Show THE philippines the movement upon the philippines threatens directly spanish sov erigney on the other side of the world A and may result in depriving spain of the last remnants of an eastern empire the spanish dominions I 1 in n the pacific consist of the philippine group the caroline islands and a few scattered clusters lying in the vicinity of both designated by various names name none of these groups of islands are of any importance politically or commercially merci ally save the philippines but the value of these to the spanish crown Is so great as to make all the more remarkable the foolhardiness of spain in rushing unprepared into a struggle with a power which is able in a few days to sweep the spanish navy from the seas the philippine islands have belonged belong ed to spain ever since their conquest in 1565 which was effected by a fleet bearing I 1 an armed force from the western 4 coast of mexico the spaniards did not their conquest aitho without ut dlf dif for although the natives were poorly armed having only the wea weapons lions j common to savage peoples throughout the world they made a stout resistance and all the military strength and J strategy of the spaniards were needed in order to subdue them the islanders have since shown by oft repeated indeed almost continuous insurrections their objection to spanish rule and between 1565 and the insurrection of the he present year it is said there has hardly been a decade in which spanish troops have not been called upon to pacify ift cuban fashion one or another of the disturbed provinces the philippine group lies so completely off of the usual line of travel that save in a general way little is known oi of it or its people boys and girls at school learn the name of the cluster of islands island and because these appear on the maps A as mere dots regard them as of no importance and soon forget them and ana A their location so that among men and I 1 women of the present the question where cherel tire are the philippine islands i often hea heard d but not often answered the last remaining spanish possession in the east indies comprises cemp risea over 1200 islands in the philippine phillippi rie group alone the arl greater ater number however belfar mete mere dots or islets inhabited by only a few families the most southern of the philippines liea lie 4 degrees north of the equator the tr most northern 21 degrees so that the islands cover a very considerable portion of territory nearly 1200 miles front north to south and half this distance i from east to west insignificant as hofft are in point of alt site ule the leading islando Islan db have an area of square miles pa lawan earhar panay 4 negros leyte cebu i and bohl each 1500 mashat 1200 tho th total area of the entire grout group befog 1 1 square miles or about equal itt I a extent to that of missouri and arkan sas combined the islands like most others in that j quarter of the world are all of vol 1 canic origin and each has a mountvill moun mount tatO aill 4 range as a backbone generally term abing with a volcano at each end of the island with two or three in the biddins mid dINS tor for good measure most of the volca volcanoes noeO are lofty but situated as they are aej most under the equator 1 snow sel 10 appears on the summits of the m mountains although the uplands of 0 w m of the islands have a te temperate mp erate cl imater nd during the summer sum m er are ar much lr ism quentel by the better classes of the population rivers of any considerable size ize are of few but small streams are very numerous for there axe are two rainy season sand when it rains on n the philippines it rains in earnest a precipitation of eight inches in twenty four hours having been observed on more than one occasion such deluges as this might be expected to wash all the arable soil into the sea and in fact this process of denudation is constantly going on but as the crust of the earth to Is in volcanic regions in a process of upheaval the damage done by the rain is counteracted by the gradual uplifting of the islands from the deep they are in tact fact constantly growing in size very slowly but appreciably for stone wharfs that were constructed by the spaniards in the sixteenth century are now half a mile from the shore and there are other evidences of the upheaval process A torrid heat prevails all the year round the mean annual temperature of manila is about 90 degrees which indicates that in summer the thermometer stands about regularly every day and hugs the century mark pretty closely during the night even in what is facetiously called the winter season a temperature of 65 to 85 degrees prevails so that a philippine winter would be deemed a tolerably warm american summer the heat is rendered almost unendurable by the moisture in the atmosphere tor for day and night from years end to years end the air is almost saturated the perspiration of the body does not dry but stands in large drops which fall off on the slightest movement the group Is rendered a valuable possession from the fertility of the soil and the variety and abundance of its products despite the fact that the na ives work only under the most urgent provocation and then only for so long a time as may be necessary to satisfy their simple wants the plantations of the island produce an immense wealth the government reports of 1894 the latest available declared the exports of the ilie islands to be while the imports were chiefly of rice flour wine dry goods petroleum and coal the exports were of hemp and its ita manufactures sugar coffee tobacco leaf cigars and indigo how greatly the amount of exports might be increased under a proper form of government which did not tax the energy and almost the life out of the people cannot DO be conjectured but it is certain that with proper encouragement the philippine ine islanders would become an industrious and wealthy people the population of the philippines Is probably the worst mixed of any group of islands even in that part of the world The island lies about midway between the continents of asia and australia the negritos Negri tos or aborigines axe are closely analogous to the natives of new guinea alq andi australia but the negritos Negri tos long before the coming off the europeans had become an imant latant factor in the population having ng been driven back into the interior and mountainous portions of the islands by the malays balays when magellan discovered the islands in 1521 he found all the coasts settled by malays balays but the malay indians by no means monopolized I 1 the better parts of the islands for among them there was a large admixture inix ture of chinese japanese hindus siamese and other asiatic coast races and tribes so that the malays balays themselves were a sort of composite race to the present day the heterogeneousness ness of the population continues and although have political control of the islands only about of and they ahlet chiefly 17 1 ted are to b be 0 found on an the entire pr bup of the nibel of df X r clr naturally serves as aa a constant ant irritation to the natt natives ves that st angers should rule with despotic power a population variously estimated at between and is not to be endured even by ignorant indians and in this fact is found an explanation of the restlessness of the people under the spanish control the policy of the spaniards in the philippine islands is exactly the policy of the chinese empire to exclude as far as possible all foreign commerce all foreign ships and merchants only four ports of which manila the capital is the chief axe are open to