The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1908-06-18


saw Mr. Taft understanding them bet
ter than they had understood them
selves, comprehending their problems
more wisely than their own leaders had
done, and standing all the time like a
rock solidly for their interests. They
saw him opposed by almost all his
countrymen in their islands. denounc-
ed and assailed with the utmost We
hemence and venom by Americans.
simply because he steadfastly resisted
American exploitation and persisted in
his declaration that the Philippines
should be for the Fflipinos. They
saw him laboring day and night in
their behalf and facing death itself
with cheerful resignation in order to
carry on their cause. 1t was a reve-
lation to them. 1t was something be-
yond their previous ken, outside of all
their experience, their education and
their tradition. 1t convinced them.
A Revelation to the FIIipinos.
Mr.. Taft gave them concrete exam
Piles OF disinterestedness and good
faith which they could not fail to COM
prehend. He gave them schools and
the opportunity of education, one of
the dearest wishel of the whole peo-
Pile. No man who was not in the Phil
ippines In the early days OF the Am
erican occupation will ever under
stand thoroughly with what pitiful
eagerness the Filipino people desired
| to learn. Men, women and children,
white haired grandfathers and grand
mothers craved above everything the
opportunity to go to school and re-
ceive instruction in the simplest rudi-
ments. 1t is difficult to tell how deep
ly that eager desire touched Mr.. Taft
and how earnestly he responded to
| it.
| But education was only a beginning.
Mr.. Taft gave the Filipinos the oppor-
tunity to own their own homes. 1t
was another concrete example of sim
| pie justice. When they saw him aego-
! tiating for the friar lands, and at a
great expense to the American gov
eminent, securing for the Filipinos
the right to buy those lands on easy
terms, it went home to the dullest
among them that he 1as working UNI
| SelllSnly III lnelr DeQdll.
And they saw his justice in their
courts. For the first time in all their
experience the poorest and humblest
Filipino found himself able to secure
an even-handed, honest decision, with
out purchase and without influence.
Even that was not all. They saw
Mr.. Taft literally and faithfully keep
ing his promise and calling Filipinos
to share in their own government. not
merely in the subordinate and lowly
places which they had been able to
purchase from their old masters. but
| in the highest and most responsible
posts. They saw men of their race
called to membership in the commits
sion, in the supreme court, and in all
the other branches of their govern
ment And they believed the promise
of even wider experience of self-gov-
eminent to come.
An Unparalleled Achievement.
+ 1t was a practical demonstration of
honesty and good faith such as the
Philippines had never known. 1t was
a showing of sympathy, justice and
comprehension which could not be
resisted. Conviction followed it in.
evitably. The whole people knew
because they saw-that the Philip.
pines were to be maintGn for the
Filipinos, and they recognized their
own unfitness for the full responsible.
tiles of independent self-government
and cheerfully set themselves to the
task of preparation.
That is the achievement of Mr.. Taft
in the Philippines. 1t has scarcely a
parallel in history. What it cost him
he paid without question or complaint
He had given up the judicial career
when he went to Manila. But three
times in the course of his service for
the Fflipinos the opportunity to re-
enter it came to him. each time with
an offer OF a place on the supreme
court which had been his lifelong
goal. Each time he refused it. Not
even President Roosevelt understood
the call to Mr.. Taft from the Filipinos
and when he offered a supreme court
justiceship to Mr.. Taft he accompan
led it with almost a command But
Mr.. Taft declined. He saw clearly
hiS uulS lay W Tie people WHOM ne
had led 10 believe in him as the per
sonification of American Justice and
good faith, and he made the president
see II too. How the Filipinos felt was
shown when on hearing of the danger
that Mr. Taft might be called away
from Manila. they flocked in thous
ands about his residence and begged
him not TO go. When ultimately he
did leave the islands it was only to
come home as secretary of war, in
which office he could continue his di
rection of Philippine affairs and make
sure that there should be no deviation
from the successful line of policy he
had marked out.
The Birth of a Nation.
What is the result? The birth of a
nation. The great. powerful Ameri
can people, through the compelling
agency OF Mr.. Taft, has paused ever
so slightly in its triumphant onward
march, to stoop down and lift UP a
feeble. ignorant and HELPLESS people
and set it on the broad highway oil
liberty. Vaguely, uncertainty, not
compromising clearly just what il
was doing. not understanding always
fully either the object mr. rha means