This morning the stars and stripes are flying everywhere from public and American buildings, and it is a holiday. Fourteen years ago to-day the Spanish surrendered to Gen . Merritt and the American troops occupied the City of Manila. It is called Occupation Day. The troops at Palawan Park will have games, speeches, etc. and/end their day with a big barbecue. Just how they will manage since the rain is pouring as usual, the globe trotter cannot make out. It seems a big cheeky to make Occupation Day a general holiday, since the natives did not welcome the Americans. Mr. Rafael Del Pan, who is a reputable Spaniard here, and whom we met in Java, invited us to join a company of young people, of whom one was his very pretty daughter, to Pagsanjan (pronounced Packsan-han) one of the show places. We met them at the Paco Station at 3 p.m. Sunday and traveled until 7:20 by train. It only rained a little and I was very glad to discover that Luzon is as truly tropical when one goes a little into the Interior, as any of the more Southerly Islands. We soon passed through groves of beautiful mango trees, then rich corn fields, then crossed bridges over little brooks, bordered by Photo Paseo de Maria Cristina, Pagsanghan, Lagua, P.I. When the Spaniards departed, they left a Church or a Cathedral in every town. Photo Laguna High School, Laguna, P.I. When the Americans leave, there will be a school house " on every hill top", and we hope no cock pit, opium den, dance hall, or saloon in the valley. luxuriant graceful bamboo, with cocoanut and bananas in wild profusion. The hemp looks so much like the banana that the uninitiated cannot detect the difference. An American occupied the compartment with us and he told us that we must cross a bamboo bridge of some 300 yards length, about 3 ft. wide, with the hand rail broke in many laces and the woven floor broken in many places also, so there was danger of falling through. The bridge was about 20 ft. above the water, but the water was not deep he assured us. He has so well worked up by the time we arrived. It was as dark as a pocket, and only two lanterns came to meet our party of 8. We walked on the railroad track, crossed a railroad bridge, all time dreading the long bamboo bridge. Instead we came to a little ferry composed of two canoes placed side by side and covered with a woven bamboo floor, bamboo side rails and cover and pulled back and forth by a rattan used as a rope, the natural rattan reaching across the river. It was a weird experience in the dark night, only the faint flicker of the lanterns being visible. The ferry had o cross twice to carry us all. After a few blocks more we arrived at the Pagsanban Hotel, which was delightfully clean and comfortable. The food was plentiful, although not skillfully cooked. Our nets caged some black mosquitos which registered 31 bites on me during the night. Otherwise I arose at 6 a.m. refreshed. At about 7 we made our arrangements to depart for the Gorge. Clad in a borrowed raincoat, rubbers and a borrowed strawhat, I joined the others at the back of the hotel, where eight canoes awaited us each rowed by two boys and carrying one passenger. We sat comfortable against a chair back in the bottom, and in a mild rain Photo 178 - View on the Pasnsanjan River just below the Gorge, island of Luzon, Philippines. This is a typical canoe. Photo 180 - Upper Falls Pagsanjan, Island of Luzon, Philippines. The Fall at the end of the Gorge that we did not see. were rowed down a peaceful river, bordered by gentle hills covered with cocoanuts and big bamboos bent lovingly over the banks. Many palms of other varieties, bananas and a wild profusion of vines trailing from one tree to another, was picturesquely beautiful on all sides. Soon we came to a bed of big rocks which made a wild rapids. It looked skittish, but our boys jumped into the water, and wading through pulled the canoes after them. There was a space of more smooth surface, then a wilder and deeper rapids; more river and a still wider and deeper rapids, then more placid water. At the fourth rapids which looked well nigh impassable, the Dr., Mr. Del Pan and I turned back, the young people all dressed in bathing costumes went on, for now the passengers too had to get out and scramble over the rocks. For some time we had been in the Gorge, a circuitous split in a mountain, with straight precipitous sides, covered with moss, vines and small trees and crowned with palms. Sometimes a sufficient space was allowed for a wide river, sometimes it was very narrow. Everywhere it was wild, beautiful, peaceful. Beyond the point where we turned back the Gorge was narrower and at the end was a large waterfall. We saw three of the falls which fell from the table above. Often the turn in the Gorge is so abrupt that it seemed as if we were in a Lake. The return was more enjoyable, since we floated down stream. The rain ceased, the sun came out and the surface of the water reflected the trees on its bank. One little view was exquisite. A woman was kneeling by the river's edge washing white clothes. She was dressed in a scarlet camisa, and over her like a canopy hung the feathery branches of a bamboo. The green, the white and the red were reflected in the water, and would have made an artist snatch his paint box. Upon our return we visited a spring where the people come for drinking water and where a fine spray in a stone bath house permits a "mandy" or Dutch bath. We visited the market. We always see