The San Francisco call., 1903-01-08
PLEA FOR HELP
IN PHILIPPINES
President Voices His
Sympathy With the
Request.
Condition of Natives Said to
Be on the Verge OF
Suffering.

WASHINGTON. Jan. THE President
to-day submitted to Congress the
third annual report of the philippine
Commission, with extensive appendices.
ACCOMMODATING the Presidents letter of
transmittal was a letter from Secretary
Root making strong plea for immediate
helm bv Congress for the inhabitants of
the archipelago. In his letter transmit
ting the report and indorsing Secretary
Roots plea President Roosevelt says:
II call vollr special attention TO the rec
concentrations contained in this letter of
the Secretary of War. l most earnestly
feel that the enactment of the measures
already pending in your body for the bet
terment Of the Philippine Islands Is I'M
peratfveIv demanded by the situation in
those islands and serious calamity may
come from failure to enact them. Fur
tbernoOre with equal earnestness l ask
YOUR attention TO the recommendations or
fhe Secretary Of War in the accompany
ing letter and urge their adoption so That
the sum of money therein specified may
be appropriate ted for the uses and In the
manner likewise specified, in order that
the present distress in the islands may
he remedied.
Secretary Root in his letter to the Pres
ident saws: Il beg to ask special consid-
Grafton of the recommendations of the
commission, all Of which have my hearty
approval
1T seems to me that the conditions re-
sulting from the destruction by the rim
derpest of 20 per cent Of the caribos, the
draft animals of the island, and the con-
sequent failure of the rice crop, followed
by an epidemic of cholera, are so serious
and distressing as TO call for action by
Congress beyond that for which the COM
mission specifically asks.
The removal under the laws of Con-
gress of export duties on goods shipped
from the Philippines to the United States
has materially reduced the duty OF the
islands while the duties collected in the
United States upon importatiOns from the
Philippines which under the same laws
were 10 be turned over 20 the Philippine
Treasury and were expected to make
good the deficit have amounted to practi-
cally nothing. At the same time the de-
cline in the price of silver, the evils OF a
f1uctuating currency and the impoverish-
ment Of the people have reduced the Gov
ernment revenues when they are most
needed for relief of the people
81 think the occasion for relief in the
Philippines is now greater than it was
in Cuba when Congress appropriated
$1,000 600 for the payment of the Cuban
soldiers out of the treasury of the United
States or than it was in Porto Rico when
contributed by the people Of the United
States and more than a million dollars
paid out of the national treasury for the
relief Of the sufferers from the hurricane
of August, 1899.
An appropriation Of not less than So
000010 for the relief of the distress In
the Philippines from the causes which l
have mentioned would be in harmony
with the course pursued by Congress
toward the people of the other Spanish
( islands. the practical evidence Of the sin
/ cere interest that the people of the
United States takes in the welfare of the
Philippine people and of the kindly and
generous treatment which they are to
receive. Previous experience indicates
that such an appropriation can be made
the most useful by giving the Philippine
Government discretion to apply it in such
proportions as they deem wise in the di-
rect purchase and distribution and sale
OF supplies or through the employment OF
labor in the construction Of Government
wagon roads, railroads or other public
work