48
THE SUNDAY OREGONIAN. PORTLAND, NOVEMBER, 4, 1906.
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lsh government Rave ear to their com
plaints and the monopoly was abolished.
But for the student of economics there
Is one fact of tremendous interest. It
is this, that-under this paternal govern
ment these Malay people produced a
better grade of tobacco than they since
have. Under the direction of the mon
opoly ' officials, their tobacco sold in Eu
rope for 75 cents a pound. They raised
often 8000 pounds to the acre. Now their
tobacco brings only 15 cents a pound, and
they produce only from 1000 to 1300 pounds
to the acre. Under the intelligent direc
tion of white men these Cagayans did
well. To produce good results they need
ed somebody to direct them. But the
government monopoly over-reached its
mark because it strained the tobacco in
dustry to the breaking point. Speculators
of the lowest type used to scour the Ca
gayan Valley to buy up at enormous dis-
lnside the aerating sheds which were usu
ally erected on the fields under tithes.
If he happened to be caught by a car
bineer only a few steps outside the shed
with a cigar in his mouth he was flned
t2; if a cigarette, 50 cents, and, adding
to, these sums the cost of the conviction,
a cigar of his own crop came to cost him
$7.37 and a cigarette J1.S7H- From sun
rise to sunset the native grower was sub
ject to search for concealed tobacco, his
trunks, furniture and every nook and cor
ner of his dwelling was ransacked for the
precious pelf. He and all his family, wife
and daughters.' were personally examined;
and often an irate husband, father or
brother, goaded to Indignation by the in
decent humiliation of his kinswomen
would lay hands on hiB bolo knife and
bring matters to a bloody crisis with his
wanton persecutors." "
There Is only one American company in
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MANILA, Oct. 2.(-3pecial correspond
ence of The Sunday Oregonian.)
It is the great Cagayan Valley of
Northern Luzon, you want a native farm
er to .do some work for you, you call upon
his wife. She is the master of the house
hold. She keeps all the money in a secret
bamboo pole; she pays all the household
expenses and doles out every cent that
the'old man" gets. In other words, like
many better educated daughters of Eve,
she keeps, his nose on the grindstone.
Sometimes, by -the way, heirs dig around
a deceased man's home, hunting for hid
den treasure. Near Tuguegarao they
found 20,000 pesos ($10,000) that a native
had hidden, amassed from a lucky strike.
In one of these bamboo tubes. Often In
building their homes some secret bamboo
joist or beam is made a depository for
money. Houses have been torn apart to
disclose concealed treasure.
Probably when you find the lady, she
may be smoking a huge cigar, almost
three feet long and several inches In di
ameter. Invariably, if she Is smoking,
she will invite you to take a putt of her
cane-like cigar. When you have explained
your mission, the good woman calls her
husband, and In a torrent of vociferation,
expostulation and command issues her
mandate while her better half remains
standing humbly twitching his fingers in
his. straight black hair. Then she gives
you a cup of cocoa, a nice "small" cigar
(though, indeed, of ordinary size, such as
the men smoke), and after you have left
her you may rest comfortably in the fact
that your man will be out at work at 6
the next morning, and as many mornings
thereafter as you have bargained for.
, Smoking Mammoth Cigars.
Almost everybody smokes In the Caga
yan Valley: men, women and children
from 2Va years old up to the grave. The
women alone, however, smoke these huge
cigars, from 30 inches to three feet in
lelgth and big around as a man's wrist.
A cigar of this size is called a "tabaco
Grande" sometimes even larger cigars
sre smoked. These latter are so huge
that they cannot be conveniently handled,
so they are suspended by a string in their
middle from the dwelling-room ceiling.
They are called "Tatoacos de Familias,"
or family cigars and are puffed by mem
bers of the family, mostly the women and
children, at intervals for a .couple of days,
until they are all smoked up. A Tobaco
Grande, though, lasts a matron of the
L'agayan Valley for about a day and a
half to two days. I never aw a man
smoking these great cigars. The reason
is, probably, that the men are more par
ticular about what they smoke, and these
Grandes are but carelessly rolled up by
the women themselves, who doubtless find
It a eaving of time to have a smoke which
will last for so much longer than the
puerile cigar of their men folks. Your
good matron puffs her huge cigar most
the time when she is unoccupied, stick
ing It around in odd places when her work
prevents, as one does a"cud" of Tutti
Fruitti Gum.