new things. Here in the Philippines, they bring Ducks eggs within about four days of hatching, by burying them in hot rice which they reheat each day. By this time the duckling is formed, but has not many feathers nor hard bones. They boil these eggs and they are considered a great luxury. An old woman offered us one, when we stopped to watch her eat one, but we were not curious. They also bury ducks eggs, fresh in mud and salt and after a time the salt percolates through the egg and they are also a delicacy. Then we visited a tumbledown building where we found four school rooms with some 300 little primary boys and girls under Filipino teachers. There is also a high school in the hills, but there is not room for these little ones. We saw canoes rowed by fathers and big brothers carrying these little ones with their books and slates when we went down the river, for the schools here begin at 7:30. The banks of the river only rarely revealed a house, but there are many hidden in the cocoanut groves. Mr. Del Pan says it is an old saying that the cocoanut is a coquette, for she only grows where there is a glass in which to look at herself, which means that the tree grows best near water. The town of Pagsanban is very quaint and picturesque, containing a stone church of 1690, several stone walls with quaint gates, grass and moss grown. Upon our return we drove in carcomettas to the Lake (La Laguna) through Santa Cruz. We found Pagsanban had an imposing cement fate with three entrances, just as there are in Berlin, where the middle one is for the Kaiser, the others for the common folk. Long after walls ceased to be needed by towns, they apparently built gates, a good example of how the world holds the form of old things long after the need or the meaning is gone. We found at Santa Cruz a fine Government Building for the Province of La Laguna. We returned through the rain without event, arriving at the hotel at 7:30. It was not a comfortable trip, but one well worth while. We wish we could have a picture of all the vehicles we have driven in. The Dr. is small, yet the carometta was so narrow that it made me black and blue on my hip, and I had to take my hat off. The Dr. had a private talk with Mr. DelPam which she took some satisfaction in repeating to me, although he had begged her not to hurt my feelings. He says he is not liked by either Filipinos or Americans because he tells both sides what he thinks. I believe this, and that he is in general a very fair-minded man, but naturally with a bias against the American administration and favorable to the Spanish. He says the Cable News and the Times say all good things of Americans and all bad things of the Filipinos, and that the Free Press and the Guardia do the reverse. The attitude of those four papers are ever widening the differences between the Filipinos and Americans. I believe this. He says the Americans spend the money which comes from the Filipinos on those things which help American property - and on Bagio which is used by Americans, and that tennis and golf links have been put up there but only Americans are permitted to play. That schools are conducted only to introduce English, which is unpleasing to the old ones who only know Spanish. The Filipinos expect Japan to come and seize them and believe that the U.S. is too far off to protect them. They think if they had independence they could get all the other nations aroused to protect them against Japan upon the claim of a general fear of "the yellow peril." The plain truth is no nation is good enough to rule another, but this conquering of Asia by Europe is undoubtedly awaking the sleeping millions into some sense of their backwardness, and although antagonisms exist everywhere between the natives and the overlords, which makes life somewhat irritating to those who live in the midst of it, yet these are growing pains which will make these children of the race grow into sturdier nations by and bye. Meanwhile, it should be the aim and never forgotten object of each European and American nation, to be honest, philanthropic human guardians or trustees over their respective charges. These Western nations hold their tenure by military not ethical titles, and there is a tendency to emphasize the character of the title. Alas, no man is fit to rule another and no nation is fit to rule another people. Mr. Del Pan, who is exceedingly well informed and well read, told us it is an old saying of the Filipino that the monkey knows very well how to talk, but he never speaks in the presence of man, for if he did he would have a tax on his head. (The cedula (or poll tax) was an old device of the Spaniards and has continued under the Americans.) He told us that Rizal, who was called the elder brother of the Malay race, and who did write some very fine philosophy concerning the needs of these people, and for his talents was hung by the spaniards, had one Spanish and one Chinese ancestor. He claims that the Filipinos are a much more mixed people than is usually supposed because for 300 years there have been constant migrations of young men from Spain, Mexico, China, Japan, England, France, etc., and now America. These men never brought their wives but found them here. Mr. D. P. puts it well. "These men had no race prejudices in matters of love and marriage." A few nights ago we saw a sample. We went in an auto at 9 p.m. with Mr. Rice and Mrs. MacVeagh of our hotel to the Santa Ana dance hall. This is one of many in