Mr. Marsman's Report

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 ippine stability and security, which incidentally, according to the very phrase "beyond 1946," tacitly assumes the inevitability of Philippine independence, can only have been premised on the recognition by responsible Americans that the usual shibboleths are no longer valid. For instance, in the face of the deep interest Washington has shown in the fate of the Dutch East Indies, it does not make sense now to say that the United States should leave the Far East "lock, stock and barrel," and confine her farthest outpost to Hawaii. For another instance, in the face of the disintegrating commerce of Europe, it does not now make sense to say that the total investments of America in the Philippines are as a drop in the bucket and not worth the bother of the Asiatic Fleet. For a third instance, in view of the friendly and constructive conversations now going on in Tokyo between the American and Japanese diplomats, it does not make sense now to affirm that the best policy for America should be to let Japan alone in the Orient lest to do otherwise would involve the United States in war. Those were the shibboleths that had been dinned in our ears by thGse who would persuade the Filipinos to give up their goal of independence. Mr. Marsman, a keen business observer, a widelytravelled man who has caught the larger meaning of today's many-sided crisis, has, by his significant report, underscored the futility of all those shibboleths. That Mr. Marsman's report is based on deep-seated conviction is, incidentally, demonstrated by his announcement upon arrival that the executives of his firm have been laying out plans for the establishment of new important industries here. Implicit in that announcement is the firm faith of a sagacious business man in the future security and stability of this country under a government completely in Filipino hands. 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