Evening star., 1935-12-10
Gratitude to u. S.
for Freedom. Is
Often Heard.
WELCOME WILD
Great Quantity of
Contradictory
Data Acquired.
Note: This is the first OF a series
OF articles By Mr.. McKelDny on the
Philippine situation.
BY BEN McKELWAY,

stan correspondent OF Ine star.
MANILA, P. I. (via the China Clip
PERI The Philippine Islands being
surrounded by large bodies of deep
water, the arrival of ships has always
been a matter Of interest and some
times great significance to the inhabit-
ants Magellan landed and died on
the Island of Cebu in 1921. Legaspi
planted the Spanish flag on the islands
in 1865 where it remained with slight
Interruptions until Dewey's feet sailed
into Manila Bay in 1898. And early
on the morning of Friday, November
8, 1885, the Dollar liner President
Grant ran up the quarantine flag and
dropped her hook in the mud aud. was
boarded by the medical men who gave
one hurried look at the passengers and
told the captain to sail on in and tie
up at the dock-if the Filipinos caught
anything, medical scieuce was helpless.
Aboard the Grant was a passenger
list that Davy Jones must have studied
with more interest than any since the
days of the Ark. Headed by the Vice
President and the Speaker and the
Majority Leader of the Senate were
As members of Congress; 10 Senators,
16 of them accompanied by their
wives; 26 Representatives, "a of them
accompanied by their wives; an ad-
vance guard for a group Of % news
paper men travelling on other ships,
ranging from publishers and owners
and country editors to a sprinkling
of Washington correspondents who
had been pinching themselves all the
way across the Pacific to see II they
we're dreaming; some suave and
charming gentlemen in the Hawaiian
and Philippine sugar business, some
OF whom we're going to Manila and
some of whom were going from Seattle
to Honolulu by way of Manila:
sprinkling of sons and daughters and
former Senator Harry B. Halves. stu
dent of the sugar business, exponent
of Philippine independence, and grand
marshal ex-officio of the congressional
delegation.
Few Paying Passengers.
There we're, in addition, a few pay
ing passengers who accidentally had
got aboard the Grant at various ports
en- route and spent their time hiding
behind books and sneaking about the
decks in an apologetic manner. And
there was one lone and frightened
British travelling salesman who had
come aboard at Shanghai and who
raced down the gangplank at Manila
and was never heard from again or
seen thereafter. the rumor being that
he kept right on going after leaving
the ship and did not stop until he
reached civilization and friends in
British Borneo.
The members Of Congress. the
newspaper men and a somewhat
varied assortment of others impossible
logically to classify, but including the
Hon. Emil Hurja, student of the civil
service system and its ramifcations
under the Democratic administration,
had come 1000 miles across the
Pacific Ocean, all expenses paid, to
accept the gracious invitation on the
part of the Philippine government of
the then President elect Manuel Que
zon to the inaugural ceremonies Of
the Philippine Commonwealth which
will govern the islands under the
American flag until the fondly hoped
for establishment of the Philippine
Republic 10 years hence, unless some
thing upsets the apple cart in the
meantime.
The Congressman had been invited
to come and see at first hand the