Book Review

Canada and the United States

In many ways, this is an old-fashioned book. To begin with, it provides a detailed description and review of American colonial policy in the Philippines. Histories starting with Charles Burke Elliott's The Philippines to the End of the Commission Government (1917) have treated this subject in this manner. As do others, Frank Hindman Golay commences his story on the eve of the Spanish-American War, proceeds to the Philippine phase of that war, and then treats the colonial administration of the succeeding decades. Along the way, he follows the standard periodization of colonialism: the Taft era from 1901 to 1913, the Democratic years from 1913 to 1921, the Republican 1920s, the period of gaining autonomy from 1931 to 1935, and the Commonwealth and war years.

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In another fashion, this work follows tradition in stressing political and administrative history. Golay puts strong emphasis on colonial policy and practice and concentrates on the highest levels of decision-making in Washington and Manila. The narrative centers on legislative matters, and the author provides a lengthy blow-by-blow account of the annual course of bills as they journeyed through Congress and the colonial legislatures. The main characters in the work are the creators of policy, such individuals as William McKinley, William Howard Taft, Senator Millard Tydings, and Representative Jasper Bell. Golay also treats in detail those who served in the Philippines but exerted a strong impact, such as W. Cameron Forbes, Francis Burton Harrison, Leonard Wood, Douglas MacArthur, and Paul McNutt. What we learn of these individuals relates to why and how they affected colonial policy. The Filipinos who feature in the story are only those like Sergio Osmeñia, Manuel Luis Quezon, and Manuel Roxas, who interacted most with the Americans in order to influence policy.

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