Tobacco merchant J.M. Fleming had spent many years in the Philippines, and offers his candid views of the situation there with regard to Japan, with a letter of transmittal indicating he could supply information on other aspects as well if desired. He writes in part, “…Since then [Japan] has been preparing for defense and expansion (as I take it) and when she is ready, one of the first things she is (I consider) likely to do is to take the Philippines, if they are in the hands of Spain – First, she needs scope for her surplus population and increasing trade. Secondly she has already her eye on them. Thirdly, in the event of America abandoning the islands, she could practically annex the islands under the name of a protectorate without any trouble, and possibly at the request of the inhabitants voiced by a ‘Republica Filipina’ in armed resistance against Spanish rule – She could step in on humane grounds far stronger than those on which American can base her Cuban intervention…”