The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1915-12-02

f United States and others, based upor
his false assumption. For this act OF
INSTRUMENTATION and failure to observe
proper relations with His superiors, his
resignation was requested.
/ Hogsette. assistant director Of print.
ms. resigned. by request. upon the
same date, and because Of the same
subject matter rs In the case Of his
| chief, Leech.
Helm was neither discharged. nor
] did he resign. His bureau was abol-
ished and It's duties transferred to
another department for reasons OF
economy. This was not done by the
: govcrnor general. hut by the I.egisia-
ture,
For Coed of the Service.
j Harding. chief of Manila police. aud
Scott. captain thereof resigned by
request because OF the previously men
toned investigation of the Manila
police which had been completed be-
j fore Governor General Harrison
reached the islands. and by reason of
the disclosures therein which con-
vfnced the governor general of the
undeslra biity of these two officials
remaining in that service.
With respect to E,nright. Randall.
and Williams, the next men mentioned
whose offices were abolished. this was
done by the Legislature. and was not
done by Governor General Harrison.
/ The actuating motive of the Legisla-
| ture was economy.
| With relation to Mr.. Frank Carpen-
! ter, than whom no one is entitled to
greater respect and admiration for his
fine service, not only was he not de-
NOTED, as Mr.. Taft would imply, but
he was transferred to the governor
ship of the Moro province. which ad-
mittediy Is one of the positions or
greatest Importance in the Philippine
administration.
Mr. Taft next says: The official
record shows that between October,
1919, when Governor General Har-
rison landed and January !. 1914, 1873
Americans were separated from office
and that by July II. 1914, the mum
Der separated had increased to
l476 ="
Without stopping to verify these
figures it is the fact that no implica-
ton of improper conduct on the part
of the governor general arises. or
should arise from this statement. The
period covered from October. 1919, to
July Ii, 1914, is nine months. and the
total number OF separations from the
j service for the nine months under
Governor General Harrison was, as
stated by Mr.. Taft, AIS. At this rate
the average annual total would be
about 60e. This is just about the aver
age annual rate. as far back as our
records go, namely less
Prom the beginning Of the Ameri-
can government IN the Philippines one
| Of the greatest difficulties has been to
retain competent Americans in the
service, and particularly at the heads
of important bureaus and depart
ments, As soon as they become thor
oughly competent and demonstrate
their ability they are sought by out
side interests for more lucrative posi-
/ tons
Mr.. Tafts next charge refers 10 the
matter which has just been dealt with
! He specifies by name various directors
and other officials who. he says re-
signed because OF cuts in salary and
uncertainty of tenure. As has just
been shown from the official records,
the government III the Philippine
Islands has always suffered by the loss
| or competent men who were taken by
more lucrative offers elsewhere.
1t will, therefore, be seen how
utterly unjust is Mr. Taft's suggestion
that the loss Of these strong and eff
| fectfve Americans" which he says
created Decentralization, was the re-
suit of any policy. 1t was the result
| OF conditions over which neither Mr.
Tart nor any of his successors. inciud-
/ ing Governor General Harrison. had
any control.
Mr.. Taft's next charge is that by
transferring the office of public lands
from Sleeper, an expert. who was rap
fldly making certain the creation OF
sinking fund to meet the s1.0o0.0o0
F'rtar land bonds. to a Filipino insur-
/ recto general named Tinio who had
no experience of any kind, this
important achievement is made very
doubtful. The arrearages in collec-
tions from leases of Friar lands are
said to have exceeded 100000 pesos,
/ due to inefficiencv.'
The facts with respect TO this
charge are that under Mr. Sleeper
the director OF the bureau of lands,
the situation as disclosed by the head
of the department, Secretary Worces-
ter. secretary of the interior, on Sep
temhe 3. 1913. was:
! Estimated delinquency la INSTALL
ments outstanding, 100000 pesos; es-
timated interest on installments out
standing. 100000 pesos, or total of
i 100000 pesos. If this was due to in
efficiency. as Mr.. Taft says. il was
Einefficiency which had developed 10
its fullest extent under Messrs Wor-
cester and Sleeper, as recorded in the
formers report. dated September / 3.
s19f3 before Governor-General Har-
rison reached the Philippine Islands
with respect to Mr. Taft's state
mcnt that TINS department WAS trans
ferred from Mr.. Sleeper to Filipino
Einsurrecto general named Tinio, who
/ had no experience OF any kind the
facts are that Tinio was Filipino,
who was appointed six years before
that time to the Philippine service by
the then authorities of the islands.
who were. Of course, acting under a
i Republican administration. Two
years thereafter he was given charge
of a bureau OF exactly similar rank
ito the bureau OF lands by Governor
General Forbes acting under Re