Chapter XIIThe Establishment of Civil GovernmentThe first Philippine Commission did not complete its work until March, 1900. By this time conditions had so far improved in the archipelago that President McKinley was prepared to initiate a movement looking toward the establishment of civil government there. With this end in view he appointed the following commission of five civilians; William H. Taft of Ohio, Dean C. Worcester of Michigan, Luke E. Wright of Tennessee, Henry C. Ide of Vermont and Bernard Moses of California. Our appointments were dated March 16, 1900. Our instructions which were full, are given in the appendix.1I was the only member of the first commission to be reappointed. Neither General Otis nor Admiral Dewey cared to serve, and indeed the professional duties of each of them rendered his appointment to the new commission difficult, if not impossible. Mr. Schurman had at one time expressed himself as vigorously opposed to the idea of a new commission, maintaining that the best results could be obtained by the appointment of a civil governor with wide powers. It was therefore taken for granted that he would not desire reappointment. Colonel Denby was keenly interested in the work and would have been glad to continue it, but he was past seventy and with his good wife had then spent some fifteen years in the Far East. He doubted whether his strength would be adequate to bear the strain of the arduous task which obviously lay before the new commission, and Mrs. Denby desired to remain in the United States where shecould be near her children from whom she had been long separated, so her husband felt constrained to say that he did not wish to return to the Philippines.I separated from him with the keenest regret. He was an amiable, tactful man of commanding ability and unimpeachable integrity, actuated by the best of motives and loyal to the highest ideals. He constantly sought to avoid not only evil but the appearance of evil. I count it one of the great privileges of my life to have been associated with him. The one thing in the book written by James H. Blount which aroused my ire was his characterization of Colonel Denby as a hypocrite. No falser, meaner, more utterly contemptible statement was ever made, and when I read it the temptation rose hot within me to make public Blount’s personal Philippine record, but after the first heat of anger had passed I remembered what the good old Colonel would have wished me to do in such a case, and forbore.The second Philippine commission, hereinafter referred to as “the commission,” received its instructions on April 7, 1900.They covered a most delicate and complicated subject, namely, the gradual transfer of control from military to civil authority in a country extensive regions of which were still in open rebellion.In the opinion of President McKinley there was no reason why steps should not be taken, from time to time, to inaugurate governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory came under the permanent control of our troops, and indeed, as we have seen, this had already been done by the army. It was provided that we should continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil governments already commenced by the military authorities. In doing this we were to act as a board of which Mr. Taft was designated president. It was contemplated that the transfer of authority from military commanders to civil officers would be gradual,and full and complete coöperation between these authorities was enjoined. Having familiarized ourselves with the conditions then prevailing in the islands, we were to devote our attention first to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives should be given the opportunity to manage their local affairs to the fullest extent and with the least supervision and control found to be practicable. We were then to consider the organization of larger administrative divisions, and when of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands was such that the central administration could safely be transferred from military to civil control were to report this conclusion to the secretary of war with our recommendations as to the form of central government which should be established.Beginning with September 1, 1900, we were authorized to exercise, subject to the approval of the President and the secretary of war, the legislative power, which was then to be transferred from the military governor to us until the establishment of civil central government, or until Congress should otherwise provide. We were authorized during a like period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial, educational, and civil service systems, and in the municipal and departmental governments, as were duly provided for. Until the complete transfer of control the military governor was to remain the chief executive head of the government and to exercise the executive authority previously possessed by him and not expressly assigned to the commission by the president in his instructions. In establishing municipal governments we were to take as the basis of our work those established by the military governor, under the order of August 8, 1899, which I had helped to set up, as well as those established under the report of a board constituted by the military governor by his order of January 29, 1900, of which Señor Cayetano Arellano was the president.In the establishment of departmental or provincialgovernments we were to give special attention to the then-existing government of the island of Negros, established with the approval of the people of that island under the order of the military governor of July 22, 1899.We were instructed to investigate troubles growing out of