Arizona republican., 1911-03-13
ABOUT FILIPINO LANDS
The Secretary of Interior of Islands Replies to Charge Already Dissipated by an Investigation by a House Committee.

washington, MdICn I%--DtaH '
 Worcester. secretary of the interior
 of the Philippine islands. today made
 public an open letter to the Anti
 Imperialist League in which he re-
 plies vigorously to an article publish
 ed by MT. Frying Winslow of the
 League in the Springfield Republican
 and to the brief filed by Jackson II.
 Ralston for the league with the house
 committee on insular affairs, which
 lately submitted a report exonerating
 Mir. Worcester and other officials of the Philippines of irregularities in the acquiring Of Filipino lands.
 In the open letter it is pointed out that the charges are utterly false and he alleges maliciously so. He shows that such lands as Were purchased or leased by officials Were purchased and leased in the same manner as if they had been private persons and in con formity to law.
 frustrating the character of the at tack by the League. Mir Worcester quotes from the brief relative to the purchase of lands by Frank w Car pentsr:
 The net result. therefore. of this proceeding is that through the kind ness of the Philippine government in all the particulars We have enumer- ated, a kindness which does not ap- pear to have been extended to an other person in the land. American or Filipino. MT. Carpenter at the end or 20 years will find himself in the pos session of a property originally valued at about 32.0OOOO pesos, paid for by the labor of his Filipino tenants. in creased in value by the expenditures of the public money, literally promised and liberally made by the government of the island. and. so far as he is concerned, he will have furthered the creation of a landlord and tenant sys- tenn in the Philippine islands. turning the Filipino from being a possible | landowner into that of a contributor to the wealth Of member of an | alien race. All this is done under the guise of tender consideration for the | welfare of the Filipinos"
 Commenting on the foregoing Mir | Worcester says:
 MT. Carpenter has doubtless been open to the charge of creating a land | lord and tenant system in the same | way as is any other person in the Philippine islands who has a farm | large enough tO make it impossible | for him to do all the work upon it himself and who is therefore obliged to employ farm laborers. will not further discuss a paragraph appar- ently based on extraordinary social istic views. At a time when Filipino farm laborers are going as far as the Hawaiian islands in search of work a man who offers them profitable em- ployment in the Philippines is. I be- lieve, not thereby exposing himself to serious criticism!'
 III 1'hitSbipi Nilu lne lelter there is an accompanying note by William Dinwiddie. a well known newspaper man and former provincial governor of the islands in which he says:
 Secretary Worcester presents fearless. straightforward arraignment of the men who have caused the Uni ted States government thousands of dollars of expense in Investigating a mass of allegations, misstatements and deliberate falsehoods. as to the situation in the Philippines
 The congressional Investigating final report states that (See house of representatives docu- ment Administration of Philippine March 3. 1911.)
 We find that the administration of lands in the Philippine islands has been fairly and honestly conducted. and that the charges and insinuations to the contrary which have been made against the officials charged with the execution of the laws in re- lation thereto, whether officers of the Philippine government or of the Uni ted States. are unwarranted and un-