Waterbury evening Democrat., 1906-07-20
RseNHkHylU

N A Manila landlord in trying to rent bis house said it was located in the aristocratic district of San Miguel. He was stirring up hornets nest, but didn't know it. There are people in Manila who object to San Miguel be- ing termed the district of the 400. Until this time few people ever knew, and majority cared less, that Ma nila could boast a really aristocratic section. Those who did were proba- bly, of the American colony living in Ermita. There the cream, so to speak, of the American contingent re- sides, that is the commanding general of the Philippines division and those of the big government salaries, and 1t has always imagined itself the aris- tocracy of the city, perhaps more through penchant it has for paying about 50 per cent. greater rent than would be required elsewhere.
 In Ermita the houses are huddled together like stampeded steers in roundup, but the nearness of the sea shore and the Luneta. Manila's Bois de Boulogne, the cleanliness of the district and, incidentally, the high rents, are what attract the American to this select western center of the metropolis. But the landlord was quite correct in saying in his rent ad that his property was located in the aristocratic neighborhood of San Mi guel, the literal translation of which is Saint Michael, for here true east ern aristocracy. what little there is in the capital, quietly resides.
 noThe landlords Of Ermita are just rich enough on the average to own expensive houses, but poor enough to need to rent them when Americans can be found that will pay double what they are worth. But in San Miguel the conditions are somewhat different. There the citizens are wealthy beyond the state of becoming landlords, regardless of the lone own- CT who wanted to hire out and who was crafty enough to advertise an aristocratic atmosphere as drawing card to the susceptible. Here the Roxases, the brewing magnates, and other families of great wealth live when not touring continental Europe, or globe-trotting iR general Their vast wealth quite counterbalances the high rents paid by the aristoc- racy of Ermita, and then they have one other claim upon the title which handicaps the aspiring denizens of the sea shore barrie. This other claim lies in the fact that the governor general has his home there-the White House of the Philippines-and has had since long before American occupation.
 But SO much for Manila's aristoc- racy and the hombre who brought up the subject through a desire to rent, and to the subject of the Insular White House, which Is locally known as the Malacanan palace. located on the banks of the Pasig in the heart of San Miguel. Malscanan Is a na- tive name and means in terse English the "hang-out," or rendezvous of the fishes, but the exalted official who re- sides there is far from being fish in the sense that the American term inn plies. Why this name was given the place is not known, unless it was because of it's proximity to the river. |
 The executive mansion at Malaca- nan. although popularly known as the palace, would hardly be dignified | -zith the name in any other country. l anless in some of the toy republics in she Caribbean. Tho new command ing generals residence recently | erected in Ermlta at government ex- pense far excels it in exterior magni- ficence. but the interior and the I grounds about the military mansion can hardly favorably compare with | the domicils of the governor general But the name of palace generally sig nifies a grand and imposing structure. fit for kings and their fix, yet this cannot conscientiously be said of Malacanaa. The buildings proper are long and low. sguatty and fat. but covering a vast amount of ground as if to make up in area what they lack in height. All the roofs are of or dinary. unDaiuted galvanized iron or of red tile. while the walls are either of adobe stone or native hard woods, the place thus giving. with it's well kept iaxns. shrubbery and drives more the appearance of a shooting lodge or some sporting prince than anything else to vhiea 1t can be com
 Quill 1oothpicks.