large land holdings, including those of the religious orders, and to promote, extend and improve the system of education already inaugurated by the military authorities, giving first importance to the extension of a system of primary education free to all, which would tend to fit the people for the duties of citizenship and the ordinary avocations of a civilized community. Instruction was to be given at first in the native dialects, but full opportunity for all of the people to acquire English was to be provided as soon as possible. If necessity demanded, we were authorized to make changes in the existing system of taxation and in the body of the laws under which the people were governed, although such changes were to be relegated to the civil government which we were to establish later, so far as might be. Our instructions contained the following important passages:—“In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government.“At the same time the commission should bear in mind, and the people of the islands should be made plainly to understand, that there are certain great principles of government which have been made the basis of our governmental system which we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of individual freedom, and of which they have, unfortunately, been denied the experience possessed by us; that there are also certain practical rules of government which we have found tobe essential to the preservation of these great principles of liberty and law, and that these principles and these rules of government must be established and maintained in their islands for the sake of their liberty and happiness, however much they may conflict with the customs or laws of procedure with which they are familiar.“It is evident that the most enlightened thought of the Philippine Islands fully appreciates the importance of these principles and rules, and they will inevitably within a short time command universal assent. Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore, must be imposed these inviolable rules:—“That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed.”It has been the fashion in some quarters to sneer at the last of these paragraphs, and to insinuate, if not to charge, that President McKinley in his policy toward the Philippine Islands was actuated by unworthy motives. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning to the end the real good of the several peoplesof the archipelago came first with him, and no one who had the privilege of knowing him well doubts it. Thoroughly imbued with the lofty sentiments expressed by him in our instructions, we set forth on our long pilgrimage to a country where we were to undertake a heavy task essentially different from that which had ever before fallen to the lot of any five citizens of the United States.An Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and PupilsAn Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and PupilsOn April 17, 1900, we sailed from San Francisco on the United States army transportHancock. We were forty-five strong. Of this goodly company only four remain in the Philippines to-day,2—Mr. and Mrs. Branagan, Mrs. Worcester and myself. Singularly enough, with two exceptions, all of the others are still alive and at work. Arthur W. Ferguson, prince of interpreters, who was later appointed Executive Secretary, died in the service after more than six years of extraordinarily faithful and efficient work. James A. LeRoy, my faithful, able and efficient private secretary, contracted tuberculosis, and fell a victim to it after a long and gallant fight.At Honolulu we met with a severe disappointment. It was of course our duty to call on Governor Dole. We were advised that silk hats and frock coats must be donned for this visit, and it was perishing hot. We reached the palace in a reeking perspiration and had a long wait in a suffocating room. When Mr. Dole appeared, he was closely followed by an attendant bearing a large and most attractive-looking bottle carefully wrapped in a napkin, and our spirits rose. But, alas! It contained Poland water.At Tokio we had an audience with the Emperor and were received by the Empress as well. In the high official who had charge of the palace where these events took place, I discovered an old University of Michigan graduate who made the occasion especially pleasant for me.We finally reached Manila on the morning of June 3. Although the thermometer was in the nineties, a certainfrigidity pervaded the atmosphere on our arrival, which General MacArthur, the military governor, seemed to regard in the light of an intrusion.He had been directed to provide suitable office quarters for us. To our amazement and amusement we found desks for five commissioners and five private secretaries placed in one little room in the Ayuntamiento.3While it was possible to get through the room without scrambling over them, it would have been equally possible to circle it, walking on them, without stepping on the floor. In the course of our first long official interview with the General, he informed us that we were “an injection into an otherwise normal situation.”He added that we had already mediatized the volume of work that flowed over his desk. At the moment none of us were quite sure what he meant, but we found the word in the dictionary. How often in the weary years that were to follow I wished that some one would materially mediatize the task which fell to my lot! It was General MacArthur’s honestly held and frankly expressed opinion that what the Filipinos needed was “military government pinned to their backs for ten years with bayonets.” He later changed that view very radically, and when civil provincial governments were finally established