Government Monopoly of Tobacco.
Back of all this-smoking of big cigars
by the women und the puffing of some
kind of tobacco by everybody lies the
story of the first government industrial
monopoly, which indeed was a giganflc
affair at the time. For a period of 101
years, from 17S1 until 1SS2, the production
of tobacco In the Cagayan was a mon
opoly of the Spanish government. It was
then that the natives learned to smoke
from the agents of the government- These
local officials were a bad lot, U seems.
jj
surrection. Aguinaldo sent up a regi
ment of Tagalogs. for so the tribe around
Manila are called, and the Forty-fifth,
Infantry drove them out. Yet the Caga
yan is one of the most remarkable val
leys In the Philippines, if not in the
worldL The huge river is at once the
Nile and the Mississippi of the archipel
ago. Every year, like the Nile, It over
Sows its banks, leaving a rich deposit of
silt. Its fertility almost baffles descrip
tion. It grows most of the products of
the tropical and many of the products of .
tbe temperate zones. Because we have
had discussion In the last Congress an
to whether or not Philippine tobacco shall
be put on the free trade list, readers of
The Sunday Oregonian may be interested
In a description of this remarkable counr
try. So may our United States Senators
and Representatives, not one of whom
have ever been In the Cagcyan Valley.
Besides tobacco, which almost all of the
225.000 inhabitants of the valley are inter
ested in, one way or the other, the Cag?
ayans grow sugarcane, corn, cotton, pea
nuts, sweet and Irish potatoes, melons,
squash, garden truck, suavas, lemons,
limes, grapefruit. Sixteen varieties of
oranges are found growing wild, one of
which though green when ripe, is of large
size and has a delicious f.avor, Irish
potatoes are worth J3.24 (gold) a bushel,
yet the Cagayans are so occupied in to
bacco that they will not grow them.
Though the Official Handbook sa3 "sheep
will not live in the Philippines," yet there
are some excellent flocks in the Cagnyan.
The Cagayan Valley is of special Inter
est at this time because the propose'
railroad will enter this great elevated
valley system from the Carabalos by way
of a tributary valley of the valley of the
Magat River, which itself Is a tributary
to the mighty Cagayan River. It enters
this valley at an elevation of about 2500
feet, and runs northeast to Echague. on
the Cagayan River, for a distance of al
most 100 miles: thence the railroad will
run north down the west side of the
Cagayan, the huge Mississippi of the Phil
ippines, for a distance of 147 miles, where
at last it reaches Aparrl, on the China
Sea. and in all its -travels between the
head of the 3dagat and Aparrl. the line
has a maximum grade of only one-half of
1 per cent. The drainage system of the
Cagayan River comprises more than two
thirds of Northern Luzon.
. litke Our Southern States.
The Cagayan Valley Is the most re
markable because It is less like the
Philippines and more like our South
ern states, though it has true Philip
pine fertility. Rising in the moun
tains of Central Luzon, the Cagayan
River empties into the sea at Aparri,
200 miles north, but almost 300 miles
counting in the sum of its great tribu
taries. The valley Itself lying between
the gorgeous purple-peaked Cordillera
Mountains has an average width of
about 40 miles. As a whole, it is
huge, open, grassy, gently undulating;
plain, dotted here and there with
groups of trees, while dense fringes of
forest line the occasional watercourses.
Taken In detail, the valley baffles de-
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They oppressed the people terribly. Often i
they only paid the natives 20 per cent of
the value of their crop, and then it was i
in a depreciated scrip. The natives fur
nished their own Carabao or work oven
and owned their own lands. But the un
scrupulous agents and padres were fat
tening on them. Finally, the abuses on
the nates became so great that the Span-
count the treasury scrip issued to the na
tives for their tobacco. "The misery of
the natives was so distressing, the dis
trust of the Spanish government so radb
cale, and the want of means of existence
so urgent, that they were wont to yield
their claims for an Insignificant specie
value," says an old Spanish writer. "The
speculators held the bonds for realization
some day. The consequences were ap
palling. Once the treasury was so hard
pressed that tobacco ready In Manila
for shipment to Spain had to be sold on
the spot. It was eagerly bought up by
representatives of London, England, firms
and caused a tremendous shortage in the
factories In Spain.
