The Log of the Empire State

by Geneve L. A. Shaffer

We passed miles of beautiful groves and were told on the way back to Manila, that each tree averaged about fifty cocoanuts a year, but that one tree has been known to yield three hundred nuts, and that a new breakfast food, made from them, is about to revolutionize the morning meal. Also we heard that no longer will it be necessary to go to the tropics to enjoy the mango, for a new process has at last been discovered that will permit of their being canned. We were told that the natives carry long knives and often use them and that someone said, "Although they may be dressed in the latest style from toes to head, they are still savages from the waist up." This seems difficult to believe, in spite of the numerous scars one sees, as one could not but feel friendly toward the Filipinos. Their courtesy is typified in their road signs that we passed, "Slow please," and after the curve was rounded, "Thank you."

We all noticed how clean and neat their appearance was. You know it is said that the Japanese keep their bodies clean, but not their clothes, while the Koreans keep their clothes clean (perhaps because they are white and the dirt is so evident), and not their bodies, that the Chinese keep neither their clothes nor their bodies clean, but the Filipinos keep both, their bodies and their clothes, immaculate.

One of our party asked one of our hosts. "Why he never said, 'right' and 'left', in directing the chauffeur." The answer was that in the old days the footman's seat was on the left horse, hence 'cella' for left, while the driver held his reins in his right hand, therefore 'mono' (or hand) means right to the Filipinos.

Reese Lewellyn said, as did most of the Americans in the Islands, "That the United States should never give up the Philippine Islands, as they are a necessary base for America's importing and exporting." He said, "Although, before I made this trip, I was not in favor of the United States holding outside territory, I now realize that we must keep the Philippines as an outlet for our supplies. In a diplomatic way the Filipinos will have to be made to realize that, in spite of the fact that they have been told they would be independent of United States, conditions warrant our keeping them as a part of the United States."

Our first impression of the native women was that they were all going to some ball or had put on their low-necked, transparent evening dresses by mistake. But, before any reader gets the impression from this that they are immodest, let me hasten to add that we found that they were exceptionally sweet and charming and are the souls of propriety. Why, even the man engaged to a girl cannot so much as walk with her on the streets in the broad daylight, and to take her arm - Oh, horrors! If a girl should permit two different beaus to call upon her, even if well chaperoned, it would eliminate her matrimonial prospects, as she would then be branded as a hopeless flirt, so we were told.

But, needless to say, the few American girls in Manila do not follow these rules, for we heard that an engagement for tea with one masculine admirer and to watch the oily seola nuts burn at dinner with another friend, and to attend an evening dance with a third, is not considered unusual. After the Philippine women get the suffrage, Governor Leonard Wood seems to want them to have, some of the ladies of our party wonder if things will not be a little different for the native women?

We were escorted through cigar factories, hemp works, and to Bilibid Prison, where from a central reviewing stand, the avenue of cells with the drilling space between, radiate like a great pinwheel. A very elaborate drill was given by the prisoners, who were dressed according to their conduct - white for the best behavior, blue, fairly good, stripes for bad behavior.

Besides the tea dance at the beautiful Spanish Club, the Governor's Reception at the Palace (as it is called here), and the numerous dances, there was a luncheon given to our party at the delightful Manila Hotel by the Rotary Club.

At this function the cablegram to us from Mayor Rolph was read and applauded, as were the messages from former Manager Wood of the St. Francis, and Manager Manwaring of the Palace. After speeches by A. I. Esberg, Byron Mauzy, C. B. Lastreto, Ex-Senator James Phelan, who had just arrived in Manila, made a very interesting and humorous address.

He referred to the time when the war over the Philippines was going on, at which time he was Mayor of San Francisco. He said, "Then we hardly knew where the Philippines were." He dwelt upon the marvelous resources of the Islands and warned us not to be like the old miner, who before the "Days of '49" said that he saw a sign advertising the village that is now San Francisco, for sale for five dollars. When asked, "Why he didn't buy it," he said, "He didn't' have the five dollars, and anyway he didn't want it then."