The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1909-12-16
BILKlNS IN MANILA
The Major Feels at Home
In Our lsland
Territory.
HE GIVES REAL HISTORY

From Long War Persod-Bnkins
Visits the Sultan os saia and Has
q Great Time.
Correspondence Of The caucasian-
Enterprise.
Manila. =. l.. Dec. |. 1909
am far from the American shore.
But when look about an see that
the American flag floats over every
public bulldin'. know that am in
America in a sense. at least
The Philippine Islands air the
greatest group oy islands In the
world. In number. anyway. for there
air at least fourteen hundred islands
in the bunch. The japanese group
only contains ak hundred. But ia
pan contains more territory. some ov
the islands bein' larger. Most ov the
large islands. the ones inhabited. air
named so az to distinguish them. But
many ov the islands air very small.
little sand. some grass and n few
bushes. Luzon. Panay. Negros. ce-
bu and Samar air by far the largest
Luzon, the largest island. Ia very
much like the larger japanese ISL
ands. beln' very fertile and great
mountains tower up along hits entire
length, csusin' the climate to be cool
and that portion ov the island IL COM
paratively healthy.
Back In the palmy days or Spain
she got control ov the Philippines:
about the same time she planted her
flag in Cuba, I guess. The original
population wuz a mixture and hit
soon become Moroes. Hit IL now
PHILIPPINE. Spanish. Chinese. Jap
anese. Russian. with q recent addi-
tion ov American blood.
The PHILIPPINES, however. air intel
ligsnt, and they air quite religious.
the Catholics and other denomina-
tions havin' quite foothold through
out most ov the islands.
But Spain never had much foot
hold in the Philippines She man
aged to collect o considerable amount
ov taxes from the Inhabitants and
wuz compelled to keep . large num-
Der ov soldiers at the larger towns.
But even military rules did not reach
Tar.
somsthfn' like twelve years ago Q
chain ov circumstances relieved
Spain ov the Philippines and restored
Cuba to the Cubans. For years
Spain had been tryin' to control her
two great colonies. the one In the
Atlantic, the other in the Pacific. Hit
finally ended In real war. Durin' the
war in Cuba, while the Spanish gov
ernment wuz tryin' 10 crush the re-
bellion. an American battleship. the
Maine" happened to visit Havana.
Most ov your readers know what
happened. The Spanish government
denied awl knowledge ov the BLOWN
up ov the Maine and the death ov
several hundred American sailors.
After failin' to git satisfaction. the
United States decided to give Spain
a thrashin'. A portion ov the Span
ish navy wuz IL an at Manila. the
principal seaport ov the Philippines.
Admiral Dewey, commandin' o d.
vision ov the American navy. set sail
for the Philippines. Ov course the
Spanish government heard ov that.
but the impression seemed 70 get out
somehow that Dewey wux out fer .
"practice cruise" But when he sail
cd into Manila harbor one dark and
stormy night and waded into the
Spanish feet with hix sleeves rolled
up there wuz another tune. In about
two hours hit wuz awl over. Every
Spanish warship that had foated 30
lproudly q few hours before wuz at
the bottom ov the bay and Dewey q
feet had not lost a man. Just little
!, later another division ov the Amer
lean navy anchored near the city ov
Havana and bottled up" the Cuban
division ov the Spanish navy. When
the Spanish attempted TO escape some
time later by slippin' out ov the har-
T Dor at mite practically every ship wuz
, destroyed and the war wuZ soon
J over We took the Philippine islands
} to pay the cost ov the war. or por-
ton ov hit, but at the same time.
, paid Spain some cash for them. AZ
a later date we drove Spain out ov
Cuba and gave the Cubans independ-
ence, reservin' the rite to interiors
lie we cared to. II necessary. That In
the brief story ov how we got the
Philippines. how the may ov the
world wuz changed one dark and
> stormy mite. Ov course. the brief
imperfect history I hev given will
not be news to some people. But the
boys and girls who were small twelve
years ago may be interested In hear
In how the United States happened
to get this valuable slice ov real es-
tate In the Far East.
The principal industry in the Phil
iippines LIZ agriculture. The soil pro-
. duces q great variety ov products.
! Rice IL the chief article ov food.
most ov hit bein' consumed at home.
= Hemp IL by far the largest product
raised for export. lift bein' used to
, make cotton baggin' and sich things.
! Sugar cane IL grown 70 some extent.
, but II not now very profitable. To
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