The Calumet news., 1912-07-19

| Gated the Filfpfnos TO Considerable
! degree, because while the discipline
/ OF the American officials is strict. ths
method of treating and caring for the
| prisoners within its confines has done
more to demonstrate that the Ameri-.
can people are a humane race than.
! all other means.
Bllibid has a daily routine much like
other prisons. The prisoners are.
reused in the morning by the call Of!
the bugle at 5:45. Breakfast follows a
certain amount OF exercise, and afterj
that the prisoners go TO the workshops
until the noon hour. Then comes a
light lunch, n siesta for an hour, more
work until $50 p. m. then dinner,i
and they are locked up for the night.
Twice a week the inmates are COM
PEELED to battle, and twice a week
they are given clean clothes. not all
ways secured by many of them while
on the outside.
There are four classes of rations
issued TO the prisoners, depending on
their nationality. The Americans re-
ceive the ration of the regular army.
which costs about % cents: the Euro
peans receive food at the rate of
about II cents, and the Filipino eats
to the amount of cents. j
Death Rate Low.
The employment Of the prisoners
consists of laundering, manufacturing
bamboo furniture. weaving baskets, ,,
curtains, screens and hammocks. ma
king rope, engraving on wood horn.
shell and silver. making fancy and use
full articles from horn and shell. and
wrapping coach whips and there are
also carpenters. wood turner's, black
smiths, stone masons, hricklayers and
tailors, and occasionally an artist or
two is found among the number and
given a canvas.
The articles thus manufactured are
placed on sale. and from the revenue
thus derived the prison often accumu-
lates a surplus for the year The av-
erage amount of receipts from this
means is about $4,000 a year.
One of tho greatest testimonials TO
the conduct of Billhid Is the low death
rate since the beginning of the Amer
lean administration. Under the Span
ish rule it sometimes reached as high
as one I'm five, while under the Ameri-
can direction it has never gone above
one ia sixty
Bilibid has seen many exciting days.
and, under the Spanish rule, has had
It's walls so crammed at times that it
seemed as II no more could be forced
in. Yet they were. >Its capacity was
originally designed to accommodate
? 2,0e0 but the records of its days when,
revolutions existed against the Span-.
ish government show that as many as
$500 prisoners were confined there
az one time
The prison was, IN fact. designed for
this purpose more than a hundred
years ago. and political prisoners have
'outnumbered the criminals each year
since, according 10 the captured rec
ords Of the prison. When Gen. f. A.
Hughes took charge Of the prison for
the United States government In Oc-
tober. 1898. he found over 1000 pris-
oners confined there against whom
no formal charges had been recorded.
"A great many of them" he said.
"were heavily ironed- cruelty \
ironed For instance. there would be
n man chained to the wall of stone
cell in which there was no light except
through two loop holes high up and /.
about two inches wide aud foot long. !
We also found some with bars of iron I
about three feet long 10 which were
attached two iron hoops that were
fastened around their ankles. and they
had 20 carry thess bars every step
they made. Tho flesh around their
ankles was worn altogether to the
bone in many cases"
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