The Philippines: Past and Present Volume I Part 47

In April, 1908, there was opened a "Teachers' Camp," to which came American school teachers from all over the islands. They were housed in a hundred and fifty tents, which were set up under the shade of the pine trees. Larger tents served as kitchen, dining room, storehouse and recitation rooms, while a structure of bamboo and nipa palm, erected at a total cost of $150, was utilized for general a.s.sembly purposes. Four talented lecturers were employed to instruct and entertain the teachers. At one time there were a hundred and ninety persons in the camp.

The credit for initiating this very important move is due chiefly to William F. Pack, at that time governor of the province of Benguet, who strongly advocated bringing the teachers to Baguio, and did everything in his power to make the first a.s.sembly the great success which it was.

It has now become a fixed inst.i.tution, and has accomplished untold good. Americans who spend too many years in out-of-the-way munic.i.p.alities of the Philippines without coming in contact with their kind are apt to lose their sense of perspective, and there is danger that they will grow careless, or even slovenly, in their habits. It is of the utmost benefit for school teachers to get together once a year, learn of each other's failures and successes, and profit by each other's experiences, forget their troubles while engaging in healthful athletic sports, listen to inspiring and instructive discourses, and above all else benefit by open-air life in a temperate region.

The Teachers' Camp is now a beautiful and attractive place. A fine system of walks and drives make every part of it readily accessible. It has an excellent athletic field. The teachers live in tents, but good permanent buildings have been provided in which are located the mess, a social hall, recitation rooms, etc., and several comfortable cottages have been constructed for the use of visiting lecturers and others. An outdoor amphitheatre which seats a thousand persons has been built at small expense by taking advantage of peculiarly favorable natural conditions. Filipino teachers share the pleasures and benefits of the camp with their American a.s.sociates, and the "a.s.sembly" certainly does great good.

During the hot season of 1908 the Bureau of Lands transferred a number of its employees to Baguio, quartering them in tents. This was done in order to ascertain the practical effect of sending American and Filipino employees to this mountain resort. The conclusion was reached that the small additional expense involved was more than justified by the larger quant.i.ty and higher quality of the work performed as a result of the greatly improved physical condition of the workers. Every Filipino sent to Baguio gained in weight, with the single exception of a messenger who had to run his legs off! Other bureaus subsequently followed the example of the Bureau of Lands, with similar results.

During the 1909 season, the railroad having reached Camp One, five large Stanley steam automobiles were operated by the government in transporting pa.s.sengers from this place to Baguio, and more than two thousand persons were thus moved over the road.

Meanwhile, the unexpectedly heavy expense involved in completing the road had been made the subject of severe criticism by the public press of Manila. Most of the critics were entirely honest, having no idea of the character of the country opened up, or of the importance of making it readily accessible.

Just at the time when the commission should have crowded its programme through to conclusion, it faltered. The only government construction work performed at the summer capital that year, in addition to what has been mentioned, was the erection of a small office building and of a barrack building for labourers, the enlarging of five government cottages, the addition of out-buildings, and the enlarging of a building which served as a combination sanatorium and hotel.

This policy of inaction was a mistaken one. It made the Benguet Road seem like the city avenue which ran into a street, the street into a lane, the lane into a cow path, the cow path into a squirrel track and the squirrel track up a tree, for while one could get to Baguio, there was very little there after one arrived. The accommodations at the sanatorium were strictly limited, and there was some apparent justification for the charge freely made that the Philippine Commission had voted to spend very large sums of money to open up a health resort from which only its members and its staff derived benefit.

The government had at the outset been obliged to construct its buildings on a piece of private land purchased from Mr. Otto Scheerer, as prior to the pa.s.sage of the Public Land Act and its approval by the President and Congress, building on public land was impossible. Now, however, a town site had been surveyed, and plans for the future development of Baguio had been made by one of the world's most competent experts. The time had arrived for action. Mr. Forbes, then secretary of commerce and police, argued vigorously for the carrying out of the original plan of the commission by the construction of adequate public buildings. To help the development of the place, he purchased two adjacent building lots and on the tract of land so secured built a handsome and expensive home, where he subsequently entertained not only his personal friends, but guests of the government, as well as various persons who had no other claim on him than the fact that they were officers or employees of the government who were in need of a change of climate and could ill afford to seek it at their own expense. Among his house guests were General Aguinaldo, Speaker Osmena and many other Filipinos. It was Mr. Forbes's idea, and mine as well, that members of the commission ought to set the example by building at Baguio. I followed his example to the extent of buying a lot and constructing on it a simple and inexpensive house, thus obtaining the first and only home that I have ever owned.

