LETTERS FROM MANILA

...I don't think you have anything to be regretful about in having given the kids everything they really wanted...

...As I have written you before, I never cease marvelling at how the human being adjusts himself, and how quickly life goes back to 'normal' once the pressure of circumstances abates a little...

...But it must have taken real convictions in the dark months of '42 and '43, and I think the evidence is overwhelming that the common people were unswerving (as a group) in their loyalty to us, and it is deeply gratifying that we are being loyal in the same degree to them...

...T MISSED writing you yesterday...

...The house itself is a large mansion, completely unfurnished and with all the services missing...

...As I wrote you, it was a very moving and impressive ceremony...

...I ran into a young major from Sparta, Wis., who has been here since before the war...

...MacArthur and the President made their entrance, and the General walked immediately to the microphone and began speaking...

...Douglas MacArthur's headquarters, to his wife have been one of the most popular features in The Progressive since Phil went overseas in August, 1942...

...Yesterday was a memorable one...

...He has that natural endowment of an outdoors fellow who liked fishing, hunting, etc...

...item of chlorinated water...

...pounding over the highway almost 24 hours a day...

...Last night it didn't cool off until early this morning...

...There is so much that is wrong in the world that it's a healthy thing to be able to give adequate recognition to things that are headed in the right way...

...one is seldom without sweat all JL day long and until early evening...

...It's a bit primitive compared with city standards back home, but compared with the difficulties of some military personnel, it's comfortable...

...And it's that sort of attention you have given the kids—the food they liked, clothes to wear, and the other items that at a particular time were important to them...

...All this to explain that we are working amidst a lot of racket and quantities of dust from rubble...

...We have a large office space ¦—first time we have really had adequate room...

...One of the outstanding factors in our success in this war is the bulldozer...

...At the moment it is very dusty as there is a lot of cleaning going on inside and out...

...I suppose that eventually the President and his family will take up residence there...

...But it has a dignity of its own in a good deal the same way as the Executive Residence at home...

...And on the same floor but off another corridor are the private apartments of the President...

...Off this large hall are other rooms, several of them large bed-sitting rooms...

...It will be an experience when we can get back to good old U. S. tap water that one can drink from Maine to California and without a second thought...

...It will take a week or 2 to get it in running order but at least we can see daylight ahead...

...I thought again of what we saw in Russia when after 15 years of Soviet insistence on the worthlessness of gold, they established the gold ruble stores, and how they brought gold to the surface...

...You will undoubtedly have read and perhaps heard the ceremonies yesterday at the Malacanan Palace when Gen...

...The palace itself was built in 1915 or so...

...Promptly at noon Gen...

...greatly appreciated...

...UR landlord gave a fiesta yesterday in honor of his Army guests...

...Adjoining on one side is the State Dining Room...

...Certainly hope that he comes this way...

...On the floor above we have about 8 of our officers, including Gordon [Maj...

...The roof was hit a couple of times (before we moved in...

...But as you say, the basic lesson for parents to learn is to let their children live their own lives...

...And so here in the Philippines it is the same story, only instead of jungle they are at work clearing away the wreckage, getting things ready for reconstruction...

...You were right, I could almost have touched the microphone and I, too, was wondering if you might be listening in at the other end...

...MacArthur formally turned over to the Commonwealth Government control of civil affairs...

...He would probably have developed as he is now if he'd gone away to college, but there can be no doubt that the discipline and training in the Army in time of war, where each lad is conscious of the fact that what he's learning may be put into actual practice within a short time, accelerates development...

...There must have been 100 guests who sat down at long tables...

...And this, mind you, after all the hardships and suffering and cruelties that they have had to go through in the past 3 years...

...It is rare to see a child crying, or to see people without a pleasant smile on their faces...

...The location is reasonably quiet,, and the quiet is...

...Just as in Central America, one does not eat uncooked vegetables or unpeelable fruits, and of course- we always have with us that good old G.I...

...Both were most enthusiastic about the repasts...

...The place had been used until we re-took Manila by Laurel and his puppet government...

...back home in Wisconsin, and he applied his knowledge out here...

...That article carries a hopeful, constructive note that I think must be very valuable for the magazine...

...I have just been for a long walk, and all the time I thought of you and-our travels in Central America, visiting the markets, watching the trading going on, seeing what is being sold, and of course everywhere flocks of people...

...At the present time the place does not look as if anyone were occupying it...

...It is O. K., to be sure, that the Americans 'were coming back' now that they are here...

...Did you note the break in MacArthur's voice ? He was filled with pent-up emotions and at the end tears were on his cheeks...

...I happened to get a Filipino soldier started on the way to the hospital the other day —he had a bad case of malaria and, having been in the hills, hadn't had proper medical attention...

...Bob III got a cold dose of 'ice water' in plunging from the comforts and attention of his home into the bleak and rugged life of an Army recruit...

...An enormous mid-day meal, chicken, roast pig (called Le chong), fruit salad, soup, etc...

...But it is a very nice place indeed and we are all doing nicely...

...so they can peek at the stars at night from their bunks...