Fined for Smoking.
Though the Spanish had taught the Ca
gayans how to smoke, yet it cost a na
tive a big fine sometimes to do it. A
RnflniHh htstorlAn mvr a tattpr tn TCI
Liberal. Madrid, in 1880. thus described !
the situation. "The planter was only al- I
lowed td smoke tobacco of his own crops I
the Cagayan Valley, but this company Is
composed of hustling, wide-awake Ameri
cans, who quietly secured an immense es
tate of 44.000 acres at Calabbacao during
the clofje of the Insurrection, when every
body was sleeping, and property could be
picked up at a reasonable figure. Now
they are going ahead with all sorts of
modern machinery and modern curing
houses, something never known before in
the Cagayan Valley, and the natives are
beginning to open their eyes and learn
and Imitate, for they see "how the Ameri
cano does things," anrt, of course, it la
Infinitely better than their slip-shod way
of doing.
A Wonderful .Valley.
Not many people know about the huge
Cagayan Valley of Luzon, where centers
the tobacco Industry of the Philippines.
Even in Manila the majority of men
know it Is 'way up In the north, but but
side of the tobacco-buyers and commer
cial men, few of them have been there.
Its people were paciflcos during the In-
Obadiah Oldway's Ideas on Hallowe'en Pranks
The Hoaxville Philosopher Indulges in Dreams of Boyhood Days and Then Wakes Up
H
OAXVILLE. Or., Oct. 31. Mr. Editor:
Do you know what night this Is? I
just got to thinkln' of it this evenln'
as I was alookin' In my almanac to see
whether we was ago in' to have a wet or
a dry moon the next change, and I seen
that tonight is Hallowe'en. I alnt thought
of it before In I don't know when, so I
just thought I'd set down and write to
you and see If you recollected anything
about the times when we was young.
The foiKs has all gone to bed but me,
and I'm asettin' here reflectin' on the days
when I was a boy back In old Missouri.
With Shakespeare I can say "Absence
makes the heart grow fonder," and I'd
give a fat hog to be back there in the
good old days, just for a little while. I
wouldn't want to stay. It's too derned
cold, but just long enough for a taste of
what used to be. When I get to reml
nlscln' like I be tonight, I could almost
write poetry, my soitl gets so uplifted. '
Drat them chickens. I wonder what's set
them to cacklin' this time of night. Fight
in' over the roosts, like as not. Hanner
will keep the greatest mess of poultry
around in spite of all I- can say or do.
As I was asayin', I'd like to be a boy
agin, and listen to the old niggers' tales
of the witches and goblins that go prowl
In' about at night, and then go out and
play some of them Innocent pranks to
make believe the witches done It on Hal
lowe'en. I'll never forget how mad old Hart
man got when he got up In the mornln'
and found his truck wagon on top of the
meetin' house. He just tore around and
threatened to do some shootln' if he
found out who done it. Well, sir, it took
him and his hired man the best part of
a half a day to get the thing down off
the roof. Us boys had to take It apart
to get it up there and it had to come
down the same way. We could see 'em
a-workin' at it through the schoolhouse
winders and It was mighty hard to kep
from snlckerin' In time o' school. Cousin
Bill, he got licked that mornin' for
laughin' out so the rest of us calmed
down, beln' afeared as we'd get the
same dose.
What under the shinin' heavens ails
them chickens, anyhow? They're a-mak-in'
more fuss than a parcel of politicians
on election day.
Another time me'n a lot other fellers
went over to the Wldder Wilklnses and
took her old white cow as never looked
as If she had enough to eat, and shut
her up In the corn crib. I tell ye it
took some liftin' to get the old bag of
bones in there, but you'd better believe
the old woman had to do some huntin'
before she found her, and when she did
finally run on to her, the critter was
nigh about froze to death. It come oft
mighty cold that night and the big cracks
in a corn crib don't keep out the wind
very good even in Missouri. The widder
made such an ado about it that the whole
neighborhood got up in arms over It,
but us boys kept It still about us havin'
a hand in It.
