(Contribnted to the Hongkong Daily Press.)
Considerable excitement was caused ned to America i judging by th "on board the transport Sardine Box. When the vessel was signalled at the Peak the message ran "U.S. ship densely packed with human beings in sight. Fear that a shipwreck of transport fins occurred and the troops from two separate ships have taken refuge on the single vessel." Such a message caused much interest and on every point of vantage crowds of people assembled to sve the transport vessel come into the harbour. Gradually she steamed through the Lyeioon Pass and entered the anchurage.
Nothing could exceed the extraordinary sight which presented itself w the o Phe transport ship, whi moderate size, seemed to be one livin:
mass of human beings. It re:
the branch of " tree on which swarm of bees have settled, and the human crowd sowed as if it formed one great living agglomeration of flesh crushed and cramped und crowded together. 3 dozen men at least found refuge un the bowsprit, and on every yard and gaff swarms of meu appeared to he living, and it seemed impossible that they could descend to the densely packed of their comrades on the deck below. Out of each large ventilator peered at least four faces. In each of the eight boats there was crowd of men who seemed to have made the place their only home, and on every roof of the companions, on the capstan, and on the wheel-house,' the same densely packed mass of human life existed. Three men struggled for a place on each of the many ports and through each port-hole were thrust the heads of swarms of men who seemed gasping for air from the nauseous tween decks. Even each of the cabin scuttles, which formed but very stall standing room, was occupied by a sul die who seemed to rejoice in finding even this small place to rest on and an escape from the deadly packing within the ship. Judying by the appearance of the ship all the on-lookers felt that a shipwreck or collision must have occurred between two tree ships and that the vessel which escaped had taken on board the double allowance of men. When, therefore, the early visitors came alongside and endeavoured to enter the crowded vessel and enquire into the occurrence that had caused the overcrowding, they were extremely surprised to find that nothing out of the common had occurred, but that the apparent, frightful orererowding was simply the normal condition of " United States war transport carrying troops in the burning tropical sea.that extends between the shores of Luzon, Honolulu, and San Francisco.
When the visitors managed by main force to wedge themselves between the densely packed masses on the ship and interviewed the officers they found that this terrible overcrowding, this sickening slave ship packing of republican human souls, was quite the rule, and quite in accordance with American customs during this Pacific Ocean war, As the decks were packed night and day with men it was evidently impossible to thoroughly clean or police the decks and the appearance of the whole place was to say the least unsatisfactory.
The splendidly tall young men who formed the passengers seemed thin and spare, and bore on their wan and often anxious faces visible evidence that they had undergone in the swampy Philippine ior exposure to malaria and all thit it 'A finer body of youths—for in the main they were but youths of five and twenty—one could not find in any army, but the burning sun of a tropical island, want of shelter against rain and storm, the defective and hurried feeding of war time and the wear and tear and anxiety which every campaign entails on those who yo through it, hud not spared these gallant men.
To think that such men as these and such soldiers, should be so brutally overcrowded, so' packed together as to render daily life " perfect misery, is lamentable, For human beings to be flung into the crowded tween decks with such indis-imitate packing is most painful. Tt is not only against Amterica, but also against our common humanity. ' It reflects no credit on the much quoted Anglo-Saxon brotherhood. It is a disgrace to the wealthy American nation to allow such condition of affairs to occur, and the responsible military officials at' Manila who permitted this ship to leave that port on her voyage should be called to account in the most serious manner for their unpardonable neglect. We all here greatly resent the occurrence.
We have heard much of the horrors of the Middle Passage of the slave ships of grant ships which in past days left. Europe the beginning of this century. The emi-
with emigrants for America were, it is true, not palaces in luxury or space; but for deworight overcrowding, dense and destructive packing of human souls in moisture laden tropical sea, the "first prize" for overcrowding must be allotted to the U. S. transport Sardine Bux and ourable mention" nly to the slave ship and the emigrant packet.
We hear much of the expansion of the Republic, but expansion is needed more than in any other in the war transports the Republic employs to transport her interesting army across the Pacific. " B pluribus wien is not to be translated as many packed in the space for one," and if in the next fow weeks we hear that plague or small-pox or typhus or other of the diseases which like Nemesis follow on overcrowding has broken out in the U.S, transport Sardine Box, we shall receive the intelligence with regret but absolutely without surprise. And this is the Great Republic, and this is the fin clu sidcle!
That men in perfect physical health can stand overcrowding for a time may be petfectly true, but what of the many, the very many, ailing meu f-r whom so little comfort exists?" The hospital brimming over with sick, the pale and languid men that lay about the uncleansed deck What
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.