New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-07-15
AS TO THE PHILIPPINES
Former Resident Afraid Things There
Are Going from Bad to Worse.
To the Editor of The Tribune.

To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: A year and more ago thought
full men were saying in this country
and in Europe and in the cities of the
Far East that the most important
thing test thing for this admin
istraton lay in the Philippine Islands.
There the United States was making
its first colonial experiment, is first
essay with an alien people, its first
sustained attempt to meet the demands
and overcome the difficulties Of strange
conditions and climate. A chance lay
ahead for the American people to go
on proving their capacity for fine
initiative, eXhaustless energy and high
altruism.
How is it now? Without entering
upon any of the political questions in
volved, one may note things person
ally seen, things described by returned
residents and tourists, and accounts
written and printed from widely vary
ing sources.
Take, for instance, the plague of
locusts, as dreaded plague in the ISL
ands as in Egypt of old. 1t seemed for
a time that Yankee ingenuity and per-
sistence were actually getting the bet
ter of this scourge. As one Of many
means to this end children were hired
to gather the locusts by pailfuls before
thew could fly and when they were
easily destroyed. Now it is said to be
not unusual to see gardens in towns
literally blanketed-gray-with To-
Gusts.
Rinderpest has long made havoc in
the islands among horses and CATTLE.
and also among wild deer, that con-
tract and spread the contagion. Among
the many Americans who strenuously
fought this evil was William Poland.
He was not in the public service, but
simply as a man of public spirit he
spared no effort, no toll, no sacrifice in
arousing and keeping alive the actlv"
interest Of native owners and officials
in carrying out the preventive meas
ures ordered by the government, and
using to good purpose the generously
provided means. Everybody knows that
when effort slackens evil revives.
The cockpit industry seems TO be re-
covering from the check given it by
athletic sports. Indeed, serious plea
has been made to the Philippine Legis-
lcture to discourage baseball as rival
to cock fighting.
The hospitals are said to have retro
graded as to management. 1t is to be
hoped that the same is not true of the
prisons, which have been made so ad-
mirable since the American occupation.
Cases of bubonic plague and other
diseases have reappeared, due, it is
said, to a let-up on rats and mos
quitoes. In the sanitary house-to-house
visiting enforced in Manila a war on
mosquitoes is included, as carbolic in
the drains and strict cleanliness are
sure to rout them. 1t would be inter-
esting to know what has been accom-
plished by the breeding of mosquito
fish in an aquarium in the Bureau of
Science Building for the purpose OF
stocking mosquito infested waters
After watching them make way with a
dinner of mosquito Larvae one cannot
doubt that a career Of usefulness lies
before those tiny, darting, almost
transparent creatures.
Il is averred by travellers in the
East that efforts have been made by
Filipinos to smuggle opium into
Manila.
The building Of railroads for the
purpose of opening some of the most
hopelessly unattraetive parts of the
islands has been criticised. A few rides
over the line, say, between Cebu and
/ lloilo-if memory holds the names
leave a lasting impression. There is
nothing in the prospect that pleAses.
/ And though one would not call the
/ innocent faced man OF the region
'vile." his few clothes are. and so IL
his miserable shack--if, indeed. IL has
not been made heap of rubbish by
the latest typhoon. The only promis-
ing growths in sight are scattered CO.
coanut trees, and some Of those lie
prone beside ruined huts.
But a note OF life and hope was
struck AZ the rude railway stations.
Here were gathered, as out of no
! where, groups Of sien and women and