Statement by the President on the Tenth Anniversary of the Philippine Commonwealth.

NOVEMBER 15, 1945, marks the tenth anniversary of the inauguration of the Philippine Commonwealth. Those ten years were set aside by Congress, and approved by the Filipino people, as a period of preparation for independence. The Philippines and the Filipinos were to have been given those ten years to prepare their national economy and their national government to assume the full responsibilities of nationhood.

Neither we nor they knew, in 1935, what a test the Philippines would be called upon to pass in 1941--the test of war. The Filipino people went through the ordeals of war and of Japanese occupation in a manner to their immortal credit. It was a credit to them, and to us, who led the Philippines along the 40-year road from serfdom under Spain to commonwealth status. But more than that it was a credit to those ideals of democracy and human dignity which America introduced into the Philippines in 1898, ideals which took root there so firmly as to survive every savage effort of the Japanese to uproot them.

The Filipino people are spiritually worthy of independence. They have won their spurs as a nation. We will honor our promise and our pledges to them. The United States stands ready to aid the heroes of the Philippines in every way we can.

The United States honors the Filipino people on this tenth anniversary of Commonwealth Day.