RECOLLECTIONS OF FULL YEARS
punishment meted out to certain American treasurers who were unable to resist temptation. The penalty described in Philippine law for the misuse of public funds or the falsification of a public document is terribly severe, and there is a little band of white men in Bilibid orison in Manila to-day because of their venality and breach of trust. Our mission in the Philippines is based upon the highest principles and we have always striven to maintain a high moral tone in the government personnel, so it is particularly painful to the small American community when, as happened too often first, an American went wrong.
Though the Commission proceeded with the establishment of civil government in a conspicuously simple manner as much cannot be said of the Filipinos. They were bent upon making the most of a rare opportunity for the enjoyment of great and ceremonious festivity.
On the 23d of February, following the extraordinary celebration of Washington's birthday, the Commission, accompanied by a considerable number of prominent Filipinos and by several of the ladies, took a government launch and steamed across the Bay to the town of Balanga, the capital of the province of Bataan which lies directly opposite Manila where they sun goes down in tropic splendour behind the Meriveles Mountains. The trip was a new experience for me and was the beginning of my long acquaintance with Filipino hospitality.
As we approached the Bataan shore there were splashes of brilliant colour all over the surface of the Bay, which, on nearer view, turned out to be the decorations of a great fleet of bancas coming out to meet us. There must have been a hundred or more and, while they were of all sizes, some of them were large enough to hold twenty and thirty rowers. The banca is a long, narrow dugout which usually looks as if it were just about to sink. Some of these had outriggers, some had not, but each and every one of them was loaded to
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