Jasper County Democrat, Volume 23, Number 20, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 June 1920 — A PHILIPPINE TRAVELOGUE [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

A PHILIPPINE TRAVELOGUE

THE ROMANTIC ISLANDS OF THE FAR EAST. PICTURES OF THEIR NATURAL BEAUTY AND HISTORIC SPOTS—BECOMING A MECCA FOR TOURISTS AND A POPULAR WINTER RESORT. .

All aboard I Let's go I We’re starting from Manila, the great picturesque, Americanized Oriental city, and will travel by automobile 200 miles to the north to Baguio, the summer capital of the Philippines. The trip can also be made by train. We have ahead of us one of the most scenic, spectacular and thrilling automobile trips in the world. We will have excellent roads all the way. The Philippines are, in fact, a paradise for autolsts, possessing 3,500 miles of fine macadamized roads. The first part of the trip Is through typical small towns and then across the central plain of Luzon and through several rich and fertile provinces, where tropical vegetation is seen at its best. Here one Is impressed with the great agricultural wealth of the Philippines, which represents one of the East’s greatest producing areas, with the advantage of immense natural resources for the development of further production. It is regrettably true that even in the United States there is far from any real understanding of the potentialities of the Islands. At some points rice fields, looking in the distance like the greenest of green lawns, stretch away as far as the eye can see. If you want color, if you want to feel the romance and mystery of an Oriental twilight, pass this way as the red eyed sun at the end of the dying day is slowly sinking behind the unending expanse of green fields. At first you cry out In ecstacy at the gorgeous scene. But as you ride along, your eyes fastened on the panorama of tints and colors, and with the Impenetrably black Oriental night coming on fast, you become enthralled. You no longer try to express your feelings. You cannot. You realize that those now fast changing, colorful masterpieces in the heavens and on the landscape are pictures that no man can adequately describe nor human hands duplicate. So what’s the use of trying ! True, these are but Impressions, but the traveloguer considers himself justified in mentioning them, for they are a part of the trip to Baguio and return. Indeed, the gorgeous sunsets in all parts of the Philippines leave an Impression on the mind of the tourist that is everlasting. We leave the palms and tropical foliage and enter the zone of rugged pine. We pass from the soft, incense laden air of the warm lowlands to the crisp, invigorating ozone of the temperate zone, all within a few hours’ time. For mile after mile the road now follows the tortuous course of a river, the rbad lying In the bottom or on the rocky sides of a granite canyon. The Philippines are rich in hydroelectric possibilities. This power is the. cheapest power on earth. And it is everlasting. Your traveloguer is neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but he predicts that one day there will be innumerable Philippine government owned hydro-electric plants in this canyon we are now passing through. Think of the possibilities of such a project 1 Today the trip from Manila to Baguio Is too expensive for the average Manila worker and his family, many of whom may live and die without beholding the wondrous beauties of their own Island of Luzon. Think of what a blessing It would be to Filipino mothers and children to feel upon their fevered brows the cool, invigorating breezes of the mountain tops, now so near and yet so far 1 With the Philippine governiyent owning its own electric railways and hydro-elec-tric plants it would be possible to bring

the trip to Baguio within the means of hundreds of thousands of Filipinos. Not only Is there sufficient power in this river to electrify a line from Manila to Baguio, but to operate the street railways of Manila, light the city and furnish power for manufacturing concerns. But we have now arrived at Camp One.' From this point the scenery rapidly changes as the elevation Increases. We are traveling over the famous Benguet road, the construction of which through the mountains is a most remarkable engineering triumph. At places the road is blasted out of the solid granite. Riding on the edge of a 100 foot precipice makes one feel like

he Is on the rim of the world. Some of the turns are so sharp It Is Impossible to see 20 feet ahead, and we seem to be perilously near the jumping off place. We wonder If It Is safe to lean out and peer Into the canyon far below, and when we do we are perfectly satisfied we are flirting with death. Tot the trip is a safe one, providing our driver has better nerves than our own. All too soon we reach the outskirts of Baguio, a city among the clouds, and are rather surprised at the modem city we find it to be. In ten years Baguio has grown from a village of huts to the now justly famed mountain resort of the Philippines, sometimes called the Philippine Simla. It Is undoubtedly destined some day to a large city. — ■- Baguio ranges in elevation from 4,500 io 5,500 feet and is surrounded practically on all sides by high mountain ridges and “hogsbacks” towering into the skies at d height of almost 8,000 feet. Aside from the scenery, which Is noteworthy, the great blessing of Baguio is its temperate climate, which Is Indeed a godsend to those Impoverished by the tropical temperatures of the lowlands. Not only Is the mountain air rich In ozone, but it has been demonstrated to be extraordinarily free from germs of all kinds. Each year during the hot season ths school teachers of the entire archipelago are enabled by the government to spend a month at the teachers’ camp in Baguio for recreation and conference on school work. American army officers and their families also go to Baguio for the hot months. And now that your traveloguer has you in Baguio, he believes he will leave you there, for there are many Interesting aide trips to take, and, besides, Baguio la the most delightful place for a vacation in the entire Orient.

C. H. T.

The Zigzag on the Way to Baguio Summer Capital of the Philippines.

"At times we seemed perilously near the Jumping off place."