76 



ANNIVERSARY NUMBER 1919 



tion and merely a retaining wall for the ter- 

 race of earth that forms the main protection. 

 The moat formerly running from the river 

 round the city wall was constructed after 1739 

 as an additional protection. At the end of 

 the first stretch of this wall stands the San 

 Diego Bastion breached by the British in 

 their attack on the city in 1762. From that 

 point the wall continues more solid in con- 

 struction to the San Andres Bastion and then 

 follows round the ancient city to the Pasig 

 river where it completes a chain of seven 

 bastions, and five redoubts, known as the 

 Aduana, San Gabriel, San Lorenzo, San An- 

 dres, San Diego, and Piano bastions; and the 

 Parian, Recoletos, Real, San Pedro and San 

 Francisco redoubts. 



The wall was pierced in seven places with 

 gateways three on the river side and four on 

 the land side. Only one of the former, the 

 Isabela II gate remains, the others having been 

 demolished in 1902-1903 to make way for 

 public improvements. The Parian gate, built 

 in 1782, the Real gate in 1780, the Santa 

 Lucia gate in 1781 and the Postigo probably 

 in 1609 still remain. 



Entrance to the walled city was, until 1852, 

 possible only through these gates, each of 

 which was provided with a drawbridge which 

 was raised at 1 1 p. m. and lowered the follow- 

 ing morning at 4 a. m. 



Up to 1880 the mural armament consisted 

 of 370 cannons. In 1898 on the surrender of 

 the city to the American forces of occupation 

 149 more or less modern guns were taken over, 

 28 of them rifled, 24 being field guns and 20 

 mortars and the remainder smooth bored 

 cannon. 



\ The plans of the reconstructed fortifica- 

 tions were prepared by Father Sedano, S. J., 

 and the early work was carried on under his 

 direction. What these original plans were 

 has never been determined as, in one of the 

 many disastrous fires that swept the city in 

 in those early days of almost entirely nipa 

 construction, all the government archives 

 were lost. Only twice or three times has any 

 portion of the original construction been un- 

 earthed. In the early part of 1902 Colonel 

 Greenough of the 7th Artillery, at that time 

 commandant of Fort Santiago, reported the 

 discovery of the socalled secret chambers and 

 passages under the fortress. Bubonic plague 

 was rife at the time, and the colonel, with the 

 end in view of preventing its entry into the 

 precincts of the fort, set about policing up the 

 entire place. Every nook and corner received 

 due attention. In one corner, in the apex of 

 of the wall fronting the Pasig river, during the 

 process of cleaning up, a large chamber was 

 found, approximately 50 yards square. A 

 spiral stairway leading down to below the 

 level of the water was also discovered. When 

 followed to its end it was found that it went 

 below the level of the river into a large tunnel 

 terminating in a doorway. This was prob- 

 ably an exit from the fortress built prior to 

 the time when the earthquake of 1645 materi- 

 ally changed the course of the river, destroy- 

 ing this part of the defensive works. 



Another part of a defensive underground 

 passage way leading from the fortress to the 

 San Diego Bastion facing the Luneta was dis- 

 covered during an excavation in connection 

 with the reconstruction of the Cuartel de 

 Espana which stood on the site of the ancient 

 Jesuit church. The workmen came across a 

 remarkably well constructed archway that 

 formed the roof of a tunnel about twelve feet 

 wide that is believed to have passed under the 

 old San Agustin Church, the Jesuit Church 

 and out toward the polverin that formerly 

 stood near the present Luneta police station 

 on Camp Wallace. 



These discoveries led to fanciful stories of 

 mysterious underground dungeons and tor- 

 ture chambers, etc., and even skeletons and 

 rusted implements of inquisitorial punish- 

 ments were invented. 



