The Elbert County tribune., 1905-10-05
The PHILIPPINES
AS SEEN BY MEMBERS OF THE
TAFT PARTY.
REPORT AT SAN FRANCISCO
All Agree That Filipinos Are Not Vet
Fitted for Independence = Great
Possibilities in Soil and Location
Education Principal Need.

Possibilities in Soil and Location
Education Principal Need.
San Francisco Members of tho
Tafi party who arrived from the Orient
Wednesday have summarized their i'm
pressioS as follows.
Congressman Cooper of Wisconsin.
chairman of the House committee ON
insular affairs. said;
Zone effect of the trip will be. in
large measure. to take the question OF
immediate Philippine independence
out OF politics. Personal study of the
situation has. l think, convinced the
members Of our party. Democrats and
Republicans. that the inhabitants of
the Philippine Islands are not now cap
able Of free self-government. This con
clusion is admitted to be true by edu-
Gated conservative Fiiipinos them
selves.
The United States has done many
noble, wonderful things in the islands
but its most glorious work is the es-
Enlistment there of a splendid sys-
TEN Of American common schools.
These schools. steadily increasing in
number, attended now by $4,000 chill
drcn out of an enrolment of more Than
5OOo00, Will. more than any other in
huence. help to abolish the multitude
of dialects and tongues and regenerate
the people OF the Philippines"
Congressman Foss. chairman of the
House committee on naval affairs,
said;
made this journey largely for the
/ purpose of making stuuy Of questions
coming within the scope OF the com
mittee Of which I am chairman
Congressman Hepburn. chairman Of
] the House committee on foreign and
Interstate commerce. said.
My visit TO the Philippines was a
disappointment to me in two respects:
] was agreeably disappointed. TO find
that my idea OF the extent and value
of the islands as productive territory
was far below the truth. ! regard LII
zon as the finest and most productive
island in the large group that extends
from Japan southward along the Ash
! attic coast. was disappointed in that
the people of the Philippines have not
proved the equals in labor and skin OF
| their neighbors and have not taken
from the soil the riches that nature
has planted. Filipinos need education
1 and physical development and they
must be taught the dignity Of labor
/ The United States has much TO DO in
these islands,
| Congressman Charles f.. Scott OF
| Kansas said
1T was a surprise TO most of us to
learn shat only nine per cent of the
| tillable land is under cultivation and
that vast areas OF the most fertile soil
{ in the world is yet untouched. The de.
veiopment OF this fruitful land the
1 opening OF the great deposits of coal
/ iron and other minerals. and the utili
/ zation of the 10000 acres of hard
! wood forests offers a rich field for the
investment of American capital and for
| enterprise.
With the resources properly deyel.
! oped, the Philippines Will support 49,
| 100000 people as easily as they now
maintain 100000. They are the rich
est group of tropical islands in the
world and the time viii come when
| the United States win count them
among its proudest possessions"
Senator Patterson of Colorado:
| The Philippines, the more you know
| Of them, the more serious appears the
| problem. | am convinced that in their
| government we are getting farther and
/ farther away from Secretarys Taft 8
| patriotic and humane policy-the Phil
/ ippines for the Fillpinos and ultimate
/ independence. The gulf between the
native and the American is widening.
| My visit TO China has convinced me
more than ever of the wisdom and ne
cessity of Chinese exclusion. / believe
the boycott will soon be over. but in
/ any event American methods and civ
f.,t, ,.f 81.
| Chinese commerce.
Japan won me from the first An
admirable people in many ways. The
disgust after the treaty was an or.
ganized effort TO prevent the Emperor
from ratifying it. Japan is the most
! formidable competitor that the United
States and England will have for the
commerce of Asia, and in few years,
If they hold their own against Japan.
Many economic and industrial
changes must take place.
Secretary Taft said OF the conditions
in the archipelago:
THE political situation in some re-
spects was not as good az it ought TO
be. A wave of ladronism has swept
over the province of Cayite. and II has
been found necessary TO suspend the
writ Of habeas corpus in that province
and Batangas. the neighboring prov
ince. The same was true of Samar.
but the use of troops in Samar and the
use of scouts and consiabulary in Ca
yite had put an end to this business;
however, there were TWO or three men
responsible for the keeping up of la
dronism. who had not been captured.
Some of the younger men of educa-
ton have been advocating immediate
independence. 1t therefore becomes
necessary to state with considerable
emphasis the policy of the administra-
ton on this subject. and to say that
in the opinion of the administration
there was no possible hope for inde-
pendence short OF a generation. be-
cause the people could not be fitted for