it was with his approval, and, in many instances, upon his specific recommendation.At the outset some effort was made to keep the public away from us. Word was passed that we had no authority, which was true enough, as our legislative activities were not to begin until September 1. The ninety days which intervened were very advantageously spent in gaining familiarity with the situation, which we had no difficulty in doing. Plenty of people were already weary of military rule and flocked to us. None of my companions had ever before set foot in the Philippines, andalthough I had spent more than four years there, I still had plenty to learn.In this connection I am reminded of an event which occurred somewhat later. While the commission was en route from Iloilo to Catbalogan when we were establishing civil provincial governments, General Hughes and Mr. Taft became involved in a somewhat animated discussion. The General displayed an accurate knowledge of facts which were of such a nature that one would hardly have expected an army officer to be familiar with them. Mr. Taft said: “General, how do you do it? You have always been a busy man, devoted to your profession. How have you managed to accumulate such a remarkable fund of information?” The General smiled his rare smile and replied: “Governor, I will tell you. I always try to go to bed at night knowing a little more than I did when I got up in the morning.” It is a wise plan to follow.On September 1 we assumed the legislative power, our first official act being to appropriate $2,000,000 Mexican for the construction and repair of highways and bridges.We were impressed with the fundamental necessity of promptly opening up lines of land communication in a country which almost completely lacked them, and there were many poor people in dire need of employment who would be relieved by the opportunity to earn an honest living which the inauguration of road construction would afford them.Our second act appropriated $5000 Mexican for the purpose of making a survey to ascertain the most advantageous route for a railroad into the mountains of Benguet, where we wished to establish a much-needed health resort for the people of the archipelago.Seven days later we passed an act for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine Islands. This measure was ofbasic importance. We had stipulated before leaving Washington that no political appointees should be forced upon us under any circumstances. The members of the second commission, like their predecessors of the first, were firm in the belief that national politics should, if possible, be kept out of the administration of Philippine affairs, and we endeavoured to insure this result.Our tenth act appropriated $1500 Mexican to be paid to the widow of Salvador Reyes, vice-president of Santa Cruz in Laguna Province, assassinated because of his loyalty to the established government.Our fifteenth act increased the monthly salaries of Filipino public school teachers in Manila.Our sixteenth and seventeenth acts reorganized the Forestry Bureau and the Mining Bureau.On October 15 we appropriated $1,000,000 United States currency, for improving the port of Manila, where there was urgent need of protection for shipping during the typhoon season.On December 12 we passed an act authorizing the establishment of local police in cities and towns in the Philippine Islands and appropriating $150,000 United States currency for their maintenance.Two days later we passed a much-needed act regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors within the city of Manila and its attached barrios.On December 21, we appropriated $75,000 United States currency for the construction of the Benguet Road, little dreaming how much time would elapse and how many more dollars would be appropriated, before a vehicle passed over it.It will be sufficiently evident that I cannot here give an account of the several acts which we passed when I say that they number four hundred forty-nine during the first year. We created the administrative bureaus of a well-organized government, established civil rule in numerous municipalities and provinces, provided for the necessaryexpenses of government, organized courts and reformed the judiciary. So important were the results following the establishment of the Civil Service Act and the act providing for the organization of courts for the Philippine Islands that I have devoted a chapter to each.Although there were no limits on our power to enact legislation other than those imposed by our instructions hereinbefore referred to, nothing was further from our desire than to exercise too arbitrarily the authority conferred upon us.Taylor has correctly described our method of procedure in the following words:—“On September 1, 1900, the Commission began its legislative and executive duties. In performing them it adopted the policy of passing no laws, except in cases of emergency, without publishing them in the daily press, nor until after they had passed a second reading and the public had been given an opportunity to come before the Commission and suggest objections or amendments to the bills. Before enacting them they were submitted to the military governor for his consideration and comment.”4The other especially important events of our first legislative year were the establishment of civil rule in the municipalities as well as in thirty-eight provinces and the substitution of the military central government by the gradual creation of bureaus and the ultimate appointment of a civil governor and of five heads of executive departments.On November 23, 1900, we passed an act providing for the establishment of a civil government in the province of Benguet, and thus it