MANILA HEMP 



3625 



MANISTEE 



Among the new buildings, the most notable are 

 the Manila Hotel, the Army and Navy Club, 

 Elks Club, Episcopal Cathedral, the General 

 Hospital, the normal school and the Y. M. C. A. 

 The famous Jesuit Observatory stands in a gar- 

 den on the outskirts of the city. Near it rise 

 the new buildings of the university. The na- 

 tive houses are generally constructed of bam- 

 boo ancj thatched with leaves of the nipa palm. 

 Instead of glass for windows, a flat shell of a 

 large oyster is substituted, and the window- 

 frames all slide horizontally. The shells admit 

 a soft light and exclude the great heat. Since 

 1913 the city and its suburbs have been lighted 

 by electricity. 



The manufacture of cigars, which gives em- 

 ployment to thousands of men, women and 

 children, is the most important industry. Ma- 

 nila also manufactures malt and distilled liq- 

 uors, cotton fabrics, clothing, foundry and 

 machine-shop products, wagons, furniture and 

 boots and shoes. The city is the greatest hemp 

 market in the world; about 175,000 tons are 

 exported from the Philippines each year, nearly 

 all of which is shipped from Manila. The im- 

 ports consist chiefly of rice, cotton goods, chem- 

 icals, machinery, metal goods and wine, and 

 trade is carried on chiefly with China, the 

 United States and Great Britain. Hemp, sugar, 

 tobacco, coffee and dyewoods are leading arti- 

 cles of export. 



Manila was founded by Legaspi, the con- 

 queror of the Philippine Islands, in 1571. It suf- 

 fered severely by the earthquake of 1863. The 

 Spaniards surrendered Manila to the American 

 naval and military forces August 13, 1898 (see 

 SPANISH- AMERICAN WAR). At that time the 

 Philippine insurgents were surrounding the city. 

 In the early part of 1899 they broke through 

 the American lines which invested the city and 

 burned a small portion of the native quarter. 

 In August, 1901, the military government gave 

 place to the new civil rule. Manila was one of 

 the first of the Philippine cities to adopt the 

 commission form of municipal government. The 

 commission which governs the city has six 

 members, four of whom are appointed by the 

 Governor-General; two natives are elected by 

 popular vote. Under this form of jurisdiction 

 Manila has been able to make rapid progress 

 in practical, sanitary and esthetic development. 

 Population, 1914, 266,940 ; of this number, 236,- 

 940 were Filipinos. E.B.H. 



MANILA HEMP, the fiber of a species of 

 plantain used extensively in rope-making. See 

 HEMP. 



MANILA BAY, BATTLE OF, a naval battle of 

 the Spanish-American War, the first important 

 engagement of that conflict. It was fought in 

 the Bay of Manila, in the Philippine Islands, 

 May 1, 1898, between an American fleet under 

 Commodore (later Admiral) George Dewey, 

 and a Spanish fleet of about equal strength 

 under Admiral Montojo, the latter supported 

 by land batteries. The American fleet, which 

 at the declaration of war was in Chinese waters, 

 had proceeded to the Philippine Islands and 

 had entered the harbor of Manila during the 

 night of April 30. The following morning Com- 

 modore Dewey attacked the Spanish fleet, and 

 in a battle lasting several hours, ten Spanish 

 ships were sunk or destroyed and over 600 

 Spanish sailors were killed or wounded. The 

 Americans did not lose a ship or a man, and 

 only six were wounded. Dewey was soon reen- 

 forced by land troops under General Merritt, 

 and on August 13 the city of Manila was taken. 

 Thus the Philippine Islands, which had been 

 held by the Spanish since the days of Magellan, 

 came into the possession "of the United States. 

 See PHILIPPINE ISLANDS; SPANISH-AMERICAN 

 WAR. 



MANISTEE, maniste', MICH., the county 

 seat of Manistee County, is noted for its im- 

 mense product of salt and sawed lumber, espe- 

 cially shingles, in which it surpasses any other 

 city in the United States. Poles and Scandina- 

 vians comprise the foreign element of the popu- 

 lation, which in 1910 was 12,381. Manistee is 

 situated on Lake Michigan, at the mouth of 

 the Manistee River, about midway between the 

 northern and southern borders of the state, 

 thirty miles north of Ludington and 110 miles 

 northwest of Grand Rapids. Chicago is 180 

 miles southwest by water. The city has fine 

 transportation facilities, through regular steam- 

 ship service and the Flint & Pere Marquette, 

 Manistee & North Eastern, and Michigan East 

 & West railroads. In 1840 the first settlement 

 was made by John and Joseph Stronoch; in 

 1869 it became a city, and in 1914 the commis- 

 sion form of government was adopted. Heavy 

 losses were sustained by fire in 1861 and in 1871. 

 The area is a little less than three square miles. 



Manistee is an important shipping point on 

 Lake Michigan: It has a good harbor, and the 

 Manistee River, its outlet, is usually free from 

 ice in winter. About two and a half million 

 barrels of salt are shipped from here annually, 

 and also many millions of feet of sawed lum- 

 ber. Underlying this locality at a depth ex- 

 ceeding 1,900 feet is a stratum of rock salt 



