Evening star., 1922-02-04
ASKS FOR INDEPENDENCE
OF Philippine ISLANDS
To the Editor Of The Star:

January %, IVA
Reins familiar with the fairness: Of
The Star in its wiilingness % upish pup'ta to
10 answer the editorial, IAN infeiist.
tous Charge published IN The star
Permit me to state that nrsasnfs- IN my re-
tiyes on January 20 I had no intention
to "impeach" the President OF the
United states, for whom ! entertain
the greatest respect and esteem, ON
cially as well as personally. NY IN.
recommendations contained In the
Wood-Forbes report as being un.Amsr-
ican, imperialistic and militaristtc;
I have too much confidence IN Pres,
ideut Harding to believe that Ne ni VIII
recommendations. President Harding
on AuGust as, 1921. assured repre-
sentativss Of the Filipino people very
emphaticalIy that In no case would q
backward policy be pursued IN r, rn,t: ,an
datinas contained in the WoodSForbes
report be carried out the Fililplno
people would be deprived Of important
partictpatiop in their local govern
ment that they now no. esss possess, -, Pbiis Ihis
ippine progress backward: it would
mean the :inplanting Of autocracy and
miiiltarism in the plalce OF democ-
racy. and would be In vlolaltioM OF tne
Presidents promises to US. Thts is
neither the President nor Congress
will carry out the recommendations IN
In this connection please allow me
to very briefly present the rea! issue
in the Philippine situation; In ,eIs sns
Congress pledged the United states to
grant Independence "as soon as sta,
Bile government. can be established
therein" Both the American govern
q s ths X: Hnss sestes esd
WILSON, reported to Congress officially
that the prescribed stable government
had come into existence in the Islands
and that therefore independence should
be granted
one and only condition precedent. No
other condition or attainment or vir.
tue was to be required. submit
therefore, that the Wood-Forbes re-
port could have justified the 1,a further a,
proving that we have not yet estab-
iished the specified stable government.
We today have this stable government.
As the mission could not successfully
deny t. t. proessded to: ignore the
The Star with editorials from Amer
lean newspapers to the effect that the
od-FoYbes report set up standard
Of qualifications for US that the United
States itself could not meet. Seeming.
ly the mission would require us to be
100 per cent efficient, standard OF
perfection that no nation on earth
approaches. We know that Congress
did not intend that we should be de-
psived Of our independents by such
The term stable government has a
definite meaning in the language OF
the State Department. The United
states for nearly q century and a half
in all cases in which she has recog-
nized the independence of a country or
the establishment of a new govern
ment has held that the words stable
government" mean a government
elected by the peaceful suffrages of
the people, supported by tho people.
capable Of maintaining order and Of
fulfilling it's international obligations
Because our government unqueetion-
ably meets this test. we ask America
to now keep its solemn pledge to us.
ISAURQ GAAALDeN,.
Resident Philippine Commissioner to
the United States,