rolls during the year ending June 80, 1904,
was 49'lof' ior the foilowlng reasons:
by death ,,;,, 80 80
~ ~ minars eensng of aye coo
By failure to claim pension .......... 1857
Other causes ....................... 2s2
The decrease, however, was nearly offset
by 1874 new names placed upon the rolls,