...I'm in the midst JL of moving and under existing conditions it's not an easy job...

...We carry along our own water wagon, our own latrine (good old-fashioned style), and set up showers with a couple of .large gas cans filled with water and armed with a shower head...

...It's a bit difficult concentrating on letter-writing because of the noise made by our bulldozers...

...Because this is a Saturday and hence a special market day, the people come in from the barrios (farm villages) with their produce to market, but, equally important, to see the sights, and visit with their neighbors and customers...

...These Filipinos have real gifts for enjoying life...

...Her gratitude was really embarrassing because we had done nothing in particular, but her response is typical...

...Will you be good enough to tell Miles McMillin what a fine piece I think he did in The Progressive on his visit to the TVA ? The picture that accompanied the article was grand, too...

...That lasted 3 hours (I couldn't stay because of work...

...I've thought of you a lot because I know what a kick you'd get out of seeing me move, especially after always being out of town when you had to make our moves...

...But thus far I have been surprised at how well I have got along in these tropical climates...

...When one thinks back into his youth, the pleasant memories are often of the occasions when perhaps one was a bit 'spoiled.' I know how often I think of my grandmother and the debt I owe her for the happy days I spent as a small kid on their farm...

...He was obviously moved, and had difficulty at one time in controlling his voice sufficiently to continue...

...Within a couple of weeks you should know, as his training ought to be over now, and it will be great for you to have him home on furlough and then tougher than Hades to have him leave...

...Within minutes after a beachhead landing the old bulldozers are at work, making roads, clearing jungle, etc...

...He certainly shows his maturity in his letters...

...Like you, I too am anxious to know what direction he will go in...

...Outside the palace a guard of honor was drawn up, and with it the 32nd Division Band...

...So all in all yesterday's ceremonies were moving to everyone there, and especially to the General and those who came out with him 3 years ago---* * * **T GOT a kick from Bob Ill's fa private in the infan-¦*- try] letter you quoted...

...Bob, Judy, and Sherry, thanks to you, have developed along their own individual lines...

...The past 2 nights have been the first ones in over a month that I was not sleeping in a building immediately on the busiest thoroughfare, with Army trucks, tanks, etc...

...We have now located a house [in Manila] and within a day we will be packing up and on the move...

...Gordon Sinkyin, former Business Manager of The Progressive and law partner of Phil's...

...It has a formal entrance with a wide stairway leading from the front doorway to the second floor...

...TT ARDLY a day goes by that one doesn't run into JTX some additional evidence of the hospitality and gratitude of the Filipinos...

...I think back on my own youth and recognize that I owe a lasting debt to my mother for her determination that I should 'leave home.' Not perhaps that the desire for independence in me needed much encouragement, but she certainly strengthened it...

...However, he assured me that he looked forward with eagerness to getting back to Wisconsin and that he would be satisfied for some time with just our camp-for-a-week-end type of outing for quite a while...

...So here in this area one sees how human craft has hidden away various things for that 'sunshiny' day when 'business as usual' can come back...

...Perhaps this development is not balanced, but anyhow it has brought Bob up against realities hard and fast, and he has taken it in his stride...

...All these men speak in glowing terms of the attitude of the Filipinos toward them, and especially in their day of adversity...

...In many ways it was the climax of a long, arduous, and tragic experience, and I am sure that every one who has been in this area is conscious of the thousands of Americans and Filipinos who can never return, and the tragic time that was theirs...

...Tf one is not too sensitive about sanitation it is a sight to behold...

...Morris has a true eye for such, and I am deeply convinced that The Progressive under Morris' guidance has maintained a strong and consistent stand and one that events are proving to have been eternally right...

...Isabel B. Im Follette, Associate Editor of The Progressive, has here assembled excerpts from her husband's most recent letters...

...This opens into a large reception hall, the latter a room I should say as large as the East Room in the White House...

...It was just one of those routine things one does in the course of a day's work—nothing out of the ordinary, part of one's job—but his wife turned up today with the report that her husband was free of fever and on the road to full recovery...

...He did not give up but has lived in the hills during the Japanese occupation...

...Little things like always being able to have my oatmeal out of the same special dish, and being able to ride her horse, 'Old Charlie,' whenever I wanted to, even though some of the older folks thought it would be 'better' if the horse were at work in the fields...

...It is interesting to see the various types of goods and commodities that come out into the open market when the danger of Japanese confiscation disappears...

...The noise of warfare has also quieted down and except for occasional small arms fire and distant artillery and bombing it's really very calm...

...It was all very dignified but gay...

...We are busy as the dickens getting settled...

...rT"'HE days are hot...

...I didn't go, but Gordon did and also Diller...

...It's that solid, heavy style in furnishings, very much a la Kohler, with thick Chinese rugs, heavy furniture...

...I was delighted that you heard the radio of Mac-Arthur's and Osmena's speeches from the Malacanan Palace...

...Then again last night about 8 o'clock another enormous meal with about 30 guests...

...And incidentally the 32nd Division Band did a grand job and was enormously and properly pleased at having been chosen for this occasion...