The Philippines: Past and Present | Page 4

from the Philippine
Islands, said to me, "Deanie, are them Philippians you have been a
visitin' the people that Paul wrote the Epistle to?"
I endeavoured to do my part toward dispelling this ignorance. My
knowledge of Philippine affairs led me strongly to favour armed
intervention in Cuba, where similar political conditions seemed to
prevail to a considerable extent, and I fear that I was considered by
many of my university colleagues something of a "jingo." Indeed, a
member of the University Board of Regents said that I ought to be
compelled to enlist. As a matter of fact, compulsion would have been
quite unnecessary had it not been for physical disability.

My life-long friend and former travelling companion, Doctor Bourns,
was not similarly hampered. He promptly joined the army as a medical
officer with the rank of major, and sailed for the islands on the second
steamer which carried United States troops there. As a natural result of
his familiarity with Spanish and his wide acquaintanceship among the
Filipinos, he was ordered from the outset to devote his time more
largely to political matters than to the practice of his profession. He did
all that he could to prevent misunderstandings between Filipinos and
Americans. He assisted as an interpreter at the negotiations for the
surrender of Manila on August 13, 1898, after taking part in the attack
on the city. Later he was given the rather difficult task of suppressing a
bad outbreak of smallpox among the Spanish prisoners of war, which
he performed with great success. He was finally made chief health
officer of Manila, although he continued to devote himself largely to
political matters, got numberless deserving Filipinos out of trouble, and
rapidly increased his already wide circle of Filipino friends. Through
his letters I was kept quite closely in touch with the situation.
Meanwhile I decided that the Philippines were not for me, asked for
and obtained leave for study in Europe, and in December 1898 set out
for New York to engage passage for myself and my family. I went by
way of Washington in order to communicate to President McKinley
certain facts relative to the Philippine situation which it seemed to me
ought to be brought to his attention.
I believed that there was serious danger of an outbreak of hostilities
between Filipinos and Americans, and that such a catastrophe, resulting
from mutual misunderstanding, might be avoided if seasonable action
were taken. I have since learned how wrong was this latter belief. My
previous experience had been almost exclusively with the Visayans and
the wild tribes, and the revolution against the United States was at the
outset a strictly Tagálog affair, and hence beyond my ken.
President McKinley very kindly gave me all the time I wanted,
displayed a most earnest desire to learn the truth, and showed the
deepest and most friendly interest in the Filipinos. Let no man believe
that then or later he had the slightest idea of bringing about the

exploitation of their country. On the contrary, he evinced a most earnest
desire to learn what was best for them and then to do it if it lay within
his power.
To my amazement, at the end of our interview he asked me whether I
would be willing to go to the islands as his personal representative.
I could not immediately decide to make such a radical change in my
plans as this would involve, and asked for a week's time to think the
matter over, which was granted. I decided to go.
Meanwhile, the President had evolved the idea of sending out a
commission and asked me if I would serve on it. I told him that I would
and left for my home to make preparations for an early departure. A
few days later he announced the names of the commissioners. They
were Jacob Gould Schurman, President of Cornell University;
Major-General Elwell S. Otis, then the ranking army officer in the
Philippines; Rear-Admiral George Dewey, then in command of the
United States fleet in Philippine waters; Colonel Charles Denby, who
had for fourteen years served as United States Minister to China, and
myself.
Colonel Denby was delayed in Washington by public business. Mr.
Schurman and I reached Yokohama on the morning of February 13,
and on arrival there learned, to our deep regret, that hostilities had
broken out on the fourth instant. We reached Manila on the evening of
March 4, but Colonel Denby was unable to join us until April 2.
Meanwhile, as we could not begin our work in his absence, I had an
exceptional opportunity to observe conditions in the field, of which I
availed myself.
I served with the first Philippine Commission until it had completed its
work, and was then appointed to the second Philippine