English, and from this man had learned a good deal that was decidedly interesting.
"The natives have made war on the Spaniards tooth and nail," he said. "Not only the neighborhood around Manila, but the whole of the island of Luzon is up in arms. General Aguinaldo had under him something like forty to fifty thousand Tagals, Philippine Spaniards, and others, and they have declared for independence. They swear they will pay no further taxes to the Spanish."
"But all people have to pay taxes," I ventured.
"Yes, but not as the Filipinos do, my boy. They are taxed for about everything they eat and everything they drink, and they pay a tax for doing business. They can't cut down a tree, or shear a sheep, or pull down cocoanuts without paying a tax to the government. Besides this, they have also to pay large sums of money to the Church, and so they are kept poverty-stricken from year to year. I don't blame 'em for revolting, as it is called."
"Spain is having her hands full just now," remarked Tom Dawson. "The war in Cuba is ten times worse than the war here, I'm thinking."
"That Spaniard I met was very angry against us Americans," resumed Watt Brown. "He