happened that a province practically all of whose inhabitants were members of a non-Christian tribe was the first to enjoy the benefits of civil rule. This action grew out of investigations by General Wright and myself made when visiting Baguio during the latter part of July, which led us to the conclusion that civil government could be established in Benguet at any time andshould be established as soon as possible. In view of the rather primitive state of civilization of the people for whom we were legislating, a special act adapted to local conditions was passed providing for a provincial government and fixing a form of government for the several settlements.On January 31, 1901, we passed an act for the organization of municipal governments in the Philippine Islands which, with various amendments, is still in effect and has been made applicable to all municipal corporations of the Philippines inhabited chiefly by Filipinos, except the city of Manila, the city of Baguio and a few small settlements in the so-called special government provinces.5On February 6, 1901, we passed a general act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands. A special act was required to make it applicable to any given province.Having thus prepared for the serious work of establishing civil government throughout the archipelago so fast and so far as conditions might seem to justify, we determined to visit the several provinces and to familiarize ourselves with conditions on the ground in each case before taking action. We invariably sought the opinion of the military authorities as to the fitness of the provinces under consideration for civil rule, and never established it except with their approval. Indeed, in several cases we yielded to their judgment and organized provinces which we ourselves thought might better wait for a time.Our first trip was to the northward along the line of the Manila-Dagupan railway, and in the course of it we organized the provinces of Bulaean, Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinán.On the 2d of March we crossed Manila Bay to Bataan and established a civil provincial government there.The first provincial officers were necessarily appointed, not elected. I well remember the consternation which Mr. Taft created on this trip, when in announcing the appointment of a man of strong character who was much disliked by some of the people present, he said that if the appointee did not behave well his official head would be promptly removed. Surprise showed on almost every face in the audience. They had become sufficiently accustomed to the idea of being beheaded or otherwise sent out of the world by their own people, but had been led to believe that the Americans were a humane nation, and it took Mr. Taft at least five minutes to explain his joke.During the second week in March the commission transferred its officers bodily to the United States Army TransportSumnerand started on a long journey in the course of which it visited and established provincial governments in eighteen provinces,6returning to Manila on the 3d of May.This trip was most interesting but dreadfully wearing. Everywhere we were overwhelmed by the hospitality of our Filipino friends. We arrived at some new place nearly every morning, and the programme in each was much the same. After an early breakfast we hurried ashore, drove or walked about for a short time to see what the town was like, and then attended a popular meeting in its largest building, where we held long and frank converse with the people on local conditions, giving them every opportunity to air their views, with the result that the local orators, of whom there were usually more than a sufficiency, had an opportunity to bring their heavy guns into action. Then followed a recess in the course of which we partook of a very elaborate lunch, and when possible conferred privately with influentialmen, often learning things which they did not care to tell us in public. Then came another open meeting at which the actual organization of the province was effected and the officials were appointed and sworn in. After this there was a long formal dinner, with the endless courses which characterize such functions in the Philippines, and then came a ball which lasted till the wee small hours. When at last we got on board, tired out, our steamer sailed, and often brought us to some new place by sunrise.In several instances we did not pass the act organizing a given province at the time of our visit, but for one reason or another postponed action until a later date. We visited a number of places like Joló, Basilan, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao and Samar, where we had no intention of establishing civil government, in order to observe local conditions.We touched at Marinduque on our trip south, and found that nothing could then be done there, but the better element were anxious for a change, and we promised them that if they would bring about certain specified results before our return we would give them a provincial government. They undertook to do so, and kept their word. Needless to say we also kept ours.We had grave doubts as to the advisability of establishing civil governments in Cebú, Bohol and Batangas. In the first of these places the people were sullen and ugly. In the second there was a marked disinclination on the part of leading citizens to accept public office. There had been a little scattering rifle fire on the outskirts of the capital of the third very shortly before our arrival there, but the organization of all these provinces was recommended by the military authorities, and we decided to try an experiment which could do little harm, as we could return any one of them to military