The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-01-26


and was of the greatest assistance, as
he had "soldiered' all over it. The
Spaniards were content to hold the
towns, but the Americans demanded the
entire country. The war was fiercest
in the section through which we passed,
and beside the track we saw a mOnu-
ment erected in memory of a fallen
hero; an upright cannon on stone base.
We crossed the Bagbag river, which
Fred Funston didn't swim. The Bagbag
looks a good deal like Independence
creek at the place where you cross it
on the DOniphan road, Two privateS in
the Kansas regiment really swan the
river under fire, but Funston received
the credit. Afterwards the incident, as
applying to Funston, was taken out of
the Kansas school readers. / do not
knew whether Funston claimed the
credit of swimming the river or not;
possibly he denied it all the time, and he
was made a hero in spite of his screams.
You may remember that Theodore
Roosevelt was nominated for vice presi-
dent as the hero of San Juan hill, al
though ne distinctly stated in his beck
on the war that he was not in the action
on the hill. But when the Americans
start in to praise or abuse a man, they
OVerdO it.
The American soldiers were always
willing to fight in the Philippines, and
certainly didn't lack bravery but all
bushwhackers. About the worst thing
that happened over there was the mas
sacre Of fifty out of a company of sixty
United States regulars The soldiers
had employed a. lot of natives to cut
down a bush patch near the soldiers
camp. While the soldiers were at break
fast one morning, and separated from
their guns, the natives attacked them
with hatchets and knives, and killed
fifty out of sixty in the company.
We spent an hour between trains at
Malolos, the capital Of Bulacan prov.
ince. MalOlOs was once the insurgent
capital, but the Americans soon took
it; When the Americans heard of a
bunch of insurgents, they went for
them IN vigorous fashion MalOlOs has
$4,000 native population, twenty-five
Americans, and no newspaper, al
though it is the capital of what we
would call a. state. Loafers begin
gathering at the station at o'clock in
the morning to see the $40 train go
by You can have no real idea of
shtftlessnesS until you have seen Ma
lolOs. Native carriages are hired
there for fifteen cents an hour, but the
horses do not weigh more than three
hundred pounds, and the carriages"
are old and dilapidated affairs on two
wheels. English is not as generally
spoken in the Philippines as in Japan,
and if Mr.. Wall had not been able to
speak Spanish, we would have had
trouble in getting about at MalOlos.
There is nothing to see in the town.
except a curious old church. burned
several years ago. In the country as
IN Manila, the principal buildings are
churches. You will never know what
the term religious liberty" means un-
til you travel through Japan, China,
the Philippines, and the Orient gener-
ally. In America, the church has lit
tie power, but in the Orient it is very
important; it is still important in Italy,
France and Germany, although it is
rapidly losing strength in the three
countries named. France has gone so
far as to fight the church openly.
England is about as Indifferent to the
church as America. 1t is q curious
tact that the greatest strength of the
church lies in those countries where
there IS least enlightenment and prog
ress.
At one place on our trip, we passed
beside field in which grew green corn
a foot high; in another field corn in
tassel. And in Decemberl But little
corn IS grown here. the principal crop
is rice, every plant being placed in the
ground by hand. And the crop is
gathered in the same laborious way
There are practically no fruits or
flowers in the Philippines; the natives
are too lazy to grow Them Yet coun-
try more favorable for fruits and flow
ers could not be imagined.
When we entered the train to re-
turn to Manila we found lot OF
American army officers playing high
i've. One of them made some sort OF
a wish. Il tell you what / wish" an
other one said, as he fought the flies;
Il wish I was back in Iowa, wearing
an Overcoat and wooden underwear.
and going to town in a sled" well,
another one said, 'it viii be long
time before you get there. While you
are waiting, lead
At the country stations, the princi-
pal passengers who got on were men
carrying fighting ROSTERS: they We're
going to Manila to make matches. No
women shoppers; the women were
busy with the rice harvest. I should
think an American would go crazy in
Filipino country town in three days
At the country stations. many of the
town loafers standing around carried
lighting ROSTERS, and affectionately
stroked their feathers.