Ultimately Mr. Forbes formulated a plan for the construction of a group of government buildings, a mess hall and a large number of small and inexpensive cottages for rental to government officers and employees so that the executive offices of the government might be transferred to Baguio during the heated term and it might become the true summer capital of the Philippines. This plan was adopted in substance, and it was decided to transfer the bureaus of the government to Baguio for the coming hot season, so far as practicable.

Funds were appropriated for the carrying out of Mr. Forbes's plan, but before the construction work had fairly begun there occurred, on October 17, 1909, a destructive typhoon. Eighteen inches of rain fell in nine hours, and twenty-six inches in twenty-four hours. The Bued River quickly rose fifty feet, carrying away trees and rocks which obstructed its course, and seriously injuring the road for miles. Four of the largest bridges were swept away and the work of constructing government buildings, which was just about to begin, was greatly r.e.t.a.r.ded. It was not thought possible to transfer the bureaus of the government to Baguio for the coming hot season as planned. Indeed, there were not lacking those who insisted that no one would be able to get there. Mr. Haube, the energetic and capable young engineer in charge, had the road open on the twentieth day of December, and the projected buildings ready for occupancy in February, a noteworthy and highly creditable achievement.

It was then thought that the storm which had done such serious damage to the road was of unprecedented violence, but there was worse to come. On July 14 and 15, 1911, a terrific typhoon swept across northern Luzon, bringing down one of the world's record rainfalls. Between noon of the 14th and noon of the 15th, forty-five and ninety-nine hundredths inches of rain fell at Baguio. A mountain forming a part of the wall of the Bued canon split from the top and the detached portion toppled over into the river, damming it to a depth of about a hundred and fifty feet at a time when it was carrying an enormous volume of water. When this dam burst, an avalanche of earth and rock, swept onward by a huge wave, rushed down the canon, leaving complete destruction in its wake. Every bridge in its course was carried away, and the road was left in such condition that it would have cost $300,000 to open it for traffic. Then Providence, having apparently done its worst, relented and sent another typhoon which washed away most of the debris left by the first one, uncovering the road-bed and making it possible to reopen communication for $50,000.

The cost of maintaining the Benguet Road has proved excessive. Mountains tower above it on both sides to a height of four to seven thousand feet and the drainage basin which finds its outlet down the narrow gorge through which the road runs is enormous. Even so, under ordinary climatic conditions its maintenance does not offer very exceptional difficulties, as much of it is blasted out of rock; but during extraordinarily heavy storms the danger of destruction by overwhelming floods is great.

While a century may pa.s.s before there is another storm like the one which brought down the terrific slide above described, there may be one at any time, and when the railroad has once reached Baguio, it is hardly probable that such extensive repairs as were necessary after the last destructive typhoon will ever again be made, especially as the horse trail built on a carriage road grade from Baguio to Naguilian in the lowlands has been widened little by little, until it is now safe for small automobiles. The maintenance of the bridges alone, on the Benguet Road, is a very formidable item, while there is only one short bridge on the Naguilian Road before the province of Union is reached. As it runs on or near the crests of ridges all the way, there are no extensive watersheds above it, and it is not liable to serious injury during the most violent storms. The total cost of the Benguet portion of this road to date [512] has been only $33,405. This stretch is seventeen and a half miles in length and does not include that portion of the road which lies within the city of Baguio. The total distance from the centre of Baguio to Bauang, the nearest railroad station on the coast, is thirty-four miles.

With the completion of the new government buildings and the transfer of the several bureaus to Baguio for the season of 1910 a real boom began. The old sanatorium building had long been leased to a private individual who used it for hotel purposes, adding to it from time to time. A second hotel had been built. The railroad had been extended to Camp One and a regular automobile service established for the convenience of the public between Camp One and Baguio. The Jesuits had constructed a great rest house and meteorological observatory on a commanding hill. The Dominicans had purchased a neighbouring hill top and prepared to erect thereon a very large reenforced concrete building to serve for college purposes and as a rest house for members of the order who required a change of climate.

