In the Philippines

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Mar 25, 1903

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 29, No. 12.

In the Philippines

In the Philippines.—The managing editor of the Manila News, who has recently returned from the islands, states that Americans are leaving the islands as fast as they can get away. He states that less than 6,000 Americans are now in the islands, that is, of course, outside of the army; and he predicts that this number will be rapidly diminished because of the depression in trade. An American firm has just secured a franchise for thirty-five miles of electric railway in Manila and suburbs. The same firm will build a large electric light and power plant in Manila. There is a possibility that the negotiations for the purchase of the holdings of the friars in the islands will fail because of the excessive prices asked by the religious orders for their land. The prices asked are double the price for which they were offered last year at private sale. The government is anxious to purchase the holdings, but is not willing to pay excessive amounts for them.