That was the last time I got a chance
to play Hallowe'en pranks. The next
year I was bid to a party and Hannei and
me got to keepln' company. Every time
she'd sling a apple peelin' over her shoul
der it would take the letter O. which was
taken to mean Obadiah Oldway. and she
set her snare to catch me from hence
forth. , I was Just fool enough to be
taken with her smiles and beaued her
home from all the doin's in the neighbor
hood. You know what the consequences
was. and how I've been henpecked all
these years. If I had It to do over ag'ln
I'd never be seen at one of them Hal
lowe'en parties, and I'd like to say to all
young men as believes in tryin' signs on
that night that the whole thing Is a snare
and a delusion of the evil on.
You'll have to excuse me, Mr. Editor.
I'm agoin' to get a lantern and see what
alls them pesky chickens. There ain't no
use In me a-tryin' to write with all that
cacklin' agoln' on and Hanner snorln' like
all possessed.
Well, of all the pernicious doin's this
beats the record! What do you think I
found out to the henhouse? No wonder
the poor birds was scared nigh to death.
Some prowlln' band of hoodlums hag been
a-trespassin' on my premises and creatin
a disturbance among the poor, helpless
dumb brutes all evenln'. I found my big
billy goat tied to a roost In the hen coop,
and the old turkey gobbler was in the
goat shed fast by one leg.
That set me to lookin' around the rest
of the place and I discovered that my
front gate is gone and the yard left to
the mercy of any of Abram's stock that
happens to be out. The horses all had
their talis tied to the mangers. John's
new buggy harness, collar and all. was on
old Spot. I left that where I found it.
I couldn't see to get it back Into shape
tonight. It'll serve John right anyhow:
he ought to have seen to it that' the barn
was locked. He'll find it when he goes
to milk.
There's a lot of stuff ahangln' on the
telephone wire. I can't just make out
what it is, but I think It is the horse
blankets. I didn't see nothln' of the
sheep, 1 don't know if anything has hap
pened to them or not. There's some kind
of a machine upon the top of the hog
pen. I suppose it's the self binder. So
much destruction made me sick at heart,
ana I straightened out the poor animals
and come to the house without investi
gate' further.
.I've got the shot gun loaded and it's
asettin" right by my elbow. If anybody
gets hurt . they can't hold me account
able. They can just stay off of these
here premises if they don't want to Bee
daylight through themselves.
I went upstairs and woke John up and
tried to. get him to get up and help watch,
but he just laughed and says he, "Oh,
It's just the boys out on a Hallowe'en
raid: they won't hurt anything. Let 'em
have their fun."
"That's great fun! alnt it?" says I,
"Amolestin' of the people and dlsturbln'
of the peace! There ain't no tellin' to
night how much damage they've done,
but it'll show up In the mornin. and If
I can get proofs as to who done It, I'll
have the law on 'em."
"Aw, go downstairs and go to bed; they
won't come back." says he.
I went down-stairs, but I ain't a-goin'
to bed. I'm a-goln' to set up and see that
they don't set the barn afire or nothln'.
It's moat midnight now. and I don't a'pose
I'd sleep none If I did go to bed after
beln' out in the night air this away. I
shouldn't wonder if I got the grip as a
result of it. I feel a pain a-comln' In the
back of my neck and the chills is a
runnln' up and down my spinal column.
Them's sure signs of the grip, ain't they?
Anybody'd think that such things
wouldn't be allowed in a civilized country,
but the risln' generation is a-runnin'
things with a high hand everywhere. I
s'pose it's a sign of the times, and there
can be but one ending to the whole thing.
I only hope that I may never live to see it.
We don't usually get up till half-past 4,
but I'll call the folks at half-past 3 in
the mornin' so's they can have time to
set things to rights before night. I hope
I'll get a chance to empty the shotgun be
fore daylight. It'd learn the varmints a
few things.
Yours truly,
OBADIAH EVERAT OLDWAY.
