The Philippines 



cles, I suppose, than any other city in 

 the world. They were not very large 

 horses and they were not very commodi- 

 ous vehicles, but such as they were they 

 traversed the streets, and they were an 

 absolute necessity, because everybody 

 rides in Manila except the very poorest 

 and humblest. In no other city in the 

 world was a street-railway system more 

 needed than in Manila, and I have no 

 doubt that its presence there today — and 

 it has begun both with great enthusiasm 

 on the part of the people and on the part 

 of the gentlemen who look forward to 

 dividends from the franchise, given 

 about a month ago — I have no doubt 

 that the presence of that street railway 

 will reduce the cost of living of the peo- 

 ple of moderate incomes 25 per cent 

 because of the absolute necessity of get- 

 ting about and the opportunity of dis- 

 posing of the horses and carriages and 

 the necessity of feed and all the other 

 expenses attendant upon the keeping of 

 horses and carriages. 



We are engaged in the expenditure of 

 6 millions of dollars in the harbors of 

 Cebu, Manila, and Iloilo, and we shall 

 probably have the best harbor in the 

 Orient at Manila. People who are not 

 familiar with the islands suppose that 

 the Bay of Manila affords a harbor; 

 but the Bay of Manila is 30 miles long 

 and about 25 miles wide, with a 6-mile 

 entrance at Corregidor which offers a 

 full sweep to the southwestern monsoon, 

 which comes in for six months in the 

 year, which makes it impossible, espe- 

 cially in the afternoon, to land from 

 boats that do not get behind a break- 

 water. This harbor is to be shut off 

 from the wind by large breakwaters. 

 It is very nearly completed. We are to 

 have wharves, alongside of which the 

 largest vessels can come, and, as I have 

 said, 160 acres are to be reclaimed for 

 the construction of warehouses and for 

 business purposes of the city. 



We are just putting in — just adver- 

 tising the bonds for, have the plans for, 



and are just about to put in — a sewer 

 system in Manila. Manila is about seven 

 feet above the ocean — it does go up to 

 about 10 feet — and you cannot sink a 

 hole anywhere without striking water 

 within 3 or 4 feet. That makes the 

 problem of sewerage very difficult, and 

 we have a plan now which involves the 

 pumping of the sewerage away out to 

 sea, so as to rid the city of any danger 

 from it. Mr Desmond Fitzgerald, of 

 Boston, whom we sent for as an expert 

 engineer, has pronounced the plans to 

 be correct. 



We have had to go back into the 

 mountains about fifteen miles in order to 

 increase the water supply of Manila and 

 to be sure that we shall get above the 

 region where the water would be im- 

 pregnated with cholera germs or other 

 undesirable inhabitants. This will cost 

 about two millions of dollars, but we are 

 just now ready to construct it. 



We are engaged, under an act of Con- 

 gress recently passed, in preparing in- 

 vitations to bid for the construction of a 

 thousand miles of railway in the islands. 

 When we have the thousand miles of 

 railway constructed, so as to open each 

 island to the sea, we shall proceed much 

 more rapidly in the construction of 

 wagon roads, because then we shall 

 have some means by which we can haul 

 road material from one point to another. 

 I would like to dwell on the subject of 

 the railways, but I have not time. 



PHILIPPINE CIVII. SERVICE 



Mr Ireland criticises, in some detail, 

 the civil service of the islands. Well, 

 I was a civil-service reformer when I 

 went to the islands, and I was deter- 

 mined that we should put in force there 

 as strict civil-service rules on the basis 

 of civil-service reform here as we could, 

 and we did ; and nobody can get into 

 the service there now without first pass- 

 ing an examination. But Mr Ireland 

 says that the examination is only up to 

 the standard of the ordinary high -school 



