Evening star., 1937-11-21
Philippine Gold Mines
Productive of Wealth
judge Haussermann's Success
Typical of Fine Things
Committee Found.
By Violet Sweet Haben.

steamed out of Manila Bay on
November 10, bugles heralded the re-
turn to Washington of the American
delegation of the Joint Preparatory
Committee on Filipino Affairs, ap-
pointed by President Roosevelt to in
vestigate the possibility of granting
President Quezon's request for imme-
diate independence of the Philippines.
The six members Of the American
delegation, who have spent the past
two months making an intensive study
of economic conditions in the Philip
pine Islands, include John Van A.
MacMurray. Ambassador to Turkey
and chairman Of the delegation, who
took the place of Francis B. Sayre,
Assistant Secretary of State, origin
ally slated for the post, but who at
the time Of departure for the Philip
pines in July was honeymooning in
Europe.
Other Washingtonians in Manila
on the joint committee were Joseph E
Jacobs. chief. Office of Philippine At
fairs Of the State Department; DR..
Frank A. Waring, member of the Eco
nomics Division of the United States
Tariff Commission; Louis Domerat-
zky, chief of Regional Information of
the Bureau of Foreign and Domestic
Commerce; Carl Robbins, assistant
chief Of the Sugar Section of the De-
partment of Agriculture, and Col
Donald G. Mcdonald, assistant chief
OF the Bureau of Insular Affairs of
the War Department.
While Congress and the American
delegation of the Joint Preparatory
Committee on Filipino Affairs pom
der the advisability of granting imme-
diate independence to the Philip
pines, they might learn much at least
of the worth of those islands by study
ing the amazing career out there of
Judge John w. Haussermann.
AS Senators and Representatives
delve into musty stacks of Congress
sional Records to familiarize them
selves with the language of the Jones
Law, the shelved Hare HaWes- Cut
ting Bill and the current Tydings- Nc
Duffe Act, they could better gain the
essence OF their disinherited island
stepchild by following the unusual life
OF this brother countryman from Ohio
He speaks their language, is a men,
ber Of the Washington Congressional
Country Club and is the foremost
American in the Philippines today.
JUDGE HAUSSERMANN is known
throughout the Orient as the best
loved, the most honest and one of
the Wealthiest men in the Philippines.
He is unqualifiedly citizen No. / Of
Manila, a benefactor to the poor and
the scholastic, the religious and the
aged. He happens to be rich. but
that is an accident of fate which goes
back to the turn of the century.
John w. Haussermann, like many
members of the Seventy-fifth Con-
gress. began life as struggling lawyer
in 1889, when, fresh out of the Uni
versity of Cincinnati, he left his farm
birthplace near New Richmond. Ohio
He was % then and inspired by the
ideals of his law dean. William Howard
Taft. Now he is 70, robust as a man
of so. and still enjoys q 10-hour day
at the Office after 38 years in the
tropics.
There was not much law business
In his part of Ohio in 1889 and the
grass looked greener in Kansas. Work
in a grocery store for SO week
taught him thrift, so with his savings
he was soon on train headed West.
In few months he was prosecuting
his first case as budding young
lawyer in Leayenworth.
The same adventuresome spirit
which drove young Haussermann to
Kansas inspired him to enlist in
Gen. Funston's pioneer regiment and
journey to the Philippines to fight
IN the Spanish-American War He
was 81 when he sailed on a transport
from California to Manila as a lieu
tenant in the goth Kansas United
States Volunteer Infantry. With him
went his courageous young bride, Jessie
Moonlight Haussermann, the only
woman on the transport, keen on
Joining him on his great adventure.
Before being mustered out. he be-
came judge advocate of Gen. Funstons
regiment and settled disputes between
American soldiers and the Spanish
In Manila. Pressed to remain with our
military organization because of his
legal ability, he deferred his return
to Kansas to be mustered out with his
regiment and remained through Sue
cessive military and civil heads of the
philippines In the legal branches of
that service. During the early years
OF the century he drafted the charter
OF the City of Manila, which remains
unchanged today. In 1902 he became
assistant attorney general Of the is
lands, his last official post
WHEN the law firm of Coudert
Nv Bros. in New York City decided
to open a branch Office In Manila,
Judge Hausserman was recommended
to hem by Governor General Taft.
The firm of Courdert Bros. in Manila
was organized by him, with Cohn and
vvAAAAesAAAo 40 uAlC otA1Cl
firm Immediately took over the primacy
Of the Manila bar. Thus happily en-
trenched in a legal career, he looked
forward with diligent interest toward
q happy, modest and progressive life.
He was solvent respected in the new
American community of Manila and
had no particular aspirations for
wealth.
He could not foresee the aStonish-
Ing eminence that fate apparently had
IN store for him. He had no interest
IN mining. His only concern was for
his home and family, his law business,
q normal civic pride in the growing
town of Manila, and the welfare of
his beloved United States of America
IN its new venture as guardian Of the
Philippine people.
One day a client of his went broke.
Haussermann had been attorney for
the Benguet Consolidated Mining Co.,
one Of the first mining companies
organized in the islands. It was now