er, made famous in the war days of '98, flows past my hotel, and
beautiful Manila Bay, glittering in the fierce December sunlight,
recalls memories of Dewey and our navy. But the moss-green walls about
the old Spanish city remind us of days of romance and tragedy more
fascinating than any of the events of our own generation. In the days
when Spain made conquest of the world these streets were laid out, and
the statues of her sovereigns, imperious and imperial, still stand
here to remind us that nations, like men, are mortal, and that for
follies or mistakes a people no less surely than an individual must
pay the price.

Nor let our own proud America, boasting of her greater area and richer
resources, think she may ignore the lessons the history of her
predecessors here may teach. The statue of Bourbon Don Carlos in his
royal robe that stands amid the perennial green of the Cathedral
Park--it may well bring our American officers who look out daily upon
it, and the other Americans who come here, a feeling not of pride but
of profound and reverent humility:

"God of Our Fathers, known of old.
Lord of our far-flung battle-line.
Beneath whose awful hand we hold
Dominion over palm and pine.
Judge of the nations, spare us yet,
Lest we forget, lest we forget!"

In order to see what the Philippine country looks like, I left Manila
Thursday and made the long, hot trip to Daguban, travelling through
the provinces of Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga, Tarlac, and Pangasinan. The
first four of these are known as Tagalog provinces; the fifth is
inhabited by Ilocanos and Pampangans. Three dialects or languages are
spoken by the {155} tribes in the territory covered. Not far beyond
Daguban are savage dog-eating, head-hunting tribes; taos, or peasants,
buy dogs around Daguban and sell to these savages at good profits.

The provinces I travelled through are typical of Filipinoland
generally. Rather sparsely settled, only the smaller part of the land
is under cultivation, the rest grown up in horse-high tigbao or Tampa
grass, or covered with small forest trees. Among trees the feathery,
fern-like foliage of the bamboo is most in evidence; but the
broad-leaved banana ranks easily next. The high topknot growth of the
cocoanut palm and the similar foliage of the tall-shanked papaya
afford a spectacle unlike anything we see at home. About Daguban
especially many cocoanuts are grown, and the clumps of trees by the
Ag