[1] For the full text of these instructions, see appendix.
[2] “Mr. McKinley sent Mr. Taft out, in the spring preceding the election of 1900, to help General MacArthur run the war.”—Blount. The Taft Commission was sent out, to ‘aid’ General MacArthur, as the Schurman Commission had ‘aided’ General Otis.”—Blount.
[3] “In February, 1899, the dogs of war being already let loose, President McKinley had resumed his now wholly impossible Benevolent Assimilation programme, by sending out the Schurman Commission, which was the prototype of the Taft Commission, to yearningly explain our intentions to the insurgents, and to make clear to them how unqualifiedly benevolent those intentions were. The scheme was like trying to put salt on a bird’s tail after you have flushed him.”—Blount.
[4] P.I.R., 1300. 2.
[5] A brand of whiskey then much in use.
[6] For the text of this document see the Appendix, p. 977.
[7] In view of the alleged attitude of General Otis toward the work of the Commission, the following statement by him as to the effect of this proclamation is of interest:—
General Otis said: “It was unanimously decided to print, publish, post, and disseminate as much as possible among the inhabitants under insurgent domination this address, printing the same in the English, Spanish, and Tagálog languages. This was done, but scarcely had it been posted in Manila twenty-four hours before it was so torn and mutilated as to be unrecognizable. It suffered the same fate as the proclamation of January 4, set out in pages 113 and 114 of this report, but it produced a marked beneficial influence on the people, especially those outside our lines, as it carried with it a conviction of the United States’ intentions, on account of the source from which it emanated, it being an expression from a committee of gentlemen especially appointed to proclaim the policy which the United States would pursue.”
—Taylor, 90 AJ.
Taylor adds: “The commander of one of the regiments of sandatahan in Manila reported that he had forced the people of the city to destroy the proclamations issued by the commission (P.I.R., 73. 9). As he found this necessary, the action of the people could hardly have reflected their real feelings in the matter.”