RECOLLECTIONS OF FULL YEARS
pines, and our assuming control over them, to the natural enterprise of a people who had themselves gone so far in a land of development and hope.
Everything that could be done to make smooth the path of the new Commission was done. At their own request the powers of the Commissioners were carefully defined so that complications with the military government then in force in the islands, might be avoided. They were given equal rank with ministers plenipotentiary in the matter of naval courtesies and precedence; and Mr. Root drafted a letter of instructions, which the President signed, outlining their duties in such precise and correct detail that it was afterward adopted and ratified in its entirety in the act of Congress by which the Philippine government was established.
So—I believed we were going to have "smooth sailing" in every sense, when we started on the long voyage with which began this interesting experience.
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