foreign shipping and the restrictions thrown around trade by the selfish policy are extremely onerous and hax har basaing ra saing spanish stupidity has however overreached itself for in spite of the restrictions strict ions upon foreign merchants less than one fourth of the business ot the islands is done by spaniards considerably sider ably over one half is in the hands of english merchants and the remainder is divided between the united states the netherlands france and germany the city of manila is a typical eastern metropolis it Is on the east side of a wide bay which furnishes a tolerable ajic anchorage horage but not place of refuge for shipping the city itself is as in most eastern centers of trade divided into a new and old town the mediaeval media eval style and containing warehouses and an enormous native population while the new town much better built with edifices more modern in style and construction lies without the walls A small stream which during the rainy season becomes a torrent runs through the heart of the town and divides the two sections the old town has narrow streets badly paved reasonably filthy as well provided with varieties of odors as coleridge found the city of cologne teeming with east indians of every age color and previous condition of dirtiness whose principal occupation seems to be keeping out of the sun smoking cigarettes and chewing betel nut why they should smoke under the blazing sun with steamy heat rising from every square foot of the ground on which they tread is a mystery but probably on the idea that they are already as hot as they can become they puff incessantly at their cigarettes cigarette s and take life as easily as the climate will permit in the intervals of smoking they load and unload the vessels most of the native population finding its em about the shipping while those not thus engaged have all the occupation they want at their homes in the manufacture of the coarse goods known as manilla lIa bagging or br sacking and in the making of cigars of which many are annually exported to china and india of course they have amusements man under every sky must have some fun and the malaya are no exception to the rule the principal amusement from one end to the other of the philippine islands is gambl gambling ing everybody gambles gambl and everybody devotes to gambling nearly all the time that he can spare from bis meals and smoking A game closely akin in to arajs craps to Is everywhere in PrOST progress wherever two or three malays balays are gathered together the dice are produced and expressions similar to the he wel come seven come eleven floating out upon the heavy boavy atmosphere from behind the huts and the concealment of alleys give notice to the passing stranger that the east indian crap game la is in progress in the pursuit of hla his favorite saimie amusement the east indian is absolutely insensible at fatigue it Is saad tha thlik in u one native resort in manila there tt fik an I 1 everlasting club 11 ithee 6 the malay jay ya craps crapa have been on f tor th I 1 lOOye ve ate aia without W day ar night whenn played emes b ra as to be compelled to withdraw another takes his place and thus the ivory shooting goes on men may come and men may go but the dice throwing and the gambling slang go on forever two or three times every month however the crap shooting is momentarily forgotten in the excitement of a cock fight cocking mains are common in manila and ohp other towns and every great feast da day of the church owes part of its attraction in the popular mind to the fact that after the religious services of the day are over the cock fighting begins and is kept up as long as there are any cocks to continue the fight the en over the cock fighting to is of a more boisterous character than that displayed at crap shooting and the visitor at manila on a church feast day has no difficulty in locating the building in which a cock fight is going on oil by the shrieks and yells of the audience who are encouraging their favorite bird A malay will bet t his last copper on a cock figh tand instances have been known of men who pawned every item of personal property in their possession and lost it when betting on an at cock that they felt sure would win the vices of the seaport have penetrated the interior and demot demoralized the natives of the island towns so that thai th the malay whether he lives on the coast 9 w in the interior is essentially the same the villages consist of collections ot of huts made of wattles and ed with grass exceedingly exceeding ty primitive la in character they at ate are e suited to the cit mate and quite good enough tor bof the people who inhabit them tor for ahr should a malay take the time from rom crap shooting and cockfighting cock fighting th build a house when a double armful of reeds will make the walls and a load loaa of grass the roof so he lives in hai grass hut through which the breezes breezer can blow and when he is obliged to venture forth during the rainy season keeps himself dry by enveloping his boddin a thatched covering made of the same materials which compose his roof and places over his head an um brella shaped hat also of grass which perfectly sheds the rain and keeps hla his cigarette from being extinguished by the falling drops of what use he says are houses of ston brick or even of wood for the earthquake and typhoon are incidents of weekly occurrence in his life his grass graas hut can stand the heaviest earthquake shock and the tremors which bring down a stone building in ruins do not affect his slender structure when an earthquake occurs as it does in some portions of the islands two to seven times a week he Is amused to see the europeans jump up and run en dishabille out of their houses for op fear the walls will fall upon them sits under his grass roof and enjoys enjoy the sensation for even if his hie house does fall he crawls out from under his load of hay and with the assistance oil of his wife and neighbors sets up lip the poles and recommences as though nothing had happened the government of the indiana A bv the spaniards is simple but arbit tt all the native provinces provi ale ae divided into small dist districts riots each with a petty fetty mag magistrate Wrate or al alcalde balde to whom indians go for the adjustment of at trilling trifling matters more ambrious affairs are referred to the spanish magistrate who settles them offhand off hand hd and from his decision there to Is no appeal the th ma beg lays however always restive under any form of control have learned of the civil freedom enjoyed by people of other nations and taxed beyond endurance empel compelled led to give gaye forty datys labor each year to the without compensation they Abet aph to an belter t abr things the spirit of freedom ka extended evet eveh to the cour itry Us 1 ti acts of a the ahm waS abe jOie hw bell lons against the foa banish sanish 1 9 government 0 vern ment are said to be so formidable as to defy the power of the spaniards to sup press them the last insurrection was put down not by military force but by bribing the leaders to leave the th islands but the natives have again risen and to judge from the accounts which have reached the press the appearance pe arance of a hostile fleet off the harbor of manila will inspire the population from one end of the philippines to the other to rise in rebellion against the spanish authority and thus it is more than probable that the death knell of castilian control in the philippines will be sounded by the guns ot of the Amer american loan fleet st louis loui s globe democrat |