War Report

Leaving the state of the Army to Major-General Charles Pelot Summerall, Chief of Staff, who reported conventionally that it was good, and the state of the air to Assistant Secretary of War F. Trubee Davison, who reported energetically that it was good and getting better, Secretary of War Davis devoted a major portion of his annual report to the state of the Philippine Islands, which the War Department governs. So thoroughly did Secretary Davis cover this subject that it seemed he must long have been girding himself to defend "General Wood's most fitting monument" from being transferred to control of the Department of the Interior--a transfer which has long been proposed and often postponed. Secretary Davis said: "Never has the government of the Philippine Islands been in so satisfactory and promising condition as today." And Secretary Davis said: "Had each of the departments of the United States government participated in the administration of the islands to the extent which we are accustomed in the United States, it would have been impossible to accomplish our primary purpose, the development of a people capable of self-government."

Two main points did Secretary Davis make: 1) Let the U. S. announce definitely that it has no intention of withdrawing from the Philippines for some time to come. This would stabilize the Filipino state of mind. 2) Let Filipino politics be subordinated to Filipino economics.