Development began early at Camp John Hay, an extensive and beautiful military reservation set aside within the Baguio town site. Some progress had been made in this direction prior to the coming of Major-General Leonard Wood. That highly efficient and far-seeing officer gave a tremendous impetus to the work. He had been something of a sceptic on the subject of Baguio before visiting the place, but, like all other responsible persons who take the trouble to see it, promptly became an enthusiast when he had an opportunity to observe conditions for himself. Many army officers and their families who could not obtain accommodations in the limited number of buildings on the reservation were glad to take tents for the season, and the Camp promptly began to serve useful ends. It has steadily grown and developed ever since, and is now a well-organized army post. Its remarkable progress has been due in large measure to the initiative and ingenuity of Captain M. R. Hilgard, who has been its commander since October, 1905. Great progress has been made in erecting buildings, but they are still far short of the needs of the service. At the present writing [513] there are many tents in use by officers and their families. These serve very well during the dry months, but with the oncoming of the heavy showers, which usher in the rainy season, become damp and uncomfortable and make it necessary for the occupants to return to the lowlands just at the time when Baguio is growing most attractive and the heat of Manila is becoming most oppressive.

The ground set aside in the military reservation is adequate for a brigade post, and such a post should be established as soon as the railroad reaches Baguio. The different commands in the islands could then be ordered there in succession, and officers and men given the benefits of one of the best climates in the world.

Baguio has continued steadily to develop, and the Benguet Road no longer ends by running up a tree. The government has not only erected a residence for the governor-general, but has established offices for the chief executive, the secretaries of departments, the Philippine Commission, the Executive Bureau, and the Bureaus of Agriculture, Civil Service, Education, Forestry, Health, Public Works and Constabulary. There are also a hospital, a series of tuberculosis cottages for the treatment of patients from the lowlands, cottages and dormitories for government officers and employees, a great mess hall where meals may be had at moderate cost, an automobile station, a garage, storehouses, a pumping plant, and labourers' quarters. At the Teachers' Camp there are a separate mess hall, an a.s.sembly hall and a fine athletic field.

The city of Baguio has a city hall, a storehouse, a corral and market buildings. Lot owners who have built summer homes for themselves have brought up friends to show them what Baguio was like. Curiously it has never seemed possible to convey any adequate idea of its attractions and advantages by word of mouth. Again and again I have urged sceptics to come and see for themselves. When after the lapse of years they finally did so, they have invariably asked me why I had not told them about it before, forgetting that I had exhausted my vocabulary without being able to make them understand. Practically without exception, the persons who actually visit Baguio become "boosters."

It is fortunate in a way that the boom did not come quicker, for the hard truth is that up to date the rapidity of the growth of the summer capital has been determined absolutely by the local lumber supply. The original Filipino hand-sawyers were ultimately replaced by small portable mills, and these in turn by large modern mills to which logs are brought by skidding engines or overhead cables, yet it is true to-day, as it has always been true, that no sawmill has ever been able to furnish dry lumber, for the simple reason that the green output is purchased as fast as it can be sawed.

For a time the lumbermen took advantage of the necessities of the public, but when timber on the government concessions first granted them had been exhausted and they applied for new cutting areas, my turn came. I fixed maximum prices on lumber which they might not exceed without forfeiting their concessions. I also fixed a minimum annual cut which they were compelled to make, and imposed a regulation providing that at least half of the total cut should be offered for sale to the public.

There is no justification for the claim that Baguio is a rich man's city. The town site is very large and can be indefinitely extended. Good lots may be had at extremely moderate prices, and the cost of houses is strictly a matter of individual means and taste. A large section is given up to small dwellings for Filipinos. The man who earns his living with a bull cart has no more difficulty in establishing a home there than does the Filipino millionnaire, and rich and poor are building in constantly increasing numbers.

While experience has taught me that I cannot convey by words alone any adequate conception of what Baguio is like, I must nevertheless here make the attempt.

Twenty-one miles of well surfaced roads wind among its pine-covered hills and afford beautiful glimpses of the luxuriant vegetation along its numerous small streams. There are building sites to suit all tastes, and each house owner is convinced that his particular location is better than that of any one else. One spring supplies exceptionally pure water sufficient for the needs of at least ten thousand people, and an abundant additional supply can be obtained when needed. The scenery is everywhere beautiful, and in many sections truly magnificent.

