Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 93, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 August 1901 — NEWS FROM OUR COLONIES. [ARTICLE]

NEWS FROM OUR COLONIES.

Adulteration of indigo by the natives of the Philippines has almost ruined the export market for this product of the archipelago, and has cut the price in half. According to reports received at the War Department, years ago indigo wns one of the important products of the islands. In quality the Philippine article compared favorably with the best grade of the Guatemalan product. It used to bring from 61 to 65 cents per pound', but in 1875 the price fell to 23 cents. At present it fluctuates between 30 and 35 cents. The decline in price was brought about by the deterioration in the quality, that resulted in a greatly lessened demand. The cause of this deterioration is explained by the fact that years ago the native growers knew and practiced only the most primitive methods of preparing indigo, but with the arrival of large numbers of Chinese in the Philippines, the original process was abandoned and the natives began to imitate the Chinese practice of adulteration. It was found ■that by the admixture of a small quantity of lime with the indigo the coloring matter could be precipitated and the product prepared for the market in a much shorter period. While the more rapid process provided a source of temporary profit, the effect upon the quality of the indigo was soon discovered by the purchaser, and the Philippine product, owing to its extensive use of lime, • fell into discredit in foreign markets.

During a long talk on affairs in the island of Guam, Gov. Tilley recently gave President McKinley some valuable and interesting information. One of the curious facts brought out was that civilization had introduced tuberculosis on the islands. Before the advent of the trousers, shirt and coat the native did not suffer from colds and coughs. When it rained he or she smeared the body with oil of cocoa and the rain had no effect. The native, however, has not learned how to handle the wet shirt or trousers emergency and the American clad native is therefore contracting the diseases consequent on wet clothes dried on the body. The native mothers, it is said, were wofully ignorant about how to rear babies. The diet never changed when the children were sick. If they had cholera infantum they were dosed with bananas, cocoanuts or raw sweet pickles, whichever happened to be in stock. But for all this Gov. Tilley declared people of Guam are a manly, vigorous race, tractable and anxious to become good citizens. Gov. Tilley impressed on the President that there were great needs tor the islanders for industrial ami agricultural education. Their ideas were as yet very crude, but they were making progress.

Cuba has a population of about 1,500,000. of whom 910.000 are native whites, 142.000 foreign whites, 234,000 pureblood negroes, 2811,000 mulattoes or halfbreeds and 14,000 Chinese. More than 40 per cent are unable to read or write, and having always been subject to tyranny, do not possess the slightest comprehension of the principles of self-goverri-ment. ’Uhe insular government nt Manila has saved $250,000 by the passage of an act virtually declaring the stone quarries at Mariveles, in the Bataan province, public domain and authorizing the use of the stone in the harbor improvement. A Spanish company is alleged to have established title to the quarries.

Copper deposits in the province of Lepanto, nenr Mount Data, P. 1., have been worked by the Igorrotes since before the Spanish discovery of the archipelago. These barbarians, who are heathens, living in squalor, have developed industrially to a Kurprisingly high point, and the skill they exhibit in the extraction and working of metals is extraordinary. They turn out copper kettles no less than three and a half feet in diameter, and they also make numerous kinds of implements and ornaments out of the same metal.