"
It has been the fashion in some quarters to sneer at the last of these
paragraphs, and to insinuate, if not to charge, that President McKinley
in his policy toward the Philippine Islands was actuated by unworthy
motives. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning
to the end the real good of the several peoples of the archipelago
came first with him, and no one who had the privilege of knowing him
well doubts it. Thoroughly imbued with the lofty sentiments expressed
by him in our instructions, we set forth on our long pilgrimage to a
country where we were to undertake a heavy task essentially different
from that which had ever before fallen to the lot of any five citizens
of the United States.
On April 17, 1900, we sailed from San Francisco on the United
States army transport _Hancock_. We were forty-five strong. Of
this goodly company only four remain in the Philippines to-day,
[458]--Mr. and Mrs. Branagan, Mrs. Worcester and myself. Singularly
enough, with two exceptions, all of the others are still alive
and at work. Arthur W. Ferguson, prince of interpreters, who was
later appointed Executive Secretary, died in the service after more
than six years of extraordinarily faithful and efficient work. James
A.
Pages:
412
413
414
415
416
417
418
419
420
421
422
423
424
425
426
427
428
429
430
431
432
433
434
435
436