P. S. If you know of any one as has
got a good bull pup to give- away send 'em
to me. I want one as can be learned to
grab hold and hang on. and when I get
him trained we'll see If this lawlessness
will be tolerated arond this farm.
BAD LANDS OF CUBA.
Poor Bargains Waiting for Gullible
American Investors.
The World Today.
It must be remembered that there Is
some very poor land as well as much very
good land In Cuba. In only too many
cases the buyers either did not know or
did not care about the quality of their
purchases, It only the price was low
enough. Flowery prospectuses with pic
tures of beautiful tropical scenes and lus
cious fruits, and most extravagant state
ments as to the profits to be derived from
the. products of a few acres, were scat
tered broadcast, especially In the United
States; large commissions were given to
canvassers, and the work was merrily be
gun of unloading worthless acres .that
cost only 13 . or $3 on unsophisticated
teachers, clerks and railroad men at prices
ranging all the way from $15 or 20 to $50
or more per acre.
During the early days of my residence
in Cuba I had the good fortune to travel
some distance by rail with a typical rep
resentative of that most charming class,
the well-to-do Cuban planter. My friend
was educated In France, had traveled
much In Europe and had resided for many
years in the States. He was thoroughly
posted on Cuban agriculture, and was
keenly alive to any suggestions as to
means toy which existing conditions could
be Improved. He talked entertainingly
and Instructively of the country through
I
The Bachelor's Child.
Baltimore Run.
He tossea hrr abov hjs head.
He romps until hi face la red.
H holds her arm's length to nee.
The wonder of her witchery:
He talks in language soft and low
That only little babies know.
He pauses now and then to gaze
Far off. as If 'twere In a maae,
And then with sudden sih and start
He presses her unto his heart.
He sits her highness on his knees
And hums her nurse'ry melodies.
He shakes her rattle, jingles- bells.
And. oh, such wondrous stories tells;
Ha lifts her little fare to lay
Its softness on his own and play
Her dimples were the deeps wherein
A thousand drops of dew had been.
And with his llpK upon the brink
He'd lean to them to kiss and drink.
He lets her sink upon his breast.
He sings her little lays of rest.
And when her little eyes are rioted
And all her baby grare reposed
He sits beside her little rot
Thinking of things so lone forgot,
So far adown the long ago
Wherefrom the tender echoes flow
Of songs he heard, of gay love rhyme.
On lips whose roses fade betime.
Be still the shadows fill his room!
A wrinkled, lonely bachelor's doom
To yearn for thing-s that pass him by.
To hold the memory of a sigh.
To sitmpse the shadow of a face
Once sunbright with its girlish grace.
To toss in play and sing to sleep.
When all the lonely shadows creep
And o'er his heart a figure gleams
The little baby of his dreams'
scription". The Cnguyan River itolf
seems like the Mississippi. Sixty milts
trom its mouth It Is us wide across as
the MiSKissippi'is at St. Louis, but near
its source in the mountains the Caga
yan is a gently flowing; stream, whicli
glides through greiin meadows of
gramma grass, growing knee high,
where the pasture-hidden soil is as
rich and black as Canaan, or It goes
creeping through dark forests, where
huge trees are wrapped pythonlike by
giant creepers and immense tree-ferns
60 feet in height struggle for the sun
from a dense growth of vegetation.
Near Its mouth at Aparrl the Caga
yan divides into hundreds of channels,
which go by separate ways to the sea.
Here are immense swamps, almost at
water level, nnd there are large
stretches of rice under cultivation.
Sometimes there are little islands cov
ered with a Jungle of bananas. At
Aparrl, which ! a likely seaport town
of 18,000 people, one can take a steam
boat to Manila, making the 430-mile
trip in 48 hours.
which we were passing, pointing out with
unerring judgment tho best cane lanrta.
others that were suitaible for tobacco, and
still others that were useful only for
pasturage. Finally the character of the
country began to change, and we came
Into a region where the scanty vegetation
proclaimed only too clearly the poorness
of the soil.
"And what." I said, "do you consider
this land good for?"
"This." he said, "so far as I know, is
good only to sell to American colonists."