Gently rolling hills enclose valleys with sides sometimes steep and precipitous and sometimes gently sloping. The country is watered by numerous streams bordered by magnificent tree-ferns, and by trees, shrubs, and plants requiring a large amount of water, while the dry hillsides bear n.o.ble pines standing at wide intervals and often arranged as if grouped by a skilled landscape artist. During the rainy season they are covered with ferns and orchids, while exquisite white lilies, larger than Easter lilies, dot the hillsides. The dense _cogon_ of the Philippine lowlands is absent. Bamboo gra.s.s or _runo_ occurs sparingly in the immediate vicinity of streams and springs, but the hills are covered with a short gra.s.s seldom more than knee high, so that one may ride or walk over them in almost any direction with comfort. A system of excellent horse trails affords communication with neighbouring provinces where one may see wonderful tropical vegetation, magnificent scenery, strange wild peoples, and the most remarkable terraced mountainsides in the world. These regions may be visited with safety and comfort, as public order is well-nigh perfect and rest houses have been provided at reasonable intervals on all important main trails.

The delightfully cool climate of Baguio makes active outdoor exercise enjoyable, and insures the speedy restoration to health and vigor of persons suffering ill effects from tropical heat, or recuperation from wasting diseases. Open fires are comfortable morning and evening throughout the year, and the pitch pine wood burns beautifully. Except during typhoons the rainy season weather is delightful. When one wakens in the morning the atmosphere and the landscape have been washed clean. The air is clear as crystal, and mountain peaks fifty or seventy-five miles away stand out with cameo-like sharpness. The needles of the pines fairly glisten and their delightful odor is constantly in one's nostrils. The whole country is green as a lawn. Roses, violets, azaleas, "jacks-in-the-pulpit," and several kinds of raspberries and huckleberries, all growing wild, make one feel as if back in America. One may visit the neighbouring Trinidad valley and see cabbages and coffee, bananas and Irish potatoes, flourishing on one piece of land. Strawberry plants imported from America bear continuously from December to May. Fresh vegetables of all sorts tickle palates which have grown weary of the canned goods of the lowlands.

Anywhere from twelve to three o'clock, the clouds begin to roll in and heavy showers fall, usually lasting until nine or ten at night. Then the stars come out. The next day is like its predecessor.

After the first rains, which usually come about the middle of April, there is as a rule a month of beautiful weather with very little precipitation. Then the rains begin to come steadily again, and keep it up until the end of the wet season, falling in the manner already described so that one can get one's outdoor exercise in the morning, while the afternoon showers are conducive to industry.

The following table shows the average maximum, minimum and mean temperatures for each month of the year, the figures covering the period January, 1902, to January, 1908:--

Month Average Average Mean Maximum Minimum F. F. F.

January 75.1 50.2 63.3 February 75.4 45.8 61.6 March 77.5 49.4 64.1 April 78.2 51.9 65.7 May 77.7 54 66.2 June 77 56.8 66.2 July 75.9 55.9 65.4 August 76 54.9 65.1 September 75.2 56 65.2 October 76.4 53.8 65.1 November 76.4 49.8 64.1 December 76.1 50.3 64.1

All of the above figures are for temperatures at a height of six feet above the ground. Temperatures nearer the ground are decidedly lower. It has been found that in the Baguio plateau the lowest temperatures correspond to the deepest valleys. In such places white frost is not rare during the months of January, February, and March, while on the tops of hills the temperature is milder, frost being almost unknown. During typhoons conditions do not differ essentially from those experienced elsewhere in the islands, except that the rainfall is exceptionally heavy.

Major-General J. Franklin Bell, who has given special attention to mountain resorts the world over, vigorously a.s.serts that Baguio has no equal on the globe. Certainly the climate is more nearly perfect than any other of which I have personal knowledge, and the delightful coolness and the bracing air afford heavenly relief to jangling nerves and exhausted bodies, worn out by overwork and by a too prolonged sojourn in tropical lowlands.

One of the very important things about the Baguio climate is its marvellous effect upon victims of tuberculosis.

Persons suffering from this disease in its earlier stages may confidently look forward to restored health if willing to live out of doors under the pine trees, and there have been a number of extraordinary recoveries among those in advanced stages.

A series of little cottages which can be thrown wide open have been operated for some time in connection with the government hospital, in order practically to demonstrate the effect of the climate on tuberculosis victims.

