Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1913-07-02

lar hotel. FIVE stories high modern in
every respect, from the garage depot 10
the roof garden. takes care OF the fas-
tidious tourists who once Stunned the
place. The new Luneta lies alongside the
famous old Luneta on the filled-in land
which has replaced the waste water that
used to swash against IL and the Malecom
drive. On this same tilled.in land, one
mile long and one half mile wide. massive
concrete warehouses. garages. the afore-
mentioned new Manila Hotel the Elks'
Club and the Army and Navy Club greet
the eye. The Bagumbayan botanical gar
dens and other beauty spots feature
broad. winding drives
Modern telephones. electric light and
street cars serve the city. The old moat
is grass-grown playground. A very new
water and sewer system capable of sup
plying city twice its size serves the
citizens. Plate-giass windows in most or
the shops make the old store fronts
blush. Modern Office buildings here and
there are elbowing the moldy old Spanish
buildings Off tn ebusines streets. More
than q thousand automobiles. motor
| trucks and motor cycles keep the people
on the jump by day and a score of NOV
ing picture shows entertain them by
night.
Substantial bungalows and up-to-date
churches testify to the presence OF home
than many American cities tells the STORY
of healths successful fight 4 thriving
trade. growing annually by leaps and
| bounds. huns where manana once sat
and nodded.
Manila is now a city of 10000 people.
which handled an export and import
trade OF over $l00o00.0o0 last year Its
geographical location. backed up by the
new dock and warehouse area, will make
1t the commercial distributing point OF
| the United States In the far east, just AZ
| IL is now our political base in that part of
| the world. Fifty hours across the China
sea to the north Is China and her +0o,0oo.H0
OF people, who soon are going to demand
shoes OF modern make, sewing machines
scales, clothes. farming implements more
and more of Philippine sugar, construc-
ton supplies. machinery for public works.
factories, etc. To the south, Ave DAYS
| away, lie the Federated Malay States. At
their back is India. with 100000 600 rest
less Inhabitants.
A bay thirty miles wide will cradle
| Americas immense oriental mercantile
marine
Has Greatest Harbor day. Where
in All the Far East Ten en,,,.s er man.
anese and other foreign ships enter her
gates now a hundred will pass Core
| gidor In the future. Manila has the only
| harbor worthy of the name in the far
east. Only Yokohama offers dock space.
and that 10 limited to the French mall
line and handful OF other ships At every
other port. even mighty Hongkong. pas
sengers and freight are transported
ashore In launches and lighters.
! purely Philippine trade of immense
volume is already beginning to pour
| through Manila, without in tn least re-
tarding the growth of Cebu. noilo. Albay
and Zamboanga. Tropical products equal
| In volume to the total production of the
| Hawaiian Islands. Cuba and Porto Rico
will in the readers lifetime be shipped
out OF Manila to the United States and
other countries. Last year the United
States took tropical products worth
$3.50. 0O0.OO0 SO that Philippine goods
are assured o. a ready market, and the
result will be the development of Manila
into one OF the worlds great seaports-
Manila is governed on the commission
plan, the ruling body being the municipal
board, under the direction of the gov
ernor general OF the islands. There are
six members. three appointed by the
governor general. one ex-officio member
being the city engineer, and two cleo
tive members who draw a per diem. One
Of the men appointed by the governor
general is the mayor, who has always
been a Filipino. The present city gov
eminent was organized July 81, 1901
The insuiar government. for various
municipal services, pays one-third of the
city budget The system has worked
very WELL although the immunity from
the ballot OF ,Ae city fathers, that is.
the four appointive ones who exercise
the executive power. has resulted in
many decisions of public policy very dis
tasteful to the cosmopolitan population.
Good order generally prevails. The po-
lice force has $50 men, about half OF
whom are Filipinos. whereas eleven years
ago there We're 941 policemen. In 1911
the municipal court heard 13 1872 cases OF
which 10 per cent involved moral tur-s
pitude. The city contains nearly fifteen
square miles and is divided into north
and south districts by the river Pasig,
which is spanned by the historic Bridge
of Spain.