THE SALOON IN MANILA by C. M. S.

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Jan 2, 1901

THE SALOON IN MANILA.

By C. M. S.

THERE has been much discussion in the press of the country in regard to the status of the liquor traffic in the Philippines. There have been apologists for the course of the government in the matter, and there have been strong denunciations of the law-fostered curse as it exists there, and “facts and figures” have been made to do duty on both sides of the question. But in the official statement issued by the War Department, and based on the annual report of the Department of Licenses and Municipal Revenues of Manila, we have something definite from which to judge of the liquor traffic there. According to that report, the number of liquor licenses issued for Manila was 167, of which 12 have been canceled, leaving 155 still operative. This number does not include the places where the native drinks are sold. Neither is the sale of the native beverages prohibited; for, according to the report, “the natives have drunk this liquor for generations, and it has not been thought best to prohibit the use of it by them.” Thus the American saloon is not a substitute for the native drinking places, but is an addition to them. Instead of removing the curse which they already had, the army of civilization has fastened upon the Filipinos a worse one than they had previously known. According to this showing, the situation is fully as dark as it has been pictured, and this incubus on civilization is as ponderous there as any had ever charged. Referring to this matter, the Christian Work declares that the government “will stand condemned by the country for this establishment of the saloon as the offering of American civilization to the natives of Manila.” C. M. S.