Manila Post: "McNutt Urges Deferment of P.I. Independence." He suggested that we would get a more sympathetic reaction from Congress on rehabilitation measures if we deferred independence.

It is more than possible that if they get their freedom [now] they may never again attain their pre-war economic stability and may destine themselves to a permanently lowered standard of living.

Page 2: "Romulo comments on Independence" re Osmeña's statement of that he hoped there would be freedom by August 13, 1945. Romulo noted the Japanese would have to be cleared out first.

Page 2: Professor Henry Otley Beyer has been asked by the government to help with the salvaging of historical books. He says the Destruction of Manila resulted in loss of 2 million volumes! From the National Library, only 3,000 out of 1.5 million books were saved; they had been transferred to the Normal School before the Americans came. The irreplaceable Filipiniana collection of 70,000 books is mostly gone. The Sampaloc branch of the Library didn't burn but the books were looted. Sixty percent of the contents of the Bureau of Science Library were saved. The ethnological museum is unscathed but the biological museum burned. Some of the Professor's own collection was lost.

Page 4: "Irving Berlin Arriving Today," and as I write this, he's next door in MacArthur's garden with the General (cutting an imposing figure and towering over Berlin), Mrs. MacArthur in a gray civilian dress and little Arthur. The object of their attention is Arthur's little fox terrier, which he received only a few days ago.

. . . .

José Zulueta, a Quezon man, has a long-standing feud with Confesor, who once defeated him in a gubernatorial race for Iloilo. I believe each caused the other's wife to be arrested for gambling. Zulueta is the only one showing the slightest interest in tackling Confesor's dictatorial attitude. H.B. Reyes, Vice-President of the University of the Philippines and recent advisor to Confesor told Father Keene he's now thinking of resigning: "I took the job just to sit in on the comedy that's going on, but I'm going to quit because it's rapidly developing into a tragedy."

continues...