“You don’t seem to know who I am!” he exclaimed, with manifest indignation.
“No, sir, I do not,” mildly replied the Lieutenant.
“Well,” said the angry man, “I’m a member of the Military Committee of the House of Representatives. I helped to make this Army out here and I’ve come out to see what kind of work I did. I don’t like it, and I’m going home and unmake it. This treatment of me here is of a piece with the treatment I’ve received ever since I’ve been in these islands.”
This didn’t sound quite fair. He had been treated with marked courtesy by everybody and had accepted rather lavish hospitality from both Army officers and civil officials. In fact, he had received every possible attention in a most unusually hospitable community. The young Lieutenant bristled up and said:
MR. TAFT TAKING THE OATH OF OFFICE AS THE FIRST AMERICAN GOVERNOR OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS
“Sorry, sir, but I’m obeying orders; and I’d just like to tell you that I consider your remarks exceedingly impolite.”
Upon which the gentleman from Washington left the pavilion and went down to stand in a place which the guards had been ordered to keep clear.
The rest of the story I heard afterward. It seems that both General Barry and General Davis saw him and took pains to go down and ask him up into the central pavilion, but he refused to go. Then one of the guards came up and politely informed him: “Orders, sir, you’ll have to stand back.” By this time he was infuriated and he turned on the guard and, after identifying himself, repeated his remarks about having made the Army and being determined to go back to Washington and unmake it.
“Well,” said the guard, “I guess you can’t unmake me. I’ve just been mustered out of the United States Army and am a plain American citizen. I don’t understand that Congress can do much about unmaking American citizens.” Which all goes to show that it doesn’t do much good to lose one’s temper. The gentleman took his party and stalked out of the plaza.