Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1905-10-14
HEPBUR. TALKS ON PHILIPPINES
United states Has a DimcuIt Task to
Perform.

CRESTON, Ia, Oct. 18.-(Special )-Colonel
William p Hepburn, representative of the
Eighth Iowa congressional district, dis
cussed today his recent trip to the orient
with the Taft party. Colonel and Mrs. Hep
burn arrived at their home in Clarinda Fri
day, having stopped at San Francisco for a
few days after the arrival of the party at
that port Their homecoming was made
doubly enjoyable by the spontaneous recep-
ton accorded them Saturday by the people
, OF Clarinda, among whom they had lived for
forty years. This event was testimonial
to the high place in the esteem and affec-
ton of their old friends and neighbors
which Colonel and Mrs. Hepburn enjoy and
the fact that the day was their golden we'd
ding anniversary was an additional ele-
ment OF pleasure.
I'VE had most delightful trip said
Colonel Hepburn, In reply to a question
During the entire trip of almost three
months, most of the time on the ocean. not
one of the 1H persons who composed the
! party was sick. We were favored with the
best of weather and encountered no storm
| of any consequence, a rather remarkable
fact, considering the frequency of typhoons
In the islands. There was big storm some
time previous to our arrival and the devas.
|
ago is we'll known to newspaper readers"
Colonel and Mrs Hepburn Joined the Taft
party at Honolulu, having sailed from Sar
Francisco the last day of'May for the pur-
| pose of visiting their daughter, Mrs. Maggie
Chamberlain, at Honolulu. They remained
! in Hawaii until July Is, when the Taft
party left Honolulu. Colonel Hepburn
talked most entertainingly of the trip and
| especially OF the time spent in the Philip
pines and in Japan and China. He is moi
only Of an investigating turn of mind, but
he is a close observer as well, and the in.
formation he obtained was wide and varied
Asked regarding the value OF the Philip
pines to this country he replied:
THE islands are commercially desirable
The soil is fertile and perhaps half the sur
face of the land is tillable. The variety Of
the products and the ease with which they
are produced are wonderful The only thin
that can prevent the rapid progress of thu
country toward wealth is the character ant
disposition OF the inhabitants. Political!
1 am very doubtful as to the kind of I
bargain this country obtained We hav
them, however, and It is our duty to Il
them for Independence. This is a mos
stupendous task and 1t is my opinion tina
long before 1t is accomplished the peopl
will be so firmly attached to this countr,
and it's institutions that separation from
the United States will be about the las
thing they will want. At the present tim
the great mass of the people are satisfie
with political conditions; they would b
satisfied under any government which doe
not Cypress them or rob them by unjus
and burdensome taxes and which protect
them from the depredations OF the ladrone'
the organized bands Of pirates and robber
which scourge the country. The lntelllgen
residents of the country who have mean
are also we'll satisfied and would deplors
change OF any kind. The agitation for inde
pendence comes almost entirely from thos
men who are more advanced in educatio
than the average, but who have, as a rul'
little property; whose idea of government
that the people OF the islands are divide
into two classes, the class OF obedience
comprising the great mass of the people
and the class OF direction. composed of th
few. and of these they are TO be the lead
ers The demand for independence is mad
by men who see themselves at the head c
the new government, ruling the people an
simply substituting for Spains monarchic;
government an autocratic government, I
which they shall be the rulers"