Dean Worcester Returns Home

DEAN WORCESTER

            RETURNS HOME

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But Left Immediately For Washington.

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TO SUBMIT HIS REPORT

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Has 300 Photographs to Show Present State of Rice and Sugar Culture.

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Prof. Dean C. Worcester, a member of the Philippine commission, arrived home Sunday for a day's stay. He was on his way to Washington to report direct to President McKinley the result of his observations in the Philippines and the recommendations of himself and the other members of the commission, undoubtedly, may be the means of shaping the destinies of the islands.

The Argus representative called upon him to ascertain, if possible, the substance of his report, but he absolutely refused to divulge anything of that nature. Said he: "The minute Col. Denby and myself reached Vancouver we were importuned by newspaper representatives for some expression of opinion. We refused, on the ground that the secretary of state and the president had the right to know first-handed what our reports contain and not have it come to them through the public press. It would not be courteous for us to do anything else. All the way across the continent reporters pleaded with us to give them something. One Chicago paper sent a staff man to meet us in Dakota, but we have been troubled with a lapse of memory ever since we left Manila. After we have seen President McKinley, we may possibly be able to remember some things for publication. The government would have a very poor opinion of a man who could not keep his mouth shut from Vancouver to Washington. "

"When will your report be made public?" he was asked.

"Col. Denby will reach Washington this evening. I will get there tomorrow. Col. Denby may see the secretary of state tomorrow morning, and it may be that through the secretary the president will be able to see us sometime Tuesday or Wednesday. After that, if the Argus desires, we may be glad to furnish it with the facts we have ascertained concerning what the islands are worth, the resources and the possibilities of their future. But until then our lips are sealed. "

Prof. Worcester is quite a photographer, and the Argus asked him if he had any recent photographs of scenes in the islands. Said he: "I have over 300." 

"Would yon release any for reproduction?"

"No, they may be made apart of the final report. Many of them show the present state and methods of cultivation of the rice and sugar fields of the Philippines. The government is entitled to the exclusive use of such photographs as it sees fit to appropriate." 

This was the only inkling during the course of the conversation as to the nature of his individual report. The deductions that may be gathered are that Prof. Worcester has been engaged in gathering data and photographic evidence of the agricultural resources of the Philippines.

Senator Frye, than whom no man stands nearer the administration by reason of his connection with the peace commission, laid particular stress, during his lecture here Saturday night, upon the retention of the Philippines from a commercial point of view. He advocated supplying the natives with agricultural implements, teaching them how to use them judiciously to develop the possibilities of their lands, the building of railroads to the seaboards in order to bring the products out to be carried into the orient on bottoms and under sailing masters that fly the American flag. All these facts are significant, and the report of the commission may shape a great commercial policy for the United States.

Certain it is that Prof. Worcester has always been an enthusiast over the rich Philippine country. Nothing was apparent in the interview that tended to show he had changed his mind.