Unofficial letters of an official's wife [by] Edith Moses.

UNOFFICIAL LETTERS OF

speeches of welcome as the private secretaries and
their wives descend from the carriages. Explanations and protests follow in halting Spanish, and the
bewildered natives have to begin all over again when
the portly form of "the Honorable Presidente"
looms up.
On our arrival at the Ayuntamiento a delegation
of principales and citizens made long speeches of
welcome and a reception in the courtroom followed.
Among the guests were two elegant Chinamen,
richly dressed, wearing large bell-shaped hats tipped
with glass knobs and covered with red fringe. After
the reception we went to the theater, quite a large
building, where Judge Taft addressed the natives
on the unsatisfactory condition of the Island of
Cebu. Although Cebu has been recommended for
civil government by the military governor, there is
a general belief that the inhabitants do not deserve
it, as there is much unrest in the province, and bands
of insurrectos prowl about in the neighborhood of
the capital to the great alarm of the officer in command. President Taft's speech was quite to the
point. He told the delegates that the question they
must face was whether they desired two or three
hundred men to continue a hopeless struggle after
the insurrection had collapsed, and keep the people
of Cebu, the majority of whom want peace, from
achieving that desire. In order to obtain peace they
must organize to get it, and the Commission had
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