The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-06-06

revolt of 1896, rapidly followed by the purchase of the islands from Spain by the American government. As far ns Spain was concerned the selling of the islands was the best stroke of business she ever accomplished and the United States was never so badly bitten as when she purchased them. Up to date they have cost the taxpayers of America con siderably over a billion dollars. The islands are very likely to become the bone of contention in a great war be- tween America and Japan The war with America came so suddenly upon the Span iards and was so quick and decisive in character that they had no time to make an entry of events in their official re- ports A history of the capture of Ma nila by Dewey and his forces as seen through Spanish eyes would be highly entertaining.
 Previous t o our war with Spain American people knew practically nothing of the Philippines. Our histories barely mentioned them. Our geographers des- ignated the islands as a small archipel- ago situated south of Japan and north of Borneo and inhabited by numerous tribes of fierce and vindictive Malays All dur ing the time of the possession of the isl ands by the SpaniardS they resorted to every means in their power to suppress information regarding this pearl of the Asiatic seas. When we determined to free Cuba we soon found out that Spain had another rebellion on her hands in the Philippines and we supposed that Spain, in her usual brutal way, was fighting a few wild, weak savages in. the islands of the south Pacific. Not until Dewey handed us that costly present did we begin to realize what we were up against. When we took possession we found that the army of Aguinaldo had iad al of xyi ba of Manila and even the city was on the verge of surrender to the natives The story of the war is still fresh in the minds of the American people. Since the American possession of the islands Ma nila has grown by leaps and bounds. It is now a city of 500000 and is more in- teresting to the tourist than any other Asatic seaport
 Manila today is practically two cities. Old Manila, with It's massive wall, occu- pies the south bank of the river Pasig. The walled city, as it is called, is today what it was over 300 years ago. The two cities are connected by two bridges, one a modern steel structure; but the centu- ries old stone bridge, the bridge of Spain, is by far the more interesting.
 The bastioned walls of old Manila have a circumference of two and a half miles. They are from 35 to 70 feet wide at the base and from 12 to 30 feet wide the top. They are entered by SIX gates, and prior to the filling upof the moat they were entered by means of old-fashioned drawbridges The moat was filled by the Americans in 1900 and the drawbridges re- moved. \ The big ditch was a menace to the health of the city, as it contained the refuse of rotting vegetation that had ac- cumulated ever since the building of the wall over 300 years ago. The wall Is honeycombed with old dungeons, in which were found such instruments of torture as were used in Spain during the days of the Inquisition. During the rainy seasons these dungeons were frequently filled to overfiowing and it Is said that frequently the poor, neglected prisoners that were confined in these horrible holes were left to drown by their inhuman captors. Hu- man bones were found in these foul. damp places. If these walls could talk they would tell many blood-curdling stories of Spapish brutality.