Manila and the provinces. They are now controlled somewhat, but are an inherited institution from old times. Men sit on one side and women on the other. The men are mainly soldiers, the women young girls. A band plays four minutes and rests one. When it begins as many men as wish to dance, cross the women and select partners. Each girl carries a palm lead fan which she puts between her and the man. Whether this protects her modesty or allows the man to get near enough to keep the fan from dropping, I do not know. When the music stops, the man pays the girl 20 centavos, or 10 cts., and she walks to the cashier who takes 10 centavos for the hall and gives her 10. A girl makes from 1 to 3 pesos (50 cts. to 1.50) per evening, and she can only make 1 peso in a week by embroidery I think. Everything was respectable in appearance. The hall closes at 12 m. On the man's side are tables and when not dancing most men are drinking and all smoking. At midnight, what happens? It is not difficult to conjecture! We attempted to go to another dance hall. We never arrived, and we did get back to the hotel in two calesos at midnight, having escaped in a man's arms from am auto stuck in the mud by means of a carometta, a wait under a dripping cave, with curious natives looking on, and First Woman Pleader in the Philippines. For the first time in the history of the Supreme Court of the Philippine islands, a woman has appeared before that body to plead her own case. This was August 1 when the case of Simona Samaniego against Vivencia Casiano was heard. The case had been originally heard before Judge Crossfield, and was appealed to the higher court. It is one in which the plaintiff, Simona Samaniego, is suing her stepmother, Vivencia Casiano, for an accounting of the property left the former by her father. The plaintiff was an infant at the time of the death of her father, and claims that the stepmother refuses to turn over the property left her. The estate involved amounts to about 15,000 pesos, and consists of residences and real estate in Ermita and Malate. It seems that the defendant, Vivencia, has no faith in lawyers, and preferred to make her own defences and arguments. She accomplished this in a very creditable manner, being entirely unabashed in appearing before the august body. She spoke for a long time, and her arguments were clear and well delivered. The hearing attracted considerable attention in the Supreme Court building. The case has not yet been decided by the court, but decision will be handed down shortly. - "Manila Times." MRS. CATT PLEASED WITH PAGSANJAN Writes to Merchants' Association about Plans for Tourists Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, the noted suffragist, put most of her time to forwarding the votes for women case among the Filipinos but she found time to do a little sight-seeing and among other places visited Pagsanjan. Mrs. Catt wrote the following letter to the publicity committee of the Manila merchants' association before departing on the Sigismund, and in the letter states that she was disappointed in Manila on arriving, as it was not as tropical as she expected, but that the gorge in Pagsanjan had tropical foliage enough and to spare. Mrs. Catt makes a suggestion regarding the arrangement of a trip to both Pagsanjan and Taal volcano, returning to Manila by boat from the latter place. Her letter follows: "You will be surprised to know that we have been to Pagsanjan. We joined a part and although it rained all the time, we think the gorge is well worth the trouble and discomfort. The chief satisfaction, however was in the discovery that the interior is really tropical. Manila is a disappointment in that particular and one gets no idea at all of the islands from a stay here. The usual American globe trotter does not get into the tropics at all, and I agree with you that a very important education for tourists and especially Americans could be prepared by a little perseverance. " A trip to Pagsanjan by train, remaining over night and visiting the gorge in the morning and the falls, which I understand are only about four miles away, in the afternoon by good arrangements could be made to visit the lakes and volcano and return by boat in the afternoon, there would be a delightful day. In India and Java there are government rest houses for such places." DUTCH SUFFRAGE WORKER TALKS OF ISLANDS "Dr Aletta Jacobs, the companion of Mrs. C.C. Catt and herself a noted women's suffrage champion in her native country of Holland, left yesterday on the Prinz Sigismund for Hongkong. She will remain with Mrs. Catt through China and Japan, parting from her American friend at Yokohama, the latter connecting with a liner for the States while Dr. Jacobs will repair to her homeland and take up her work there. Speaking of her impressions of the Philippines and conditions here Dr. Jacobs said yesterday to a TIMES man:-"I think the Philippines are a delightful place. That is, I think that Manila is, for that is all, owing to the weather, that we have been able to see of the islands. We have been treated excellently well by the people here and I shall have nothing but the most pleasant recollections when I leave and get back to Holland. "I have visited your hospitals and your other institutions and am personally of the opinion that you are governing excellently well. Perhaps a little too much freedom and exercise of the power of government is given the natives but time will tell if it is justified