"Hon. William Jennings Bryan and distinguished party—Gentlemen:
"The people of Bacolod and the province in general, through me, have to-day the honor of greeting their distinguished visitors, giving to them all a most cordial and sincere welcome, and very especially to the illustrious leader of the democratic party who has deigned to grant us the high distinction of his visit.
"Mr. Bryan has doubtless noticed since he set foot on Filipino soil that the people of the islands received him as if he were an old and beloved friend.
"There is nothing strange in this; one of the most striking qualities of the Filipino is gratitude, even though his enemies and detractors assert the contrary. The Filipino people know that Mr. Bryan has been and is a sincere champion of the Filipino ideals and interests in America, and this little suffices to make all here, without distinction, receive him to-day with open arms and with hearts swelling with joy.
"His visit to-day to this province gives us the satisfaction of knowing him personally, as well as the opportunity of expressing our true sentiments toward the North American people, to whom we hope to make our humble voice heard through the channel of our illustrious visitor.
"The Filipino people can not fail to thank Providence which has appointed to them the good fortune of being under the protection of the noble and powerful Stars and Stripes.
"No one familiar with the history of the constitution of North America can fail to admire the spirit of wisdom and morality which permeates its most liberal institutions.
"It is true that the Philippines bill is not in every way based upon the principles which that constitution breathes, and it is also true that in the government administration there exist certain prejudices which find no place in so wise a constitution; but those defects are errors which we hope will be rectified in time and through the education of the people.
"To deny that the Filipino people aspire to independence in the future would be to deny the light of the sun in broad day. But in spite of this aspiration, we understand that peoples, like men, in order to be independent must necessarily pass in strictly chronological order, through different stages, which they can not traverse by leaps and bounds. Nor do we fail to realize that the liberty, great or small, which may be granted to a people, must be in direct relation to the state of their culture.
"Our ambition is just and within the bounds of reason and logic. We wish independence through evolution, because we understand that a people, differing from another in race and in its ethnographical and ethnological conditions, can never be governed with justice and equity except by itself; and this, because the pride of superiority will always dominate the governing race to the detriment of the governed, and the latter will never be happy. Some of the congressmen and senators who were here a short time ago have said in Washington that the Filipino people are growing away from the American people. That statement is by no means as clear as it should be.