control in short order should such a course seem necessary.A Modern Primary School BuildingA Modern Primary School BuildingContrast this structure with the native houses near it.An effort has been made to make it appear that inorganizing Cebú, Bohol and Batangas, we acted prematurely and upon our own initiative, thus complicating the situation for the military authorities. I will let Blount voice this complaint. He says in part:—“In his report for 1901 Governor Taft says that the four principal provinces, including Batangas, which gave trouble shortly after the civil government was set up in that year, and had to be returned to military control, were organized under civil rule ‘on the recommendation’ of the then commanding general (MacArthur). It certainly seems unlikely that the haste to change from military rule to civil rule came on the motion of the military. If the Commission ever got,in writing,from General MacArthur, a ‘recommendation’ that any provinces be placed under civil rule while still in insurrection, the text of the writing will show a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley, the commander-in-chief. Parol7contemporaneous evidence will show that General MacArthur told them, substantially, that they were ‘riding for a fall.’ In fact, whenever an insurrection would break out in a province after Governor Taft’s inauguration as governor, the whole attitude of the army in the Philippines, from the commanding general down was ‘I told you so.’ They did not say this where Governor Taft could hear it, but it was common knowledge that they were much addicted to damning ‘politics’ as the cause of all the trouble.”8Prophecy is always dangerous and when unnecessary seems rather inexcusable. I submit the essential portions of the record to show exactly what we did get from General MacArthur, and add the suggestion that it was really hardly essential that he should make his recommendations in writing, as he did, for the reason that he was a gentleman and would not have repudiated a verbal recommendation once made.On February 5, 1901, Governor Taft wrote General MacArthur a letter closing with the following paragraph:—“As already communicated to you the purpose of the Commission is to make a Southern trip on the 23rd of February, or as soon thereafter as practicable, with the idea of arrangingfor provincial governments there, and I am directed by the Commission to request your opinion as to the provinces in which provincial governments may be safely established. It is understood that Panay, Romblon, Tayabas, and possibly one or two of the Camarines are ready for this. What has been said with reference to the Northern provinces applies to these, but we shall communicate with you further as to the Southern provinces when we have been advised as to the possibility of securing a steamer.”On February 9, General MacArthur gave the following instructions to the Commanding General, Department of the Visayas:—“The Military Governor desires that you report to this office at the earliest date practicable the provinces in your department that may be considered ready for the establishment of civil governments therein and in this connection directs me to say that it should not be considered as necessary that complete pacification has been brought about in a province before reporting it as ready for such government; that the provincial civil governments to be established will doubtless prove useful agents in the further work of pacification.”On February 27, that officer reported that in his opinion Iloilo, Capiz, Oriental Negros and Occidental Negros were ready; that Antique might be in a few days, and that Cebú, Bohol and Leyte were not. These facts were reported to Governor Taft by General MacArthur on March 4, and on the same day Lieutenant-Colonel Crowder wrote to the commanding general of the Visayas:—“The Military Governor directs me to say that he regards the initiation of provincial civil government as an aid in the work of pacification, in which view it is not necessary that a province should be completely pacified as a condition to the initiation of such government. He has expressed to the Commission the opinion that you may be able, upon their arrival at Iloilo, to submit a supplementary list of provinces in which it would be advisable to establish at once these governments.”Meanwhile General MacArthur wrote on February 13, to Governor Taft:—“In partial reply to your letter of the 5th instant I have the honor to inform you that the Commanding General, Department of Southern Luzon, reports but one province, Tayabas, as ready at the present time for civil government. I add the provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite, believing that the institution of civil government in all these provinces will be in assistance of the military authorities in the work of pacification.”General MacArthur’s communications seem to me to show something more than “a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley,” especially as the President had no knowledge of these provinces, and never made any recommendation whatsoever relative to the establishment of civil government there.Similarly, in establishing civil government in Cebu and Bohol, the commission acted on the specific recommendation of the military, and rather against its own judgment. There seemed no very good reason for refusing to try civil government, if the commanding general wanted it tried, and when it failed, as it promptly did, in Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, these provinces were immediately returned to the full control of the military, and left there until conditions became satisfactory.Having escaped the perils of the deep, and the much graver perils of