Statesman Stimson

The problem was: How to keep the Philippines under the War Department yet give them a civilian rather than military administration? The solution was: Appoint as successor to the late Governor General Leonard Wood a civilian with military experience, a soldierly statesman. A man that notably suited the requirements, was Colonel Henry Lewis Stimson, practitioner of law under Elihu Root, of athletics and politics under Theodore Roosevelt, of administration under William Howard Taft, of mediation under Calvin Coolidge. Last week Col. Stimson accepted the post.

The War Department was glad. Col. Stimson once a cavalry sergeant, ran the War Department in 1911-1913. Filipinos were glad. Col. Stimson has been much among them and last spring he declared he favors developing responsible Filipino's political parties, choosing the Governor General's cabinet from the majority party and using the Governor General's veto-power only to prevent dereliction. U. S. business was glad. Educated at Yale and Harvard, cultivated in Manhattan, Col. Stimson has a conservative backround and, by his pacification of Nicaragua last spring, his ability has been demonstrated. Mrs. Leonard Wood was glad, too. Col. Stimson was long her late husband's friend.

Testifying last week before the Senate Committee on Territories, President Manuel Quezon of the Philippine Senate attacked the liberal-but-firm policy which Col. Stimson represents. But President Quezon intends to leave the Philippines soon, to become Resident Philippine Commissioner in Washington, where he can urge Philippine independence at the adamant doors of Congress instead of in the ears of his docile countrymen. He will be succeeded as Philippine Senate chief by Sergio Osmena, a more mature statesman and no agitator, no propagandist.