e
absence of any provisions for sewage led to fearful pestilences. Now not
only has Manila an admirable sewerage system, but the people have been
taught to observe sanitary regulations, with the result that in the
suburbs of such a city as Manila the homes of common people reveal much
better conditions than the homes of similar classes in Japan. The sewage
of Manila is pumped three times into large sumps before it is finally
dumped into the bay a mile from the city.

The island military police, known as the Constabulary Guard, has done
more to improve conditions throughout the islands than any other agency.
The higher officers are drawn from the United States regular army, but
the captains and lieutenants are from civil life, and they are mainly
made up of young college graduates. These men get their positions
through the civil service and, though some fail to make good, the great
majority succeed. Their positions demand unusual ability, for they not
only have charge of companies of native police that resemble the Mexican
rurales or the Canadian mounted police, but they serve as counselor and
friend to all the Filipinos in their district. In this way their
influence is frequently greater than that of the school teachers.

All this work and much more has been accomplished by the insular
government without calling upon the United States for any material help.
It does not seem to be generally known that the Philippine Islands are
now self-supporting, and that the only expense entailed on the general
government is a slight increase for maintaining regiments assigned to
the island service and the cost of Corregidor fortifications and other
harbor defenses. This has been accomplished without excessive taxation.
Personal property is exempt, while the rate on real estate in Manila is
only one and one-half per cent. on the assessed valuation, and only
seven-eights of one per cent. in the provinces. The fiscal system has
been put on a gold basis, thus removing the old fluctuating silver
currency which was a great hardship to trade.

SCENES IN THE CITY OF MANILA AND SUBURBS

Every visitor to Manila in the old days exhausted his vocabulary in
praise of the Luneta, the old Spanish city's pleasure ground, which
overlooked the bay and Corregidor Island. It was an oval drive, with a
bandstand at each end, inclosing a pretty grass plot. Here, as evening
came on, all Manila congregated to hear the band play and to meet
friends. The