the dinner table, during our southern trip, we returned to Manila, wearier, wiser and sadder men than when we started, for we had learned much of the superstitions, the ignorance and the obsessions which prevailed among the Filipinos, and we knew that many of the men who from love of country had accepted office under us had done so at the peril of their lives. We had all had an excellent opportunity to come to know the Filipinos. Their dignity of bearing, their courtesy, their friendly hospitality, their love of imposing functions, and offiestasand display, their childishness and irresponsibility in many matters, their passion for gambling, for litigation and for political intrigue, even the loves and the hatreds of some of them, had been spread before us likean open book. It is a fact that except for the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, the people wanted what we had to give them and were grateful for it. Never before had they had their day in court, and they appreciated it.The establishment of civil government throughout so large a proportion of the provinces in the islands would have been impossible at this time had it not been for the helpful activities of the Federal Party organized on December 23, 1900, by many of the best and most influential Filipinos in the archipelago for the purpose of aiding in the establishment of peace and order. Its members were tireless in their activities. They succeeded in persuading many Insurgent leaders to lay down their arms, so that a normal condition could be restored in territory which the latter had previously harried. They convinced many of the common people of the true purposes of the American government, and in numerous other ways rendered invaluable services.The officers and many of the members and agents of this party were promptly sentenced to death by Aguinaldo, and many of them were assassinated;9but the party persisted in its efforts until success was attained.During June of 1901 Professor Moses and I made a horseback trip through Pangasinán, La Union, Benguet, Lepanto and Ilocos Sur, accompanied by our private secretaries. Professor Moses was in wretched health as the result of overwork and confinement, and needed out-of-door exercise.I had been intrusted with the drafting of legislation for the government of the non-Christian tribes, and wanted to learn as much about them as possible, so that I could act intelligently.We started from Dagupan mounted on horses kindly furnished us by the army, and escorted by four mounted infantrymen. None of us had ridden for years, andarmy officers were offering wagers that we would not get as far as Baguio. At Mangaldan a cavalry outfit replaced our mounted infantrymen, and while the members of our new escort were resting under the shade of a tree in the cemetery, I heard them voicing joyful anticipations of the easy time they were to have travelling with tenderfeet. I made up ray mind to give them some healthful exercise on the trip.Having first visited the work at the lower end of the Benguet Road and then travelled across country in a driving storm over wretched trails, we reached Bauang, our point of departure for the interior. Here I called the sergeant in charge and asked him where were the extra shoes for our horses. In some confusion he confessed that he had brought none, whereupon I read him a homily on the duties of a cavalryman, and sent the whole outfit to San Fernando to get the horses reshod and provided with extra shoes for the trip.We arrived at Baguio in a howling typhoon. When we emerged from the hills into the open, and our horses got the full sweep of the storm, they at first refused to face it. We forced them into it, however, and a few moments later had found refuge in the house of Mr. Otto Scheerer, a hospitable German. The cavalrymen and the horses got in under the building. It gave me great joy to hear through the floor the voice of the sergeant remarking, with much emphasis of the sort best represented in print by dashes, that if he had known the sort of a trip he was starting on he would have been on sick report the morning of his departure.We waited in vain three days for the storm to end and then rode on. Mr. Scheerer, who accompanied us, had sent ahead to arrange for lunch at the house of a rich Igorot named Acop, but when we arrived at this man’s place, soaked, cold, and hungry, we found it shut up. He had not received the message and was away from home. Investigation showed that our only resource in the commissaryline were some wads of sticky, unsalted, boiled rice which our Igorot carriers had inside their hats, in contact with their frowsy hair. We bolted as much of this as the Igorots could spare, killing its rather high flavour with cayenne peppers picked beside the trail, and continued our journey. In descending a steep hill my horse stumbled and while attempting to recover himself drove a sharp stone into his hoof and turned a complete somersault, throwing me over his head on to the rocks. When I got him up he was dead lame, and I walked the rest of the way to Ambuklao, where we arrived just at sunset.This once prosperous little Igorot hamlet had been burned by the Spaniards, for no apparent reason, during their flight from the province in 1906, and we found only two houses standing. They were naturally crowded. I was so dead with fatigue that I threw my saddle on the ground, and using it as a pillow, lay down in a couple of inches of water and fell sound asleep. Later the Igorots vacated one of the houses, and placed it at our disposal. I spent the greater part of the night in a contest with an old Igorot woman, who for the commendable purpose of keeping us warm tended a smoky pitch-pine fire, and shut the door, which