The Renaissance of the Manila Cigar 



Colin 



Formerly Chief, Division of tfokacco InJastru, Bureau of Internal Revenue 



There is probably no product of the Phil- 

 ippine Islands so well known to Americans 

 as the Manila cigar. Tobacco has likewise 

 been a subject of great interest to the local 

 Government since the introduction of the 

 weed into these Islands during the last quar- 

 ter of the sixtenth century by the Spanish 

 missionaries coming here from Mexico. For 

 an entire century the tobacco industry of 

 the Philippine Islands was a government 

 monopoly, the state having control of the 

 production, manufacture and sale of this 

 product. In the field, there was a chief ap- 

 praiser, styled "interventor," who had a 

 force of subordinates known as "alumnos 

 aforadores." The chief appraiser set the 

 date when the first seed beds were to be sown 

 and also determined the date of planting 

 and the number of subsequent seed beds. 

 The instructions of the Government went 

 into considerable detail, going so far as to 

 prescribe the number of times the land should 

 be plowed, the dates when the plowing should 

 take place, and the number of plants which 

 should be set out per unit of land. This 

 supervision was extended to the harvesting 

 and curing of the leaf and its classification 

 into the several grades. The regulations 

 were enforced by severe penalties. 



As was to be expected, under such close 

 supervision, the reputation of Philippine 

 tobacco and Manila cigars secured an enviable 

 reputation in the markets of the world, where 

 their mildness and choice aroma were deeply 

 appreciated. By 1881, however, the system 

 of Government control had become so ob- 

 jectionable to the planters that local upris- 

 ings were of constant occurrence. Conse- 

 quently, in that year, altho the monopoly 

 was the Government's biggest source of rev- 

 enue, it was completely abolished. 



It had been anticipated that a withdrawal 

 of official supervision would improve the qual- 

 ity of Philippine tobacco, by encouraging 

 competition. The contrary was the result. 



The planters, freed from the former odious 

 supervision, went to the opposite extreme. 

 Being no longer forced to work and having 

 verysimple needs, they grew shiftless and im- 

 provident. Owing to the large European 

 demand for cheap tobacco, planters could 

 dispose of their crop, even tho poor in quality. 

 Philippine tobacco continued on its down- 

 ward course until 1909, when the Payne- 

 Aldrich Tariff Act was approved, admitting 

 Philippine cigars into the United States, free 

 of duty. This date signalized a new epoch 

 in the Philippine tobacco industry. It was 

 anticipated that, with the tariff barrier re- 

 moved, the entire industry would receive 

 an impetus which would re-establish it in the 

 world's markets. Thru the discussions on 

 the Tariff Bill, the Manila cigar had received 

 free advertising throughout the length and 

 breadth of the United States. The American 

 public was really keen to try out this cigar 

 whose free entry into the United States was 

 so bitterly fought by the tobacco trust. The 

 dealers and consumers alike, expected a cigar 

 equal to the Havana cigar at a ridiculously 

 low price. Manila exporters made plans 

 for getting rich ove.r-night. When the Tar- 

 iff Act was finally approved, all available 

 cigars were snapped up, new factories were 

 opened, old ones were enlarged, and an un- 

 holy rush began to turn out cigars. 



At first it looked as tho the renaissance of 

 the Manila cigar was at hand, but very soon 

 disquieting reports came from the United 

 States. With no organization of the indus- 

 try, with unrestricted competition, the ex- 

 porters shipped enormous quantities of ci- 

 gars to the United States which were unfit 

 for human consumption. Other cigars of 

 good quality were quickly destroyed by the 

 tobacco beetle. American jobbers and dea- 

 ers who had handled Manila cigars suffered 

 heavy losses. The consumers were disappoint- 

 ed in the product. As a result, within two 



ALL MANILA CIGARS ARE MADE BY HAND, A FACT WHICH MAKES THEIR WORKMANSHIP SECOND TO NONE. 

 A CLOSE UP VIEW OF THREE CIGAR-MAKERS WHO ARE DOING THEIR BIT TO KEEP MANILA CIGARS POPULAR 



