Taft would not do this, saying that he thought the only course was to “hammer away with the constabulary until the abuse was stamped out by the regular methods of supposedly peaceful times,” but the worst feature of the situation was that wherever ladronism showed its head there would be cohorts of “irreconcilables”⁠—posing in everyday life as loyal citizens⁠—ready, within the limits of personal safety, to encourage and assist it. Anything to hamper and harass the government.

Shortly after Mr. Taft’s arrival in Manila, the vice-Governor, General Wright, and Mrs. Wright left the Islands for a well-earned vacation and my husband wrote that the amount of work which confronted him was staggering. He took on General Wright’s department in addition to his own duties, and if it hadn’t been that he had at least halfway learned not to try to “hurry the East” he probably would not have lasted long.