MANILA LETTER Frank Graham Gives an Interesting Account of Conditions at Manila. Manila, P.I. Dec. 24, 1899 Yours of recent date at hand, and was very glad to hear from you and to know that everybody is well. We are all quite well here, that is in our company. * * * * * We received our Christmas boxes today and they were just fine: and if you have not done so already I wish you would thank the people of New Rockford for the interest they have taken in us boys. We are all very grateful for their kindness, and hope to extend our thanks personally in the near future. We had quite a scare the other night, thought we were going to be attacked by the insurgents, but that was all there was to it. As to the inhabitants of the islands and their occupations. Their are different Malay tribes and Chinese coolies, a few Japanese, and a few Greeks. Their occupation is in the manufacture of hemp and cigars, and the raising of rice, peanuts and sugar cane. As to the yield, I cannot say, but don't see why it should not be large. All these products are cheap here. American flour sells for $6.00 per hundred at this writing. Fish are very plentiful, such as herring, cod, mackerel and white, also clams, crabs and oysters. I have inquired into the chances for young men with a capital of $1000 and think from what I learn that it would not be advisable for many to come here for some time yet, for I believe with that amount of cash a white man would be better off in North Dakota. Now as to my liking the country. I will explain the situation here and you will understand why I don't have much chance to see any of the country outside of old Manila, where nearly all the business is done and there are outlying disticts such as Malata, Binonda, and El Paco. In the city our troops are doing police duty, in the outlying districts they do guard and outpost duty. Our outposts extend around the city on the outer line of the outlying districts. Then on a line parallel with our outposts, but about one or two miles farther out the insurgents have their homes around the city. These are under Aguinaldo and known as the Filiphos, supposed to number about 50,000. And then still farther out is another army of about 40,000 that don't recognize any country or anybody and are known as the Maceabebes Filipinos. The two classes are constantly on the warpath against each other but don't do much harm to each other. So you see it is hardly safe to go out in the interior yet, although quite a few have done so. There is 68 miles of railroad extending out from the city, and some of the boys have been out to the end of the line. The railroad is quite behind the times the same as most everything else here. The locomotives are small, the coaches are short and small with two step running along the side the full length of the car and side doors a bit like our box cars. I forgot to say anything about the fruits. There are bananas, twenty different varieties of oranges, limes, the native apple, pineapples and lots more too numerous to mention. Beautiful flowers and shrubbery galore. The chief timber the natives use for building purposes is the fishing pole bamboo which grows very tall and from one to six inches in diameter. There is ebony, mahogany, some camphor wood, gum trees. The cocoanut tree is also used for building. It is a very hard wood. About the animals I cannot say very much. There are lots of monkeys, some large snakes. No place on earth like this for dogs. Tame chickens run wild all over the outlying districts, but still they are quite high priced when you come to buy any of them. We have chicken for Christmas dinner. Respectively, Frank R. Graham. *From the New Rockford, North Dakota Transcript.
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