After my return to the United States, President McKinley was kind enough to say to me that if there had been no other result from the visit of the first Philippine Commission to the islands than the sending of that cablegram, he should have considered the expense involved more than justified.

He added that the country was being flooded at the time with false and slanderous rumours, and people at home did not know what to believe.

The statements of army officers were discounted in advance, and other testimony from some unprejudiced source was badly needed.
On April 2, 1899, Colonel Denby arrived, and our serious work began.

The fighting continued and there was little that we could do save earnestly to strive to promote friendly relations with the conservative element among the Filipinos, and to gather the information we had been instructed to obtain.
On April 4, 1899, we issued a proclamation setting forth in clear and simple language the purposes of the American government.

[444] It was translated into Tagalog and other dialects and widely circulated.