| Show GOV TAFT TELLS SOME jon 27 the only answer I 1 have to make to the ideas of individual observers who declare that the arno condition in the philippines is bein concealed or that we ore hugging delusions of peace that can never be brought about is that the government if concealing nothing and that its conclusions clu are not based on wild theories but substantial facts this was the reply GOT hafk mado here yesterday to a statement published by bonsai declaring that desperate opposition still being encountered in the field and that the natives ara and better organized than before the capture of aguinaldo gov taffe said that although there was a time when for military reasons it had not been advisable to make pub lie everything occurring in the philippines abo necessity for such secrecy is over and that no effort is now being made to conceal any part of the truth from the people of this country As a matter of fact bo added the embers of destruction are being kept alive by sensationalists who seize upon every petty point and seek to twist it into some horrible barbarity of our gov eminent in the islands take for instance the talk about concentration camps although I 1 am not sufficiently well acquainted with the full military plans to speak with absolute authority I 1 can say that the whole subject is much misunderstood by our people As a matter of fact there has never been any thought of establishing concentration cent ration camps in the ordinary acceptance cep tance of the term all that has been proposed is an insurgent cordon the establishment of a deadline dead line into which will gradually bo drawn all the remnants of insurrection that exist the non combatants on the island have never even at the hardest period of the war received anything but the utmost kindness and consideration at our haada and it is hardly probable that this policy will be reversed now that the opposition is fast drawing to a close abo governor that the only existing opposition to the authority of the united states is being fomented h the men who form alic hong kong junta most of whom were formerly residents of the coffee growing province of batangan Ba tangas it is in this province he went on that we are now meeting with our only difficulty sly statements concerning the close of the rebellion arc not optimistic in the sense that they arc overdrawn they arc based upon nothing but plain facts the natives arc rapidly developing an affection for our institutions aal a large number of former insurgents have became valuable members of tho community fully worthy of any trust that may bo reposed in them tho coming elections will develop the real progress in this direction and I 1 am certain that the result will be gratifying the restrictions placed on the brivil oge of the ballot aro principally of an educational character a fact that will of course cut out numbers of filipinos but thia ia a condition that will be bettered rapidly alio progress of education h and our policy in this direction is liberal i no obstacle of any character is put in the way of the schools indeed it is now generally understood throughout the islands that the government will eagerly welcome the establishment of additional institutions of this character as long as they conform to the educational standard demanded in our public schools and instruct pupils in alie english language it is utterly immaterial to us what the character of the school is all factors that will aid in the work of education are welcome gov taft refuses to discuss the future of aguinaldo iio bays that the deposed leaders fate is in the hands of the military branch of the service entirely and that the civil arm has the responsibility of neither his custody nor his behavior i |
