Evening star., 1935-12-16

a few notable exceptions the Con-
gresham would rather learn the price
Of a fancy Moro dagger than the de-
tails of how a duty on sugar was 60
ing TO knock the standard Of living
on the island of Negros. Some of
them concluded that II 1t were pos
sible to talk to Congressman about
the problem of Philippine independ-
ence from the standpoint Of possible
Philippine votes they might have got
somewhere, but as long as Quezon
was getting the votes the Congress
men were more interested in meal
time.
Toward Governor General, now High
Commissioner, Frank Murphy their
attitude has been one Of more or less
tolerant skepticiSm Of his understand
ing of the Philippine problem along
with a rather affectionate personal re-
gard for this eloquent and idealistic
red-headed Irishman who, they be-
lieve, will go places in American poll
| tics after he has left the stepping
stone Of his present position.
Little Faith i'm Idealism.
They have little faith in the Cover
| nor's idealism, manifested in his
pleasant and sometimes moving ora
tory regarding Americas fulfillment
of promises and expressed in such
terms as "the political faith Of the
United States has fiowered and is
nearing fruition," for, they ask, was
| it the Towering of Americas political
| faith or the pressure of the sugar
lobby and the farm bloc that really
brought about "this steady advance in
the art of democratic and constitu-
tional government toward the goal Of
complete independence"
When Governor General Murphy
was sworn in as high commissioner
and left historic Malacanang Palace,
traditional seat Of power in the is
lands since the days OF the Spanish
Governors, President Quezon took
over the beautiful old mansion and
its spacious gardens. The transfer
was regarded by many rs symbolizing
the unselfish altruism Of the United
States toward the islands. But it
got under the skin of a good many
hard boiled, realistic Americans who
have lived most of their lives in the
Philippines. From the airy rooms Of
Malacanang Palace, Commissioner
Murphy and his staff went to the
Elks' Club. which prvoided the only
available quarters for an oft1ce. And
to the American residents Of Manila
the descent from Malacanang Palace
to the Elks' Club contained a SYM
bolism all its own, representing their
opinion Of what had happened to
American prestige in the Philippine
Islands and the Far East.
Controversy Over Salute.
When 1t became known through
underground channels that President
Quezon was to receive q salute Of 81
guns from the American Army on the
assumption of his oath of Office there
were several cases of near apoplexy
on the part of Americans-military as
well as civilian. That would mean
that the United States was recogniz-
ing Quezon as the sovereign OF a
sovereign power-for the 2l-gun
salute is reserved for such personages
alone. The night before the inau-
gural ceremonies an important no
tice" was distributed among the official
guests at the Manila Hotel, stating
that the salute to President Quezon
would be 19 guns and not 81. Even
that concession-reportedly made from
the White House in Washington-did
not satisfy the Americans, who re-
garded placing President Quezon on
the same footing with the high COM
missioner in military salutes as i'm
proper.
The fact that the Offices Of the high