The results are conclusive, and whenever funds are available there should be established a settlement of such cottages on some one of the numerous good sites sufficiently removed from the town to avoid any possible danger of infecting healthy persons. There should also be a large mess hall from which good nourishing food can be served, and plenty of level ground on which tents can be erected during the dry season. Baguio's potential importance as a resort for victims of the great white plague justifies every cent of expenditure necessary to make it readily accessible.

The Sisters of the a.s.sumption have erected a handsome building which serves as a rest house and a girls' school. The sisters known as the "Belgian Canonist Missionaries" are erecting a building which will afford them a place to come for recuperation when wearied by strenuous work in the lowlands, and will make it possible for them to open a school for Igorot girls, which they are planning to do.

Bishop Brent has established an excellent school for American boys, situated on a sunny hilltop. The instruction is very good, the food excellent, and a healthier, heartier-looking lot of youngsters than those who enjoy the privileges of this inst.i.tution cannot be found anywhere. There is abundant opportunity for them to play basket-ball, tennis and golf. Some of them indulge in polo, playing on Filipino ponies.

Bishop Brent also has a mission school for Igorot girls, and plans to open a boarding school for American girls in the near future.

The Belgian missionary priests, locally known as the "Missionary Priests of the Church of San Patricio," have their headquarters at Baguio, where the chief of their order resides and where they come occasionally for rest and recuperation. Archbishop Harry has a modest home on one of the numerous hilltops.

The building of a school for constabulary officers, to which young men arriving from the United States are sent before entering upon active service, crowns another hill and commands a magnificent view of the surrounding country.

Several business concerns, such as the Compania General de Tabacos de Filipinas, have erected rest houses for their officers and employees, while the number of attractive private homes increases as rapidly as the supply of building materials will permit. Filipino residents of Manila have recently invested more than a hundred thousand dollars in Baguio homes.

But this is not all. No description would be anything like complete without mention of a unique structure which is certain to become famous the world over. It has been built under the immediate supervision of Major-General Bell, who has given freely of his time and thought to make it the extraordinary success which it is. I refer to the wonderful amphitheatre which stands at the side of the official residence of the major-general commanding the Division of the Philippines. Advantage has been taken of the existence of a natural amphitheatre with remarkable acoustic properties. Man has added what Nature left undone, and the result is an imposing and beautiful auditorium capable of seating four thousand people, throughout which a whisper can be heard. It is utilized for religious services, concerts, lectures, theatrical performances and other public entertainments. No charge is exacted for its use, but if an admission fee is collected, a liberal percentage of the proceeds must go to some worthy charity. It has been terraced in stone by Igorot labourers; the trees originally standing in it have been protected, and tree ferns, shrubs and flowering plants have been added. The result beggars description, and photographs do it scant justice.

Igorots from Bontoc, and even Ifugaos, now visit Baguio with increasing frequency, attracted by a large market established especially for the benefit of the hill people, where they may sell their manufactured articles or agricultural products, and may purchase at moderate cost the commodities which they need. The Benguet Igorots do not raise rice enough for their own use. Formerly they had to make up the shortage by eating _camotes_, but they have now become so prosperous that they can afford to buy rice, which is carted in over the Benguet Road.

There are promising gold mines close at hand. Their development would have been impossible had not the construction of the Benguet Road made it feasible to bring in the necessary heavy machinery.

Some of the fruits, many of the flowers and practically all of the vegetables of the temperate zone can be advantageously produced in Benguet. They are being shipped to Manila in steadily increasing quant.i.ties.

One would gather from the criticisms of the enemies of the Philippine government that the Benguet Road was a pleasure boulevard. The government motor trucks transported over it during the last fiscal year 22,390 pa.s.sengers and 7696.24 metric tons of freight.

Railroad corporations are inclined to be a bit soulless. The Manila Railway Company is extending its line to Baguio by means of a branch leaving the main line at Aringay. The building of this extension is now [514] fifty-five per cent completed, and the company is bound under the terms of its agreement to finish the road by August, 1914. In the event of its failure to do so, it must pay a monthly penalty amply sufficient in amount to cover the cost of maintaining the Benguet Road. Baguio will continue to develop steadily until the railroad is opened and then will go ahead by leaps and bounds. It is sure to prosper because it meets a very real and very imperative need.