St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1906-10-31
The Home Coming of Judge Ide.

Press 10 HIS craftsmanship. In
Farewell BanquetS.
Our distinguished townsman, Hor
Henry c. Ide, is now on American so
and his official career of six years in tn
Philippines is over. 1t has been perio
in his public life which has been full G
hard work and the results will be last
ing. 1t is fitting at this time to review
his work and see how faithful hi
stewardship has been proven by tn
numerous tributes from the Philippin,
press and people. Mr.. Ide has been OF
the commission since it was created by
President Mckinley in 1900 and he ant
the other native Vermonter Prof Dear
c. Worcester of the University of Mich
igan arb the only members of the original
commission. When that body organized
Mr.. Ide was made secretary of justice
and secretary of finance. Within a year
he had compiled code oflaws which
has since been the civil code of the
islands, and of this monumental work
the Encouragement of the islands said,
In a comparatively short time Judge
Ide produced code consisting of 796
sections and forming a book of 2S3
pages, entitled, The Code of Procedure
in Civil Actions and Special Proceedings
in the Philippines 1t received full con-
sideration by the commission and after
a public hearing upon each section of it,
in which the Spanish, Filipino and
American members OF the bar of Manila
participated, was adopted orOct. 1, 1901.
This code introduced many new princi-
pies ofprocedure, though the main body
of the substantive law was but slightly
changed. 1t is distinctly American and
adopts what is known as the code
practice as distinguished from the COM
mon law practice. 1t is now known in
the Philippines as the Ide code
As secretary of finance he was all the
time the watchdog of the treasury and
in this department his life work in the
Philippines was changing the currency
from the debased Mexican to standard
coinage Of this work the Far Eastern
Review said when it was accomplished
in 1905,
"The ease with which the result has
been accomplished reflects the highest
credit on the government, and especially
the department of finance and Justice,
under the administration of Hon. Henry
c. lde. 1t is no small task to take out
of circulation some forty million of depre-
ciated currency and substitute one based
upon a gold standard, all within the
short time of year and half
When Mr.. Taft was promoted from
the head of the commission to the Presi-
dents cabinet, Mr.. Ide was made vice
governor of the islands. This spring
Gen. Wright was promoted to ambassa-
dor to the Mikado's court and Mr.. Idle
advanced to the position of Governor
General 1t is not to much too say that
he commanded the respect of the natives
more than any of his predecessors, and
one of the leaders of the native indepen-
dence party wrote an American friend
that he dealt more impartially with the
Fihpinos than either Judge Taft or Gen.
Wright.
He was inaugurated on April 2, 1906,
tha liz 1.
into these words, "Peace and
harmony; progress and prosperity"
The conclusion of his address
expressed" said the Manila American,
"as nearly as possible, the wishes of
every intelligent American in these islands
and we believe those of every progressive
Filipino" These were the words referred
to by the journal:
"lf were to summarize my present
hope it would be to give business
administration, to attempt in some de-
gree to increase the prosperity of the
people, to develop our wonderful but
latent resources, to see the islands more
and the people more content
ed and happy in the end than at the
to avoid, so far as possible,
political academic discussions, sacredly
to preserve the blessings of individual
liberty and protection of property which
are now the peoples heritage, and to
bring about more complete and harmo-
NOUS cooperation of all to the common
end of peace and more thorough develop
ment Of our resources. These results
cannot be secured in any short time, but
with the aid of God and the united efforts
fall they may well be hoped for and
worked for"
Governor-General Ide made, as far as
possible, a tour of the provinces and
was enthusiastically received by the
natives. Of this trip the Cablenews said
last June, st was great success. Even
those who knew the Governor-General
well were astonished by the warrn-heart-
ed greeting given him by the presidentes,
concejales and the common people of
the three provinces he visited. His
democratic manner, courteous words and
handshakings, and his ease and delight
in the entertainments, banquets and
battles pleased the Filipinos."
And in a vein of humor the Manila
American suggested that parents would
do well to name their baby boys for him
as 1T would be well to remember that
Henry c. is as popular in the Philippines
at the present time as any other name
might ever hope to be-"