(4 of 6)
Somewhat pointedly, the U. S. State Department discouraged attendance at the Quezon inaugural of "foreign delegations," on the ground that the Philippines were not yet autonomous. But the Tokyo Yomiuri last week felicitated the Commonwealth "especially because the Philippines can easily be reached by air from Japan and the prospects of Japanese-Philippine trade are bright."
Because the Islands' 12,500 mi. coastline is easily "reachable" by* every power in Asia, the U. S. Army for years wanted to cast the Islands off. But few Army men were surprised when General Douglas MacArthur, ending a long and brilliant term as U. S. Chief of Staff, packed his elegant duffel and sailed to Manila as the Commonwealth's Military Adviser (TIME, Sept. 30). General Mac Arthur's mission is to set up in the next two years a military establishment, costing 16,000,000 pesos ($8,000,000) and enrolling 19,000 men, which will try to keep the Philippine Republic independent after the Stars-&- Stripes are hauled down July 4, 1946.
Don Manuel. Of the Filipinos as a people, the Encyclopedia Britannica observes: "In social contact they are a charming, idealistic race. Their evolution is probably toward a homogeneous people, but the racial cleavages are very apparent and sometimes stand in the way of united and lasting action. Their political development, which has been manipulated by clever politicians, has outstripped their other attainments."
No cleverer politician ever mounted a rostrum than the first President of the Philippine Commonwealth. Most Mestizos (of mixed blood) are constitutionally gifted with political "it." But in the past 30 years Manuel Quezon has given his countrymen an exhibition of straddling, transference and political gymnastics which, if performed on horseback, would make him the wonder of the equestrian world.
Manuel Quezon was a law student at Santo Tomas University in Manila (oldest under the U. S. flag) when handsome young Emilio Aguinaldo, tired of the evasion of U. S. officials who, he thought, should recognize him as President of the Philippine Provisional Republic, started a revolt to run the none too numerous U. S. expeditionary force out of the Islands. Since the U. S. authorities were chary of all Filipinos at that time, and hence offering no jobs in the Island Government to brown men, Manuel Quezon went into the bush for a while as a major on Aguinaldo's staff. It took two years, many tons of rifle ammunition and the caginess of General Frederick Funston to capture and subdue Emilio Aguinaldo in 1901. As early as 1903, his ex-aide, Quezon, was working hand-in-glove with the conquering Yanquis as prosecutor for Tabayas and Mindoro Provinces. He has been drawing a government paycheck ever since.