Theodore Roosevelt actually said...

The surveys, while of course beneficial to the people of the Philippine Islands, should be undertaken as a national work for the information...

It is not probable that the survey would be completed in a less period than that of eight or ten years, but it is well that it should be beg...

Only preliminary explorations have yet been made in the archipelago, and it should be a matter of pride to the Government of the United Stat...

No such organized surveys have ever yet been attempted anywhere; but the idea is in harmony with modern, scientific, and industrial methods.