Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. IV.djvu/203

WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT 163 where the natives revolted, drove most of the friars out of their holdings, and sent them hunting for places of refuge. With only elementary notions of justice, in which a desire for retribution outfigured all else, the natives wished their new rulers to con fiscate the missionary estates outright ; but, as that was out of the question, Governor Taft was deputed by the president to confer with the pope about the purchase of these lands by the govern ment. Although this was not accomplished at once, it was later, and the church began replacing the objectionable friars with a contingent of more en lightened and modern religious teachers, while the great agricultural tracts were gradually broken into parcels small enough for individual native farmers to hold and till. Other reforms undertaken during this period were the institution of minor courts in various parts of the islands, within easy reach of the people ; the introduction of a satisfactory system of land records and of vital and social statistics; the enforcement of sanitary regulations, the establishment of com mon schools, and the substitution of a uniform coinage for the antiquated mixture then passing for a currency. In the midst of these activities occurred a vacancy on the supreme court, and the president cabled the governor an offer of it. The answer was characteristic: "Great honor deeply appreciated, but must decline. Situation here most