In this case the very opposite was true. The government had no money to waste on celebrations and all government buildings, such as the City Hall, the Post Office and the Ayuntamiento, were conspicuously bare. Their nakedness was positively eloquent of economy in the midst of the riot of gay bunting, the flags, the pennants and the palm leaves in which the rest of the city was smothered. Then there were extraordinary and elaborate arches spanning the streets through which the Governor was to be conducted. One of these, erected by the Partido Federal , displayed a huge allegorical picture which had a peculiar significance. Filipina, a lovely lady draped in flowing gauze, was seen, in an attitude which combined appeal with condescension, presenting to Columbia a single star, implying that she desired to be accepted as one of the States of the Union.

I am indebted to the descriptive art of Mrs. Moses, to photographs and to my own knowledge of the Filipino way of doing things for the mental picture I have of this celebration.