September 



1917. 



THE INDIA RUBBER WORLD 



699 



destructiveness, and as for signs of destruction, they do not 

 appear to be in evidence. 



All day long and all of the night following we steamed 

 through straits, sounds, seas, bays and bodies of water big 

 and little, by islands tiny and huge, until we began to realize 

 what the geographers meant when they said there were really 

 more than 3,000 islands in 

 the Philippines. Finally, 

 on the afternoon of the 

 second day, we passed 

 through a narrow, pic- 

 turesque strait between 

 the islands Mactan and 

 Cebu. On the first named 

 is the modern plant of 

 the Visayan Refining Co., 

 a big coconut oil mill in- 

 stalled by Dean C. 

 Worcester. Strung along 

 the shore are, first, the 

 great oil factory, with its 

 storage tanks and the 

 bungalows of the resident 

 officers, and, separated 

 from plant and bunga- 

 lows by a tiny creek, the 

 village of Opon. This last named consists of one long street 

 bordered by Nipa huts terminating in a plaza with market, 

 ancient cathedral and a flourishing native school. 



In visiting the plant one is impressed by the industry and 

 alertness of the native workman. Only the chiefs of depart- 

 ments are Americans, the mass of workmen being Filipinos. 

 In the village the people look healthy, well fed and contented, 

 and show themselves to be exceedingly courteous. The great 

 factory itself is the last word in intelligent equipment and ar- 

 rangement for economical and efficient production. 



Dean Worcester's house is, perhaps, the most roomy and best 

 designed tropical house in existence. Situated so that the 

 monsoons can sweep through every room, with broad verandas 

 completely encircling it. finished in beautiful native woods, it is 

 simple, homelike and elegant. Nor is it cumbered and cluttered 

 with trite curios. There are a few rare ones, but each has 



Tvpic.M, Native Vii.l.ace W.^terfront. 



inspiring. Tropical nature has indeed favored this lovely spot. 

 The most picturesque and interesting feature, however, is 

 the head of the home. .As one who was in "at the beginning," 

 who hob-nobbed with head hunters, traveled where white men 

 had never gone before, organizing, pacifying, botanizing, ob- 

 serving, he is one of the commanding figures in that part of 



tlie world. The most 

 marvelous part of his 

 career, however, is that, 

 dropping state work, he 

 should enter the field of 

 manufacture and install 

 successfully a great in- 

 dustry among alien, and 

 to a degree hostile, peo- 

 ple, and do it to their 

 benefit and his. 



It is some seven miles 

 from Dean Worcester's 

 plant to the city of Cebu 

 on the great island of 

 Cebu. This city is noted 

 as being one of the oldest 

 in the islands. It looks 

 even older than that. We 

 \>'pre liTrlii. f^c-t to the 

 big stone quay — .American made — when a young German came 

 aboard with a word of introduction wired by friends in Manila. 

 He was interested in a rubber plantation further south, and 

 told me all about it, how to reach it and so on. While we were 

 chatting one of the .Americans strolled up and stood looking in- 

 tently and I thought eying him very searchingly. Later, the 

 German having departed, the .American said, 



"Did X say why he took such long journeys into the interior 

 from time to time?" 



"No, what's the answer," I replied. 

 "T don't know yet, but it will all come out in time." 

 -And it did. With the declaration of war by the United States 

 the young German was at once locked up. It seems he had lists 

 of former insurrectos and had been visiting them secretly, giving 

 them $5 a head and arranging for a genera! rising against the 

 .Americans. The insurrectos accepted the cash and were profuse 



*^ f>t 





f 



De.\n Worcester's Gre.\t Oil Mill ..\t Opon. 



either some definite use or a historic or intrinsic value that 

 earns it a place in such a home. 



The situation of the house is sucli that in any direction there 

 stretches a panorama of sea, shore, coconut grove, native village 

 and picturesque mountain. Added to this are cloud effects 

 seldom equaled, which, with the brilliant blues and greens in 

 the waterways, make a whole that is ever changing and always 



in promises, but when tiic time came not one insurrected. Never- 

 theless, the -American men resident there who had entertained 

 him at their homes, and admitted him to their clubs will not 

 soon forget that he tried to bring about destruction of their 

 property and perhaps a massacre of their wives and children. 



I had heard so much of the impossibility of getting laborers 

 in the Philippines that when some 70 jolly, tough little Visayans 



