Although a howling typhoon was sweeping Benguet at the time, 91 residence lots and 15 business lots were disposed of at this first sale, and at a subsequent one held in Manila a few weeks later all the remaining lots then surveyed were sold.
The town site includes two hundred sixteen square miles, and new lots are surveyed as required. All sums derived from the sale of lots are used for the improvement of the town site, and thus Baguio is made to help build itself.
In the spring of 1900 the Baguio Country Club was organized. Because of the extraordinary false statements made concerning it by certain unscrupulous politicians, I give its history somewhat fully. Its purpose was to afford a meeting place for the people of the town and to give them an opportunity for outdoor sports. It purchased a hundred acres of land on which a low assessment had been placed in view of the semipublic purpose which it was to serve.
At the outset the “club house” was a rude, grass-roofed shed made of pine slabs. Its doors and windows were mere openings which could not be closed. It was erected in about a week. Three holes of a golf course and a croquet ground had been prepared. These decidedly primitive club facilities nevertheless served to bring the people of Baguio together and give them an opportunity for a good time out of doors.
In February, 1907, a Country Club Corporation was organized with a capital stock of $5000, of which $3000 have thus far been subscribed. The shares cost $50. No single subscriber owns more than three, with the sole exception of Mr. Forbes, who took ten to help the club get started. Ownership of stock brings no emoluments, but, on the contrary, indirectly involves expense which the present owners have been willing to bear for the public good.
From these small beginnings the Baguio country club has grown into an important institution. As funds became available from the sale of stock, the payment of dues and tile generous donations of a few members, an excellent nine-hole golf course was completed, and tennis courts and facilities for trap-shooting were installed. In March and April, 1908, a modest club house was built at a cost of some $5000. It has two small locker rooms, a large living room, a tiny office, a little bath, a kitchen, and nine single sleeping rooms. Three very small cottages, costing $375 each, were erected on the club grounds for the use of the members. Five larger cottages have since been constructed.
Any person of good character is eligible to membership. The entrance fee is $25, but officers of the army, navy and marine corps stationed at Baguio are admitted without the payment of this fee, and persons temporarily there may secure the privileges of the club by paying at the rate of $5 per month. The annual dues are $20. The families of members are entitled to the privileges of the club. Among its members are the highest officials of the insular government and teachers, clerks, stenographers and other employees drawing small salaries, as well as numerous permanent residents of Baguio.
It knows no race or creed, and Filipinos take advantage of its privileges quite as freely as do Americans. Representatives of every nationality in the islands may be found on its golf course on a pleasant afternoon. It is the common meeting place of Baguio, and hardly a day passes without the giving of some pleasant luncheon or dinner in its little living room or in the outdoor space covered by an overhanging roof at its eastern end. No more democratic institution ever existed.
Congressman Jones, in his attacks on the Philippine administration, is fond of stating that “there is a club for officials at Baguio.” The statement is true, but reminds one of that other statement of a ship’s first mate who came on board intoxicated just before the vessel sailed. The following morning, happening to look at the ship’s log for the previous day, he saw the entry “The mate drunk to-day.” It was his first offence, and he begged the captain to erase this record, but the captain said “It is true, is it not?” and insisted that it must stand.
A little later the captain was taken ill. Upon resumption of duty he found an entry in the log reading: “The captain sober to-day.” When he furiously insisted that it be erased, the mate said “It is true, is it not?” Now, it is true that there is a club for government officers at Baguio, but in making this statement Mr. Jones and his ilk have neglected to say that there is also at Baguio a club for employees; a club for private citizens; a club for Americans; a club for Filipinos; a club for foreign consuls and other foreign residents of the islands; a club for business men; a club for clerks; and that all of these institutions are one and the same, namely, the Baguio Country Club, which is now strictly self-supporting and meets its obligations from the funds derived from the dues of its members. These dues are absurdly low in view of the privileges which it affords.