Weekly Arizona journal-miner., 1908-06-24

vipus ken. outside of all ihcir "NPrri cucc. their education and their tfadi- 1 ton. li convinced them.
 A Revelation to the Tilipinos. | Mr. Taft gave them concrete exam plcS of disntcrcstcdnc-s and good 1 faith whicn they could not fail to com prchrnd He gave them schools and : thc opportunity of education, one oi | the dearest wishes of the whole pco ! plc. No man who was not in the Phil i ippincs in the early days of the Ameri ] can occupation will ever understand thoroughly with what pitiful cagcrncss 1 tic Filipino people desired to learn. | Men. women and children, white hairti grandfathcrs and graudnothcrs craved above everything inc opportunity to 1 % tn school and receive instruction m thc simplest rudimcnts. II K difficult to toll how deeply that eager dcsir" touched Mir. Taft and how earnestly ! he responded to it
 l,ui education was only 70 beginning | Mr Taft gave the Filipino. the oppor | tnity to own their own homes. " ! was another concrete example of sim | plc justice. When they saw him nc | gntiating for the friar lands. and at . great expense jo the American gov crumcni. securing for the Filipinos the | right to buy those lands on easy terms, | it went home to the dullcst among them that he was working unsclfishly in their behalf
 And they saw his justice in their courts. For thc first time m all their experience the poorest and humblcst Filipino found himself able to secure an even handed. homes, decision, with. out purchase and without influence.
 Even that was not all. They saw l Mir. Taft literally and faithfully keep ing his promise and calling filipinos tp share in their own government. moi merely in inc subordinate and lowlv places which they had been able to purchase from their old masters. but h the highest and most responsible posts. They saw men of their race called to membership in the .commis. sion, in the supreme court, and in all the other branches of their govern mcnt. And they believed the promise of even wider experience of sclfgov crnmcnt to come
 An Unparalleled Achievement. |, was a practical demonstration of honesty and good faith such as the Philippines had never known. Ii was n showing of sympathy. justice and comprehension which could not bc re sisted Conviction followed it incvi. tably The whole people knew-bc. cause they saw that the Philippines were to be maintained for the Fiji pinos, and they recognized their own unfitness for the full responsibilities gl cheerfully set themselves to the task of preparation.
 That is the achievement of Mr. Taft in the Philippines. Ii has scarcely n parallel in history. What it cost him he paid without question or complaint. He had given dp his judicial career when he went to Manila. But three times in the course of his service for the Filipinos the opportunity to re- enter it came 'o nim, each time an of fer of n place on the supreme court which had been his lifelong goal. Each time he refused it. Not even Prcsi. dent Roosevelt understood the call to Mr. Taft from the Filipinos, and when hc offered n supreme court justiccship to Mr. Taft he accompanied it with almost command. But Mir. Taft de. clincd. He saw clearly his duty lay to the people whom hc mad led to be- l!cve in him as the personifcation of American justice and good faith, and he made the President see it too. How the Filipinos felt was shown when on hearing of the danger that Mr. Taft might be called away from Manila, they Hooked in thousands about his residence and begged him not to go. T Wncn ultimately he did leave the is- lands it was only to come home as Secretary of War. in which office he could continue his direction of Philip. pine affairs and make sure that there should he no deviation from the sue. cessful line of policy he had marked ont
 The Birth of a Nation.
 What is the result! The birth of a nation. The great, powerful American people, through the compelling agency of MT Taft, has paused ever SD slightly in its triumphant onward march, to stoop down and lift up n feeble, ignor- ant and helpless people and set it on the broad highway to liberty. Wayne. ly, uncertainty, not comprehendng clearly just what it was doing, not m. derstanding always fully either the oh. ject ar the means of accomplishment but its heart right, and submitting confidently to the leadership of man in whom it trusted implicitly, tais ma ton has assisted in new birth of tfrecdom for lowly and oppressed peo. pie. To William Howard Taft belongs the lions share of the credit. Not of. ten is it given to one man to do such work for humanity, Seldom is such altruism as his displayed. Many other honors have come to him; many others will yet come. Among them all none will he of greater significance ar of more lasting value than his work fo, the Filipinos
 Secretary of War.
 It is not important nere to discuss in detail Mir. Taft's administration of the War Department since he succeed cd Elhu Root as Secretary of War or