The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1907-12-12
Not Fair 20 Secretary Taft.

Mr.. FIsKE WARREN, formerly OF BOs-
ton, but now of the Philippines, writes
to the Springfield Republican from Manila
under date of October q to break the
news that Secretary TAFT's visit TO his
old friends the FilipinOs was n failure.
According to Mr.. WARREN, they had
already lost faith in Judge TAFT, having
weighed him in the balance and found
him wanting. His private assurances
had been such," says the resident rep
sentative Of the New England Anti
Imperialist League, that the FilipinOs
believed he would either secure for them
statehood in the Union or else indepen-
dence.' No one, Of course, believes that
Judge TAFT made any assurances of the
kind, but let Mr.. WARREN proceed:
Thus 1t is natural that his popularity should
have progressively declined since 1903. for his Fill
pIno Supporters have gradually awakened to the
fact that they we're beguIIed by his smoothness and
now perceive that though he admits the posslbli j.
icy Of ultimate Independence. yet he does not desire
It. and what with perpetual franchises for railways
given 10 Yankee capitalists. rebates of export taxes
ON nemp 10 NAukec cADOTtcThs inc TtblTiCtiOH 10 tue
medium Of English In all public Instruction. and
the effort by the lowering Of the Dlngley tarfr to
promote trade with the United States rather than
with neighbOnng countries. he Is doing much to
prevent Its contamination"
These insinuatiOns certainly do the
Secretary injustice. He stands for the
total abolition Of all tariff duties, but
believes that half a loaf is better than no
bread; and perceiving that independence
for the FilipinOs is only remotely prac-
ticable and not to be considered seri-
ously until they have been educated in
the principles Of representative gov
eminent, all his proposals for self-gov-
eminent and freer trade with the States
have been inspired by a sentiment Of
regard for the FilipinOs which no one
but a visionary Anti-Imperialist could
challenge.
IL is credible. though, that Judge
TAFr's reception by the Filipinos in
cool, and that they thought his speech
in the opera house was dull and like a
Government report" 1t is also prOba-
bic that critics like Mr.. FIsKE WARREN,
as well as the prOgressistas, should be
found assigning his Judge TAFT'sl visit
merely to his Presidential ambitions,
which make it expedient for him to APP
prOpriate as an attribute of his own per-
sOnality the national enthusiasm for the
new Assembly" Mr.. WARREN, however,
should have remembered that Judge
TAFT's visit was planned long before
he became a Presidential candidate and
while he was fOndly looking toward the
Supreme Bench to afford him an asylum
from politics and an opportunity to en-
gross himself in a profession he loved.
The Philippine Assembly was always a
hobby, so TO speak, with Judge TAFT, and
he had long enjoyed in anticipation the
pleasure Of opening il in person. As to
the effect of the excursion to the Far
East on his Presidential prospects it has
been distinctly ~unfavorable and blight
ing, although there may be ground for
believing that his sponsor, hacker and
principal, whose policies he assumed in
a spirit Of good fellowship, entertained
a notion that a whirl around the world
would give a triumphant impetus to the
Taft boom.