afforded our only means of ventilation, every time I dropped asleep. Awakened by the stifling smoke I would open it again, but as soon as I dozed she would shut it. I finally solved the problem by lying down with my head sticking out of the door.The next day was bright and clear. We rested until noon, drying out our belongings meanwhile, and then continued our journey, visiting the Igorot settlements on the Agno River and those in southern Lepanto and finally reaching Cervantes, the capital of that sub-province. The Igorots of Benguet and Lepanto received us with the utmost friendliness, and when not in danger of breaking our necks by falling over the edges of the wretched trails, we greatly enjoyed our trip.At Cervantes we were met by a delegation of Bontoc Igorots, who begged us to visit their country, and we were just preparing to do so when we received a telegram recalling us to Manila to be present at the inauguration of Mr. Taft as civil governor. During our absence the commission had established provincial governments in Rizal, Cavite and Nueva Ecija. Mr. Taft was inaugurated on July 4, 1901. Thenceforth he exercised control over the provinces where civil government had been established, while the military governor continued in charge of each of the remaining provinces until it was duly organized and transferred to civil control.In August, 1901, the commission sailed on a tour of the remaining northern provinces, visiting La Union, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela and Zambales in the order named, and establishing a government in each. On the trip to Abra those members of the commission not previously accustomed to roughing it in the islands were given a novel experience, for we went up the Abra River on bamboo rafts. However, a veritable ship of state had been prepared for Governor Taft, and no one suffered any great discomfort.At Vigan, the capital of Ilocos, we narrowly escaped drowning in the surf when returning to our steamer. For a time our goodviray10with some twenty oarsmen was unable to make headway through the rolling waves. It broached to, nearly filled with water, and struck the bottom heavily several times. Some of the men quit rowing and began to pray, whereupon General J. F. Bell, who was sitting in the stern, rose to his feet, and shouted at them until they became more afraid of him than of the sea, and pulled for dear life until we were out of danger. Upon arrival at the ship we watched with interest the progress of other boats through the surf, and were alarmed to see the men in one madly divesting themselves of their clothing. When it finally came alongside its occupantsmade flying leaps for the gangway, and we discovered that a great hole had been knocked in its bottom, and that raincoats, ordinary coats, and trousers had been jammed into this opening in order to keep the rapidly sinking craft afloat for a few moments.In the Cagayan valley we had a taste of real tropical heat. Never have I seen a man suffer more than did Mr. Taft at Ilagan on the day when we established a provincial government for Isabela, and the night that followed still lingers in my memory. The air was suffocating. My bed was in a corner. I dragged it out between a window and a door and threw both wide open. Still I could not sleep. Slipping off my pajamas, I seated myself on the broad window sill. The heat was intolerable. I poured water over myself and resumed my seat in the window. The water would not evaporate. I sat there until morning, as I could not endure the heat lying down.Such conditions are unknown throughout the greater part of the archipelago, where cool sea breezes temper the heat at all times. In the Cagayan valley an immense plain is bordered by ranges of high mountains to the east and the west. They seem to shut off both monsoons to a considerable extent, and there very trying heat is by no means unusual.On September 1, 1901, the first day of the second year of actual service of the commission, a complete central civil government was established. Commissioner Wright was appointed secretary of commerce and police; Commissioner Ide, secretary of finance and justice; Commissioner Moses, secretary of public instruction, and I myself secretary of the interior. The commission was strengthened by the addition of three Filipino members: Señor Benito Legarda, Señor José R. de Luzuriaga, and Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, all of whom were men of exceptional ability and had rendered distinguished service in the establishment of peace and order.Old-style Central School BuildingOld-style Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed by the Spaniards.Modern Central School BuildingModern Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed under American rule.Except for the addition of one more Filipino on July6, 1908, the organization of the commission has remained unchanged up to the present time, although there have been numerous changes in its personnel. The task which lay before it was to enact a code of laws adapted to the peculiar conditions existing in the Philippines, and this was indeed a herculean undertaking. Its members laboured unremittingly. Governor Taft and General Wright were towers of strength in the early days. The rest of us did what we could, and I, for one, am very proud of the result. Certainly no one can ever claim that the commission was not industrious. Before it finally ceased to be the legislative body of the islands it had passed some eighteen hundred acts. Obviously, as it is not my purpose to write an encyclopedia of law, I cannot discuss them in detail, and must content myself with here barely mentioning a few of the more important results obtained, leaving the more