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The Review of Reviews. 



liy restraiiiiiig illegal corporations and monopolies and by 



punisliing dishonest public offijials. His every past act testifies 



to ilie nature of liis iileal and to his passionate desire to mate- 

 rialise that ideal. 



Wc can only trust th;it Mr. Roosevelt will be 

 enabled to live up to his picture, but one cannot help 

 remembering other politicians' discovery of their 

 country's wrongs, before election and after — well, the 

 reformer vanishes, and we are face to face with our 

 old friend Ihe apologi.st. There is little but praise 

 in Count Okuma's appreciation, which is sufficiently 

 tempered with wisdom to avoid prophecy, for he 

 concludes with the naive admission : — " Of course it 

 is impossible to predict who will win the election, but 

 to my mind Mr. Roosevelt does not care whether he 

 is defeated or not so long as he is doing what he thinks 

 right for his country. Apart from the question 

 whether his election be beneficial to the United States 

 or to other countries, recognition must be given him 

 as the manliest man in the world." 



AMERICA'S TASK IN THE PHILIPPINES. 

 The Hon. W. Morgan Shuster was at one time a 

 member of the Philippine Commission, and his eight 

 years' experience in the archipelago gives weight to 

 Ihe friendly criticism of American policy which he 

 contributes to the African Times and Orieni Review. 

 I'he average American citizen is not much concerned 

 about his duties in the Far East, but he has under- 

 taken a portion of the "white man's burden" and, 

 must accordingly accept the gratuitous advice of his 

 friends. Mr. Shuster writes more in sorrow than anger 

 when he reflects :• — 



We liave so many bif; and important things on hand in 

 .■\incrica at the present time that it is perhaps useless to expect 

 that our people will, as a whole, devote the care and serious 

 attention to the Philippine problem that it merits. We adopt 

 an altitude something like that of the highly-paid carpenter 

 who h.is no lime to pick up the nails which he drops. 



Uut whether we choose to face them now or not, there are 

 some very serious difliculties about our leap into the colonial 

 sea, in so far as pertains to the I'hilippines, and .is time p.asses 

 they will become more pressing and patent to all. 



Mr. Shuster then proceeds to regret the lack of 

 experienced colonial administrators, the tendency to 

 mclude Philippine policy in the realm of party politics, 

 and further deplores a system of administration which 

 is too costly for a poor nation. He completes his 

 category of complaint by a few home troubles : — 



Wc have constantly preached to the Filipinos about the 

 corrupt and tyrannical Spanish oflicials from whom we rescued 

 then), and about the chaos and dishonesty which would result 

 if we should lurn the government over to them, the Filipinos. 

 Wc, in other words, arc the honest people, divinely com- 

 ini».sionud to look after their finances. Vet in the first few 

 years of our civil government there so many American oflicials 

 were guilty of defalcation and embezzlement that the matter 

 became a serious topic for discussion and semi-official apology, 

 and Ihe exaggerated moral elfect on the Filipinos will not be 

 lived down for many years. 



Mr. Shuster is certainly the candid tricntl, and thus 

 admonishes his old colleagues : — 



.M all events, we must guard against jiermitting our officials 



Teddy Roosevelt's New Party as Italy sees it. 



to view their career in the Islands as a mere holiday speclacle, 

 or a mere stage on which petty princes may strut. and roar only 

 as real kings can do in the larger theatre of our country. One 

 can see government there in embryo and in the making. Let 

 us, then, see no embryonic dictators, however agreeable the role ' 

 to those who may be temporarily performing it. 



It is not all "' blame, blame — praise never," for the 

 critic pays tribute to the success already achieved :— 



We seem to have realised the necessity of the firm ami ' 

 permanent planting of certain cardinal principles, to which 

 general assent has apparently been given. Such are the 

 doctrine of complete separation of Church and State, of the 

 independence of the judiciary (though there is still some room 

 for improvement), of free public schools, of the purity of the 

 ballot-box wherever sulTr.ige is granted, and of the construction 

 of permanent highways and public buildings. 



Onk of the latest things in sky-scrapers is described 

 in Cdssier's. The Hankers' Trust Company building is 

 said to embody tlie highest achievements in sky-scraper 

 construction. Counting basements, the building is 

 forty-three stories high. It is based on the rock 

 seventy-five or a hundred feet below the surface, and 

 the foundation is laid of a heavy pillar of concrete- 

 resting on the rock. A coffer dam of concrete six oi 

 seven feet thick was formed around the central 

 foundation. 