or not. They themselves will be the ones to decide if it has been well to give all those things to them. We do not do it in Java, Sumatra and the other colonies of my country. Each village, to be sure, runs itself and has its own say in its municipal affairs, but there is always a Dutchman who is the head of all and the final arbiter. We think it is best to do things that way. "Give the Philippines Independence? I don't think that would be wise or beneficial at this time and not for years to come. I am sure that the people here are not ready for it yet and that it would be a big mistake." Dr. Jacobs is the first and was for years the only woman physician in Holland. She first took up general practice but when she married became a specialist in women's diseases. She is an ardent women's suffrage champion, and president of the association in Holland. SUFFRAGETTES FOR ISLANDS Manila Times, Aug 16, 1912 Mrs. Catt Organizes Local Women for Work Manila is to have an active, fully organized woman's suffrage society or club. The organization of this association was perfected yesterday at the Manila hotel by Mrs. Carrie Chapman Catt, at a meeting held with several of the more prominent American and Filipino women of the city. The association is to be known as the Society of the Advancement of Women and it has four American and four Filipino lady officials. They are: president, Mrs. C.S. Lobingier; vide president, Senora Victorino Mapa. The minutes of the meetings are to be kept in two languages, Spanish and English. Mrs. Calderon will act as Spanish secretary nd Mrs. Saleeby will be the English secretary. Mrs. Goodale is treasurer of the society and there is an advisory committee composed of the following well known ladies: Senora Teodoro Kalaw, Senorita Lopez and Mrs. Quinan. The first meeting of the society will be held on August 29th, at the home of Mrs. Logingier on Calle San Marcelino. In speaking of the society and its formation yesterday Mrs. Catt said to a TIMES man this morning: "The society will, of course take up whatever work it desires, but its first object will be to study the women's suffrage movement. The society already has quite a number of members and they are the most prominent and best women in the city. I feel sure that the organization of this society here will do an immense amount of good in more ways than one." Asked regarding her impressions of the Philippines and the conditions here, Mrs. Catt, who leaves this evening on the Prinz Sigismund for Hongkong, said: "I feel that I have been here such a short time that I do not fully understand conditions as I should like to and for that reason am thinking of returning again next year. Personally, I found things very interesting here. Results are being wrought out here which are going to tell for the hindrance or benefit of every Asiatic country. If the Filipinos are really benefited by the broad system of education which has been inculcated here, if they become imbued with ideas of business honesty, if they become able to handle the large commercial problems and can be trusted with the responsibilities of government, it will have an immense effect on other adjacent countries. "I have heard from several sources that candidates for political preferment in the provinces have used money and that other corrupt practices have crept in. If such bad customs are kept up, England, France, Germany and the Netherlands will point to that as the final condemnation of the Asiatic countries to govern themselves, and it is of the upmost importance that the voters of the islands be made to see that and combine in condemning such practices. "For this reason I think it would be a wise step if the women of the country were given the right to vote for all agree that the women of the islands are more upright and honorable than the men and they would make the men be honest, too." Asked what she thought of the immediate independence idea, Mrs. Catt said: -"The people of the islands are much better off under the liberal policy of the United States than if they were given independence and all its attendant dangers. The United States hold the Philippines by as fair a title as any colonies are held by foreign countries; they came to us by the fortunes of war and to give them up would be an act of philanthropy and independence should not be given the islands until all the people are educated and their men are more fitted to cope with the political and commercial problems which now beset the archipelago. Independence, moreover, could not be given the islands at this time unless all the nations entered into an agreement to keep hands off under all circumstances and I feel sure that the various nations would not enter into such a covenant. Personally, I should like to see the islands converted into a territory and afterwards into a state, a part of the United States. I think that would be for their best interests." then a calesa with a driver who wore a raincoat made of palm leaves. The details are not likely to be forgotten by the participants, and need no recording. I have had a meeting of American women and one of Filipinos to talk over organization. It is plain the American women are afraid of the question lest it hurts them with the men, and the Filipinos are afraid of the ridicule of men - both rather weak fiber.
Carrie Chapman Catt
(January 9, 1859 – March 9, 1947), suffragist, political strategist, and pacifist.
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