Belding banner. (Belding, Mich.) 1889-1918, 1904-09-08

much filth and dirt may be accumu-
lated in the meantime. We find that
the females OF the Island population
are better treated than Is commonly
the case among savages, the woman
who has "matrimony" husband has
very little work 10 do. These cascoes
are navigated by the use OF long bam-
boo poles which are run to the bottom
of the river and used as levers to push
the cascoes along, On either side OF it
is platform constructed OF bamboo
that the hombre walks on while push
in the boat along. They use for I'M
loading the boats bamboo pole and a
sling made OF bamboo strips, one Of
which is suspended from each end OF
the pole or "pings" as 1t Is called |;
these are loaded equally and balanced
on the shoulder and carried down the
gang plank. The native men can bear
a great weight In this manner. have
seen men OF ordinary physique carry
as much as four hundred pounds of rice
for distance of mile. The wemen
like those of southern negro carry
their burdens upon their heads.
might add here that 1t Is as common
for the women to 60 along the street
smoking cigar as it is for the men.
l find that there are some very we'll
managed factories here, especially
cigar and cigarette factories. l had
the pleasure of being shown through
one OF the most extensive OF these only
short while ago. My guide was q
small Filipino boy about ten or twelve
years of age who was employed about
the factory and who spoke the English
language very we'll or to such an ex-
tent as to be able to give me all the
that there were about twelve hundred
persons employed and at least half Of
them were women. There were 81
cigarette machines in operation which
turned out $1,000 cigarettes each, eve.
ry hour. The output of the cigars is
three million every ten hours. The
factory Is owned and operated by a
Spaniard and the entire force OF labor
ers are natives.
To enlightened people, the fact that
the most laborious method OF doing
things is the one practiced by the ma
tives, is indeed very strange, however
such is the case. We find the washer
woman on the banks OF the river with
bundle OF clothes; she wades out into
the water and vets them, then takes
them to the bank where she beats them
with paddle; she repeats this per-
Torrance until the cleansing operation
is completed. Again we see carpen-
ter ripping board; he has a saw that
Is made like a large knife with blade
about twelve inches long and it takes
him several hours to rip board that
could be ripped In as many minutes
with a modern hand saw.
The municipal government is as
good as could be expected under the
existing circumstances. The police
force consists OF five hundred natives
and three hundred Americans, the lat
ter being discharged soldiers OF good
character who have been employed
after passing an examination. There
are six fire stations and about one hun
dred and twenty-five fireman. The de-
partment Is not sufficiently strong for
a city of this size, although It would
not take so extensive force to secure
the city against fire as 1t would In
city OF the same population In the
states, owing to the fact that the build
ings are crowded together and do not
cover so much territory as modern
cities: the department however Is we'll
managed and the business part OF the
city can feel quite secure.
The means Of conveyance are quite
rude and expensive, there being no
street cars In operation. III one does
not feel inclined TO walk, his only alter
native Is to hire carbonate, which
will cost him twenty cents for the first
hour or fraction thereof and fifteen
cents per hour for any time over an
hour that he may care TO use Ii. There
Is nearing completion an eclectric
street railway system which when In
operation will equal any In the states
and In very short time one will be
able to traverse the entire city for the
price he now pays to go around block.
Continued next week.