By the spring of this year the effective opposition of the dissatisfied
Tagals to the authority of the United States was virtually ended, thus
opening the door for the extension of a stable administration over much
of the territory of the Archipelago. Desiring to bring this about, I
appointed in March last a civil Commission composed of the Hon. William
H. Taft, of Ohio; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan; the Hon. Luke I.
Wright, of Tennessee; the Hon. Henry C. Ide, of Vermont, and Prof.
Bernard Moses, of California. The aims of their mission and the scope of
their authority are clearly set forth in my instructions of April 7,
1900, addressed to the Secretary of War to be transmitted to them:
In the message transmitted to the Congress on the 5th of December, 1899,
I said, speaking of the Philippine Islands: "As long as the insurrection
continues the military arm must necessarily be supreme. But there is no
reason why steps should not be taken from time to time to inaugurate
governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory is
held and controlled by our troops.
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