Good Tidings from U.S.

Title

Language

English

Year

1940

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

GOOD TIDINGS FROM U. S. The reports which Mr. Marsman brought back to Manila from the United States co!1cerning American 8entiment about the Philippines were received with considerable interest in Manila. All of the daily newspapers commented upon his Yiev;s, and the "Philippines Herald" had an editorial on the subject. Beoouse of the unusual interest in this subject, particularly in view of world conditions at this time, this editorial is printed below for "Marsman Magazine" readers. MR. MARSMAN'S REPORT The report brought by Jan H. Marsman upon arrival on May 5 from a business trip to the United States to the effect that there is a growing sentiment in America favoring some sort of protection for the Philippines even after 1946 is definitely good tidings. It represents a departure from time-worn expressions of opinion in the United States about the Philippines, and indicates a very intelligent and farsighted approach to the complicated problem of Philippine-American relations. Beyond the father-and-son analogy given by Mr. Marsman in characterizing the concern of the United States over the security and stability of the Philippine Republic that will be born in 1946 may be discerned what the wellinformed among the American people have always known but which they have been reluctant to admit in the open while there was still the hope that the Filipinos might yet be persuaded to change their minds about independence. Now that such hope has already been completely shattered by vigorous and unequivocal affirmations of the Filipino people, and their leader, President Quezon, that complete independence is the only solution to the Philippine problem, the better-informed among the American people are now compelled to admit in the open that America has some concern over the future stability and security of the Philippines. Thit concern America has to have-it is not merely because of fatherly concern either. By the very logic of events, America cannot leave the Far East, any more 18 than she can withdraw her interest in the fate of Europe. The entire world is undergoing fundamental changes, in some places under the impact of war and violence, in other places under the auspices of peaceful but nonetheless revolutionary changes. The Europe that was before Munich is not coming back; there will be a new order in that continent when the last bomb of this war has been exploded. The Philippines of the feudal landowners is on the way of going out; it will not return; a new social and economic order is being born here right now, under the far-sighted and statesm~nlike program of government of President Quezon. That is the major reality of our present world. In that world, the United States of America and her institutions of democracy loom large as the greatest single factor affecting the shape of the world that is to be. How can America then withdraw from any part of the world where she has her institutions established, where she has laid out over the long years the channels of her trade, where she has pioneered with vision and courage in the expectation that she might contribute a decisive part in the construction of a new world order? No; America cannot neglect her interests in the Far East; and those interests are best protected if her foothold, cultural as well as commercial, in the Philippines is made firm by prevailing stability and security of this country. Mr. · Marsman's report about the growing concern in America for PhilTHE MARSMAN MAGAZINE for May, 19VJ

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