Teddy Roosevelt was against keeping the Phillipines? The Nation magazine was against keeping the Phillipines?
It was the Liberals who opposed the Spanish American War and the colonization of the Philippines.
That was Roosevelt.
But even he almost immediately questioned whether he should let the place go. Taft was a different story, but he was one man. US policy was consistently muddled.
Just checked to see if my memory deceived me - The Nation magazine under its editor Villard was into taking the place, but very quickly changed its line to the opposite and Villard joined Mark Twain in his anti imperialist league.