Colonel Davis succeeds Colonel Stimson

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Colonel Davis succeeds Colonel Stimson
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume 9 (No. 6) June 1929
Year: 1929
Rights
Fulltext: PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY The American Chamber of Gommerce OF THE Philippine Islands (Member Chamber of Commerce of the United States) ENTERED AS SECOND CLASS MATTER May 25, 1921, at the POST OFFICE AT MANILA, P. I. Local Subscription: P4.00 per year Foreign Subscription: $3.00 U. S. Currency, per year Single Copies: 35 Centavos WALTER ROBB, Editor and Manager DIRECTORS AND OFFICERS P. A. Meyer, President H. M. Cavender, Vice-President John W. Haussermann, Vice-President B. A. Green, Treasurer H. L. Heath W. L. Applegate J. C. Rockwell Kenneth B. Day Alf Welhaven ALTERNATE DIRECTORS J. L. Headington A. B. Cresap Frank W. Butler Wm. H. Rennolds John R. Wilson, Secretary E. E. Selph, General Counsel EXECUTIVE P. A. Meyer, Chairman H. M. Cavender H. L. Heath COMMITTEES FINANCE J. L. Headington, Chairman Wm. H. Rennolds F. W. Butler RELIEF W. J. Odom, Chairman Carl Hess John Gordon FOREIGN TRADE H. B. Pond, Chairman L. L. Spellman M. M. Saleeby MANUFACTURING P. A. Meyer, Chairman Alf Welhaven E. A. Seidenspinner LEGISLATIVE P. A. Meyer, Chairman Frank B. Ingersoll J. R. Wilson PUBLICATIONS P. A. Meyer, Chairman Roy C. Bennett BANKING AND CURRENCY Stanley Williams, Chair man W. J. Shaw RECEPTION AND ENTERTAINMENT J. L. Headington, Chair man F. W. Butler J. R. Wilson HOUSE B. A. Green, Chairman J. R. Wilson LIBRARY John Gordon, Chairman SHIPPING H. M. Cavender, Chairman G. P. Bradford L. E. Nantz INVESTMENTS P. A. Meyer, Chairman H. M. Cavender B. A. Green COLONEL DAVIS SUCCEEDS COLONEL STIMSON President Hoover was prevailed upon in May to appoint as governor general of the Philippines a man without insular experience,. Colonel Dwight F. Davis, one of the Coolidge cabineteers, but a colleague whom, in his own cabinet, Mr. Hoover had not wished to retain. Colonel Davis—much is made of the military service and reserve rank of the current grist of gov ernors general—will be in Manila July 7 and will travel across the Pacific with some of the men who are to be around him in the state council: Spea ker Manuel Roxas, the papers tell us, and possibly Senator Sergio Osmeña, Agriculture Secretary Rafael Alunan and others of the mixed commission sent to Washington. As Coolidge’s secretary of war toward the close of that tight-lipped administration, Colonel Davis had perfunctory cogniz ance, temporarily, of Philippine affairs. He had succeeded Weeks, of Massachusetts; he himself is a Missour ian, of St. Louis, but in education he is Harvard and he is one of fifteen members making up the Harvard council, a body with no little influence inside and outside academic circles. So the Cambridge crowd that likes to run the Philippines finds him all right—and he is wealthy. As soon as it appeared that a compromise had to be made, or when it became evident that General Frank R. McCoy’s appointment, just at this juncture, might spill the beans, overnight a shift was made to Davis. The entity which Colonel Stimson placed in charge of the local administration of the Philip pines—that is, those individuals of it who had not gone to Washington, notably the senate president—being queried and replying favorably, though conditionally, the compromise the president approved was made public. In due course Colonel Davis’s name went to the senate, and the work of the binational Philippine junta was ratified. Then Memorial Day came, giving time to jot down these notes. The stipulation coupled with the senate president’s approval of Colonel Davis for governor general is, that Colonel Davis adhere to Colonel Stim son’s policy; and Colonel Davis announced, when he reached Washing ton, that he would do this. The significance of the condition is, that Stim son did not reach journey’s-end; he only hurdled past some way stations, so that Colonel Davis, in following Stimson’s policy, will of course be ex pected to go on from where his predecessor left off. The office is not yet half as weak as it might be made by diligent endeavor—the policy isn’t half carried out as yet. Here is glory waiting. Colonel Davis is second choice for the governorship, the junta (the Cambridge boys and their allies) wanted McCoy; and Colonel Stimson’s pledge to McCoy is temporarily put aside. Manila is Colonel Davis’s second choice, he wanted to go to Paris; that ambition waits, and the pity PRICES REDUCED! A RECENT Reduction in Freight Rates now permit us to announce a reduction in the prices of all body types of New Model “A” Ford Cars, including truck and Commercial Chassis. Write for our New Reduced Prices and Easy Installment Plant. “After We Sell We Serve” Manila Trading & Supply Co. MANILA ILOILO CEBU BACOLOD .'.TON I ga) IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERt ^.\ C. / OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 4 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL June, I92V of it is, the new American embassy in Paris is said to be really handsome and pleasantly arranged. Besides Paris . . . well, who wouldn’t, being wealthy and one of the boys, wish to go to Paris and brush up his French? Colonel Davis is also second in other respects; he is the second ex secretary of war to be appointed governor—Lord! why can’t this dignified title be enough, without the general tacked on?