The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1920-04-05
SULTAN OF SUlU
NOW TRAVELS IN
HIS OWN "JOYBUSS"

The great change wrought IN the
daily life OF the Inhabitants OF the
philippines by automobiles and good
roads is told by Army Armstrong in
"a recent issue OF the Manila Daily
Bulletin:
The sultan Of sulu came to town
the other day: that Is, to Jolo town,
while l was making a brief visit to
the capital city Of the Sulus.
HIS came in with his prime min
lister and retinue. including a couple
of body guards in full regalia. The
sultan had all his glad rags on and
carried his finest beetle nut box OF
chased gold.
1T recalls to me the last time saw
the ruler of the Moros enter Jolo
back in 1902. when he came in for
lis first big pow-wow with Colonel
Hockey Wallace, the American big
chief in Jolo at that time. His sui
tanship rode in over the trails from
tMiauban on a coal-black stallion, and
besides this royal suite and umbrella
icarriers. had as his escort some 200
tfghting men with spears waving and
|barongs and krises a-glitter in the
pSun, all in a ragtime Of color that
ashamed the rainbow. They had been
five hours coming over the nine-mile
coming was pretty bad.
J A Striking Contrast.
How different the entry I saw last
week. This time he breezed over in
Fifteen minutes in his big passenger
Scar over as perfect and pretty a road
as you will find this side of Riverside
tdrive. He had come in to look over
teome new accessories and fittings he
was having in stalled on a new Hmou-
Ielne he has bought for the rainy
season, and which will be convenient
tshopping car for his favorite wife and
a dozen or so other wives that will be
permitted to use it, and I thought to
myself what a wonderful combination
tthey make for civilization-auto-
mobiles and first-class roads.
! But this same thing has been going
ION all over the islands for the past
ldecade or more. and what a contrast
with what we found here in '9S and
f99 when we learned by hiking how
Mad the roads really We're. From zero
minus in '9S to the present time the
Hhange has been marvellous, for today
Va 900 kilometers Of flrst-class roads
are being maintained in the Philip
tpines, to say nothing Of 5,144 kilo-
meters more Of second and third-class
Toads, much of which are available for
eutOs.
/. A Network Of Roads :.
Nor are these highways central
iZed; they make a network over the
archipelago that forms the greatest
single factor in the development of
the resources of the Philippines.
asked Charles A. Tansill, general as
sistant to the director of public
works, and who knows all about
roads and autos, as to how many we!
have of the latter. When this bu-
reau was formed almost two decades
ago. replied the veteran official, we
had registered four road rollers and
one tank engine on wheels. On the
first day of January, 1919 we had
1879 motor vehicles registered, of
which 1901 were new during the
year. Of the total, / LAB are motor
cycles Or trycycles and they are COM
ing in through the customs house
this year in bigger numbers than ever
before. This is what good roads
have done for this country.
Wild Men Joyrding
"The sultan is not the only southern
island chieftan who enjoys JOY riding,
as in the far-away Davao the picture
esque head men of the Manobos,
Bogobos and still wilder men from
the mountains have the gasoline fever.
The Davoa district has only twenty
one kilometers of road, but scores OF
cars and trucks are busy hauling
hemp and savage wild men, who trade
half q bale OF hemp for a couple OF
hours riding baCE and forth. The
Isorots, in the N ms of the north
several years ago ned the pleasure
OF the road. Where formerly these
husky mountaineers set a pack on
their shoulders and went down over
the mountain trails into the lOwlandS,
they now take passages on one of the
many passenger autos out OF BagulO.
and in a few hours over the famous
Benguet or Naguilian roads are in the
valley trading their hill treasures for
tender dogs and other delicacies. The
smaller islands, as we'll as the bigger
and more densely populated, are given
the advantages of these wonderful
highways. Rugged Bohol island has
its first-class roads over the hills into
the interior. Dark and bloody Samar
has its system also. mostly along the
coasts where formerly blood-thirsty
Pulaianes lay in wait for landing sol
diers or bluejackets.
Revelation to the Islanders
"The public works bureau has done
wonders and combated many Difficult
ties, and so have the auto pioneers
who first took a chance in the prov
sinces and established truck lines into
lthe interior. The island of Leyte was
an example of this. Rich and fertile
in the interior. but with no transpor-
ltation, its thousands of tons of hemp
and copper were formally packed to
the coast cities on the backs Of d.
tminutiye ponies. Then line of
trucks was put in. 1t was a revela-
ition to the islanders, but they ap-
.preciated it, and the system has been
the making of Leyte, together with
the roads that made 1t possible. In
great Luzon it is the same story. On
the roads of the fertile valleys of
Camarines and Albay provinces autos
and trucks are making life more
nleasant and nrofitahla for provincial