THE BLUE BONNET
Page Four
(Continued from Page 1)
lands (except Palmas island).
Retaining full rights of sovereignty, as represented by the United
States High Commissioner to the
Philippine islands, the Congress of
the United States began an era of
self government in the islands by
the inauguration of the Commonwealth of the Philippines on the 15th
of November, 1935. In accordance
with the provisions of the constitution, formulated and drafted by delegates selected by the Filipino people
themselves, the government of the
Commonwealth of the Philippines is
modeled on that of the United States,
with executive, legislative, and judicial branches. Politically the Commonwealth is divided into 49 provinces
and 8 chartered cities: Manila, Baguio, Cebu, Iloilo, Zamb anga, Davao,
Bacolod, and Tagaytay. The Provinces are divided into municipalities,
and these are further divided into
barrios.
The Archipelago comprises over
7,080 islands and rocks above water
with a combined area of about 114,400
square statute miles, 94 percent of
which is contained within the 11
largest islands of the group, there
being only 466 islands with areas of
1 square mile or more. Luzon in the
north and Mindanao in the south are
the two largest islands; besides these
two there are only 30 islands with
areas greater than 100 square stat~te
miles. Of this latter group Samar,
Negros, Panay, Palawan, Mindoro,
Leyte, Cebu, Bohol, and Masbate' are
the most important. A recount of the
islands and rocks and a recompilation of the area is now in progress.
The largest part of the islands lies
within an elongated ellipse with the
major axis extending north-northwest
and south-southeast. Palawan and the
Sulu Archipelago extend from this
main body in a southwest direction
toward Borneo, forming the northwest and southeast boundaries of the
Sulu sea. The most northerly point
of islands in the archipelaO"o is the
north point of Y'Ami Islands. The
most easterly is Pusan Point, Mindanao. The most southerly, Saluag
Island. The most westerly, West Point
Balabac Island. The islands, although
containing almost every variety of
topographic feature, ar,e generally
mountainous and heavily wooded, and
contain many volcanoes. Mount Apo,
in Mindanao, 9,610 feet high, and
Mount Pulog in Luzon, 9,480 feet
high, are probably the highest points
hit them. Sum of the boys wuz a little
sick but thanks to my experience
...ith my raft on the Mill Pond I wuz
alright. Cant see how those star
shooters do it but we got to Hawaii
an stayed in the Pairodice of the
Pacific several days. ow we hev bin
at sea for over a week an havent
seen a piece of seaweed. We crossed
the International Date Line an I herd
even the Captain got crossed up on
the time.
Deer Maw an Pawl never new thair wuz so much
ocean on this world. We steamed out
of Pedro an hit the seas an we shore
in the archipelago.
Earthquakes of severe character
have been experienced in the Philippine Islands. The most disastrous of
recent times was that of 1863 in
which 400 persons were killed and
2,000 injured in Manila and 46 public
buildings and 1,100 private houses
were seriously damaged or destroyed.
Other serious earthquakes have occured in 1610, 1645, 1658, 1675, 1699,
1852, 1880, and 1911, when on J anuary 30 there was an explosion of
gas in the crater of Taal Volcano,
devastating the country surrounding
Lake Taal. Active volcanoes exist in
the Babuyan Islands, Luzon, egros,
Mindanao, and Camiguin.
Communication among the islands
and with foreign ports is by regular
lines of steamers, by cable, telegraph,
telephone, and radio. The inter-island
cable telegraph, and radio service is
under the Philippine Bureau of Posts.
There are' two cable companies and
three radio companies accepting
foreign business. Regular lines of
passengers and freight steamers call
at Manila, Cebu, and Hoilo.
Mail and passenger air service is
now in operation between Manila and
Baguio, and between Manila and
Iloilo, Bacolod, Cebu, and Davao. The
Pan-American Airways fUlnishes
trans-pacific airplane communication
with the United States and westward
,vith Hong Kong.
Currency is based on the decimal
system. The Peso is equivalent to 50
cents United State currency and is
the smallest unit of paper money.
The coin.s in general are the 50, 20,
10, 5, and 1 centavo pieces.
Things aint so tuff as they wuz
in the Yard. The ship is clean an
shiny. We are all busy larning our
jobs. Pretty swell bunch of guys on
here. The last few days wuz swell
havin an extra half day holliday on
Armistice Day.
Oh yah, Sunday we had a smoker.
It wuz our first try an say it sure
wuz fun. There wuz boxing, raslin,
singing an music. In the raslin matches sum of the guys wuzent so particular about their holds. A fella by
the name of J.P. O'Grady beat W.D.
Godfrey; then R.C. Dudley won over
L.A. Parsons, and White of the C&R
gang pinned H.E. Dodson. I wush ya
,::oulda seen the boxin. Barrett, tha
fighting shipfitter, ironed out Goodson, tha Battlin Laundryman; Hurrell, Blowtorch is his nickname, wuz
as hot as his nickname an WQD his
bout with Yoder. Anglin, the Sluggin
Feather Merchant frum the Signal
Gang, flagged down Knipe. In the
nain event Gee of the Leathernecks
wuz outshot by Pistole, a golden
Glover. In between the bouts we had
accordian music by Arneson an guitar
music by Frantz and Grasham wile
Rippel' Collins sang romantic songs.
I herd the next Happy Hour is goin
to hev refreshments; I am agoin to
'.;how the boys how swell a harmonica
sounds if I dont get my jaw busted
Gosh I bet I wood be a sensation
>laying a harmonica with boxin mitts
on.
Our next port is Guam what wuz
iust struck by a typhoon. I herd that
the folks there paint thair name on
thair tin rooves so wen a storm blows
the roof off they can tell wich is
thairs after the torm. Say thet wood
be a keen idea for our barns an chicken coops then we wudent have to
argue with those folks in the next
town after a twister as wich wuz our
shed.
Yur lovin son,
Joe.