—and he is the second par venu in insular affairs to be appointed governor by his party, the Repub lican, which used to have the rule of apprenticing men to the governorship by a period as vice governor. But how could that be now? The president’s cabinet can’t be expanded. There is no Belo bill in Washington, and the countries of the world, offering posts for mi nisters and ambassadors, are only a certain number and no more. But demands upon the president for patronage increase; the logical thing has therefore happened, and the governorship has been shifted from a career position to a political one. That, surely, is as natural as can be. Again, in disposing of a cabinet man of your own party, whom you do not choose to have in your cabinet even though you are committed to continue the ad ministration of your predecessor (who wasn’t, at all times, precisely enthusiastic about your candidacy, however), the delicate question arises as to just where to send him. Maybe a minister’s position, or even an ambassador’s, is of lower gradation than* that of a cabinet secretary. Bundling the aspirant off to Ma nila, to a quondam executive post still nominally such, makes it unnecessary to decide delicate questions of official etiquette. Almost anyone may be safely sent to Manila, especially when he is only going there to carry out another’s policy or as a stop-gap. In all of this—no reflection even of the slightest upon Colonel Davis. Practical politics is practical, and the sole aim here has been to set down some of its manifestations in relation to the fact that the islands now have Dwight F. Davis for His Excellency, the Governor General. Whatever conditions and expedients may adhere to the appointment of a governor, no governor ought to be prejudged. Judgment should be, as in this instance it is, held in abeyance until facts of actual administra tion occur upon which to base an opinion cooly and impartially. But in feeling so, it does not follow that one need write, for a sophisticated au dience, with the credulous enthusiasm of the boy, anticipating the summer picnic, applauding the droll stories of his Sunday School superintendent. Essentially, Colonel Davis is a wealthy man (by inheritance), well married, who has gone in for a public career. Though Manila may not be Paris, he will certainly find himself as cordially welcomed here, by all, as if Malacañang and the murmuring Pasig, humming with mosquitoes, had been the dream of his whole manhood. It is even entirely reasonable to Hon. Dwight F. Davis Governor General expect from him a good administration; and that of course implies that while he may arrive in Manila expecting to stay but a short time, and make way for McCoy, he will possibly settle down to a long period of public effort in the islands. From his western breeding he cannot have entirely recovered, which signifies that the pioneer problems here will make their appeal. As a Missourian, he believes in low taxes and careful expenditures, one may suspect; and if such is the case, from certain existing conditions he will be unable to withhold his executive interest. So it will go, new and intri guing matters arising daily to challenge him to effort. Colonel Davis will naturally begin as a social gov ernor, much inclined to let George do the heavy work; but it is as good a bet as any that he will not end that way. In one field particularly, where active interest is needed, he will probably bestir himself quite early. That field comprises parks and playgrounds and ama teur athletics and sports. It is important, of a piece with what most distinguishes Colonel Davis’s career thus far, his aldermanic work in St. Louis. To have parks, to have conservatories of art and the artcrafts, of flowers and ferns, and to organize the energies of youth in clean sports and play—these would be no mean things for any governor to do, systematically, as matters of major attention, and to stamp his name upon the achievement. Governor Gilmore would have soon got round to it, and the governor who does get round to building bridges upstream on the Pasig to accommodate cross town traffic now so annoying to so many thousands of the humbler folk of Manila, will do something tangibly renowned. Again, the governor who per suades the government to cease building grandiose office palaces in the capital, until the rivers are bridged that now, with only bamboo ferries, impede traffic and take toll of commerce, will make an undying name for himself. Colonel Davis will soon discover plenty to do. It is possible, if not probable, that he will undertake it, gradually become ab sorbed in it and forget his nostalgia, and that he will conduct a prolonged and effective administration. Finally, if Colonel Davis comes no closer to carrying on Colonel Stim son’s policy in Manila than President Hoover, so far, has come to carrying on his predecessor’s in Washington, then Colonel Davis’s reported pledges will be no particular handicap if he decides to run the job to suit himself. His breeding, more than his eminence with want of insular experience, greatly recommends him. TT7 D Retail «ine American m whoiesa Importers .xVOY1, Agents v BOTICA BOIE ° MANILA Heavy Chemicals—Fertilizer—Manufacturers We have been selling drugs for 98 years IN RESPONDING TO ADVERTISEMENTS PLEASE MENTION THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL