The Washington times., 1913-06-11
TAT QUOTES WILSON
|NPH|L|PP|N[SPEECH
Former President and Delegate
From Islands Clash at New
York Banquet.

NEW YORK, June 11-Clad in fault
less evening dress and sufficiently mas.
ter Of the English tongue to be mos'
eloquent in his use of it, a Filipino
stood in the grand ballroom of the Ho.
tel Plaza last night, and. with a gath.
erfng of 200 diners as his auditors
pleaded for the national independence
Of the Philippine Islands.
This was Manuel L. Quezon. dele.
gate from the islands in the House OF
his occasion was the first annual din
ner Of the newly formed Philippine So
ciety, dedicated to the creation Of "a
more sympathetic interest between the
people Of this country and the
had to sit down and contain himself In
patience while William Howard Taft
of Yale. told him and told the others
that his people could not. and should
not, have their wish because they were
not ready yet for self-goyernment.
Prof. Taft went crashing into his
arguments in one of the most earnest
and iimpassioned speeches he ever de-
livered in this city. Many diners who
had repeatedly heard Mr.. Taft as a
speaker during his Presidency, said
that at no time before had he ever flung
himself SO thoroughly and SO ardently
into a post-prandial discussion.
Quote President.
Quezon quoted woodrow Wilson. but
1t was generality that he culled from
the Presidents writing to support his
argument. Mr.. Taft quoted Woodrow
Wilson, quoted him faithfully and at
length. but he was able to muster a
quotation that bore directly and specif-
ically on the question in hand. Quezon
quoted Mr.. Taft in a manner to sug-
gest that he, as a Philippine authority,
had once spoken in sympathy with the
proposition OF immediate national in
dependence for the islands. Mr.. Taft
showed, and not without some heat.
that his remarks had been taken from
a context which showed he had been
voicing no such sympathy.
My friends" said QueZon, there Is
one thing that stands as the greatest
of barriers to the sympathetic interest
you would foster so commercially.
That is the fact that the masses of
the Filipinos are with me when / say:
~ would rather starve a free man
than be fed mere thing
Not Own Saying.
THAT saying is not my own. / am
quoting It. but quoting It from no polit.
ical demagogue. / am quoting from
the utterances Of the President of the
greatest modern republic. 1t was Wood
row Wilson who said: I would rather
starve a free man than be fed a mere
thing"
And said Mr.. Taft. when his
chance came, ut is woodrow Wilson
who, in his Congressional History OF
the United States says that 'self-gov-
ernment Is not something you can give.
Self-government is the character of a
people, and until they acquire that
character they are not capable of self
government He says II Is our duty to
continue to give them the best govern
ment we can, to see II they can acquire
that character which means self-gov-
ernment."
QuoZon compared the status OF THE
Philippines with that of the dead man a
group of Westerners found swinging
from the limb of a tree with his body
bearing the placard. I'm status quo. i"
They brought the country school teacher
down to interpret 1t for them. and after
some perplexity he announced that II
meant the man was in a pretty darned
bad fix"