Evening star., 1921-01-29
WANTS COMMITTEE
TO SEE PHILIPPINES
Island Commissioner Here Is
Anxious for Congress to Get
First-Hand Facts.
To the Editor of The Star:

To the Editor of The Star:
From various newspaper clippings
! learn that there is an intention OF send
| ing an investigating committee to. the
| Philippines 1t is welcome: the sooner
it is done. the better.
Let there be light. The Filipino peo-
p.e are not afraid of light and would not
| run away from it. On the contrary
| they want the fashlight of this nation
| Investigators focused upon them. Inc
| Philippine legislature, which has respeci-
| fully petitioned the United states lot
independence, has been persistent IN lts
| invitation to the members OF the com
| mittees of the Senate and the House. IN
charge of Philippine affairs. to visit that
distant country. so that they may see
| for themselves and render judgment
| upon the actual conditions IN the
| islands.
! 1t was in 1917 when the first petition
was made They did not insist then. pc
cause the United States was busy IN
| her war activities. and the members o,
| the Congress were entirely aosorDeo
| therein. In the spring of 1919, a Phliip-
| Pine mission came and. rehe"eu .ns
| vitation And when the cong
! party was being organized last suilili,ei
| for visit to the orient. ! personally
| excrted all efforts to induce senators ai'u
! representatives to make the trip.
Unfortunate the primary elect'ohs
| in many states were being heid ana tns
country was then in the heat OF eiec.loi ei,
c.mpaIpns winch necessarily !orceu
many Of the members to remain IN tne
! United States, thus reducing tne NUM-
| ber of those who had promised 10 80 "
about one-thlrd.
In.pection Greatly Desired.
Securely intrenched in our position
and fortified with incontrovertible
facts of our claim. we do not rear tne
karrival of any body OF lnves.iga.oi;.. lso !.
For what purposes are Naliuus i.;.s
malevolent and suspicious splrlis
working? A portion Of the pupilc a..
| leges maladministration, negiIsehoff
| in service and perhaps lnemclency "
some bureaus. not to say apsoiute
Decentralization of the service. In view
| of these allegations it would seem
that in the mind of the President
| elect there has settled doupt' anu IL
| is said that in order to please some
and satisfy others Mr.. rs sraihs ,,;s snai
| tains the idea of sending commis-
sion of investigation to the Philip
pines. .,o
proposed investigation. AS III al
human institutions, defects or lreHl-
ciency may be found in the admins
tration of Philippine affairs. but we
deny that they are such as to invall-
date our claim of being able to main
tain a good government.
Interested as we are in the gooo
name of the Filipino people-~of the
government in whose management we
are participants and in the truth itself.
we cannot but anxiously await the
realization of this plan. And since
there are organized committees in
both houses of the United States Con-
gress. and this Congress being the
highest tribunal that could finally de-
eide upon Philippine affairs, it would
be more convenient and expeditions
| to authorize the sending or the sald
committees to the islands, for fol-
loving their visit observation and in
vestigation. they will become the pos
SCISSORS of reliable and authoritative
| information as basis of recon-
mendation to the President and the Con-
gress of the United States regarding
the Philippine Islands:
/JAIME c. DE VEYRA.
Resident commissioner,
Philippine Islands.