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


tentions. Neither should it be for
gotten that one of the most important
and far reaching of all his judgments
was that against the Addystone Pipe
company, in which for the first time
the Sherman antitrust law was made
living, vital force for the curbing
and punishment of monopoly. When
this case reached the supreme court,
Mr. Taft received the distinguished
and unusual honor Of having his decis-
ion handed down as part of the opin-
ions of the high court which sustained
him at every point
Pioneering the Roosevelt Policy.
This Addystone Pipe decision mark
ed the beginning of the struggle for
federal control of interstate corpora
tions which in the later years has come
to be known as the Roosevelt poll
cy." Mr.. Taft in an address to the
American Bar association at Detroit
in the summer of 1895, had enunciated
the principle on which President
Roosevelt has made his great fight for
the suppression of monopoly and the
abolition of special privilege. Thus
Mr.. Taft pioneered the way for the
Roosevelt policy"
Blazing the Philippine Trail.
Since the settlement of the recon
struction questions no more delicate or
Hateful problem has confronted Ameri-
can craftsmanship than that of the
Philippines. The sudden pitching of
Cd
as a result of the war with Spain, Gre
ated situation not only unexpected,
but entirely without precedent. There
was no guide for our statemen. The
path had to be hewed out new from
the beginning. There was no crystal
ization of opinion among the. American
people as to what should be done with
the Philippines. A considerable ele-
ment was vigorously opposed to re-
tanning them, but the vast majority de-
manded the maintenance of American
sovereignty there. Among these, at
first, the desire was undoubtedly due
to the glamour of ACKNOWLEDGMENT.
The possibility of wealth somewhere
beyond the sky line always catches the
| imagination, and there can be no ques-
| ton that the great mass of the people
moved without serious thought of the
consequences, toward American exploit
tation of the islands.
But even at that early day there
were few-a very tew-among the
| leaders of American thought and action
who saw clearly the responsibility
| thrust upon the country by the adven-
titious possession of the Philippines,
and determined to meet it fully, no
matter what clamor of opposition
might arise. Among these President
Mckinley was one. Mr.. Taft was an
other. Mr.. Taft had been opposed to
taking the islands. He was opposed
to retaining them. More than all he
opposed their exploitation for Amer
lean benefit. He believed that the
/ Philippines belonged to the Filipinos,
and should be developed in the interest
of their own people.
shoudering the "White Mans Bur-
den"
He saw the possibility of lifting a
feeble, ignorant people into the light
of liberty and setting them upon the
path to intelligent, efficient self-gov-
eminent. That possibility .reconciled
him to the continuance of American
authority over the islands, for none
saw more clearly than he the chaos GER
tain to result from immediate indie
pendence for the Filipinos, with it's in
evitable and speedy end in complete
and hopeless subsection to some other
power. Therefore when President Nc
Kinley asked him to go to Manila and
undertake the difficult and thankless
task of starting the F'ilipinos upon
their true course. he sacrificed the jul
dicial career which was his life's am
bition and shouldered the white
Mans Burden" 1t was in March 1900,
that he received his appointment as
chairman of the Philippine commits
sion.
Not many Americans have ever COM
pretended thoroughly the size of Mr.
Taft's undertaking, or the full mean
ing of his achievements. Through a
bungle in our first dealings with Agui-
naldo and the Filipinos the entire ma
tive population of the islands had come
TO believe, with some reason, that the
Americans were their enemies and had
betrayed them. Mr.. Taft arrived at
Manila TO find a people subdued by
force of arms. but unanimously hostile
sullen and suspicious. They were still
struggling with the bitterness of de-
spair against the power in which they
all saw only the hand of the oppressor.
Overcoming the Barrier Between East
ard West.
Moreover their leader had been in
oculated with the belief that between
west and east there rs an impossible
barrier which will always prevent the
Occidental from understanding and
sympathizing with the Oriental The
experience of generations had confirm
ed them in that belief The only gov
eminent in their knowledge was tyr
amy. The only education in their
history was deceit. The only tradi-
ton they possessed was hatred of op-
preston made concrete for them by
their experience with western domina-
ton
That was what Mr. Taft had TO face.
and in three years he had overcome
and changed it all. He did it by the