detailed discussion of some of them for later chapters.In general, it may be said that the additional bureaus necessary for the work of the Insular government were created, and given proper powers. Civil government was gradually extended to the entire archipelago.11The criminal code was amended and supplemented by the passage of new laws. The administration of justice was reorganized and reformed.12An efficient native insular police force was organized, and an admirable state of public order brought about.13The health service was extended to the provinces, and health conditions were greatly improved throughout the islands.14Baguio was made accessible and became both the summer capital and a health resort for the people of the islands.15The scientific work of the government was cordinated, and efficiency and economy in its performance were insured.16Primary and secondary schools were established throughout the islands, supplemented by trade schools, anda normal school at Manila.17Legislation was enacted, and submitted to the President and to Congress, covering the disposition of public lands.18The purchase of extensive estates belonging to certain religious orders, and the sale of their holdings therein to tenants, was provided for.19Fairly adequate legislation for the protection and development of the forest resources of the islands was enacted.20Means of communication by land and sea were greatly improved, and the development of commerce was thus stimulated.21It is a noteworthy fact that all of these things were done with a per capita taxation of about $2.24!Another fundamentally important aid to the commercial development of the islands was afforded by a radical reformation of the currency.The islands under the sovereignty of Spain had their own distinct silver coinage in peso, media peso, peseta and media peseta pieces.In 1878 the Spanish government, hoping to check the heavy exportation of gold currency from the Philippines, passed a law prohibiting the importation of Mexican dollars, but allowed the Mexican dollars then in the islands to continue to circulate as legal tender.When the American troops arrived, there were in circulation the Spanish-Philippine peso and subsidiary silver coins; Spanish pesos of different mintings; Mexican pesos of different mintings; Hongkong dollars, fractional silver coins from different Chinese countries, and copper coins from nearly every country in the Orient. Although a law had been passed prohibiting the introduction of Mexican dollars into the islands, they were being constantly smuggled in. Fluctuations in the price of silver affected the value of the silver coins, and the money in common use was in reality a commodity, worth on any given day what one could get for it. These conditionsaffected most disastrously the business interests of the islands. Merchants were forced to allow very wide margins in commercial transactions, because they did not know what their goods would actually cost them in local currency upon arrival. The most important business of the local banks was in reality that of exchange brokers and note shavers. They hammered the exchange rate down and bought silver, then boosted the rate skyward and sold.The American army brought in a large amount of gold, but this did not remain in circulation long, as it was exported by the different business concerns, or hoarded.United States silver money had a limited circulation during the early days of American occupation, but it passed at less than its true value. An effort was made under the military administration to keep the ratio of exchange at two to one by the purchase from the public of all United States currency offered at that rate to the banks.For a long time the banks refused to carry private accounts in United States currency, but when it was offered for deposit it was changed into Mexicans with a heavy charge for the transaction, and an account opened in Mexican currency to the credit of the depositor. If the depositor afterward desired to get United States currency, he gave a check for it at the then existing rate of exchange. Such conditions were intolerable, and the commission passed an act making it an offence to refuse to accept for deposit the currency of the sovereign power, but this did not remedy the fundamental difficulty. There came a heavy slump in the price of silver. The Insular government lost a very large sum because of the decrease in value of its silver coin.Mr. Charles A. Conant had been brought from the United States to make a report on the feasibility of providing an American coinage for the islands. He recommended that the unit of value should be a peso,equivalent to fifty cents United States currency. Congress, by an act passed July 1, 1902, vested general authority over the coinage in the Philippine government, but the commission decided not to take action until more specific authority could be obtained from Congress, as the proposed reform was radical, and it was very important that the new currency should at the outset command the confidence so essential to its success.After long discussion, Congress authorized, by an act passed March 2, 1903, a new currency system based on a theoretical peso of 12.9 grains of gold 900 fine, equivalent to one-half of a United States gold dollar. The circulating medium was to be the Philippine silver peso, which was to be legal tender for all debts, public and private, and its value was to be maintained on a parity with the theoretical gold peso. For this purpose the creation of a gold standard, or gold reserve fund, was provided for, and this fund was to be maintained and could be used for no other purpose.Considerable difficulty was experienced in introducing the new currency into the islands. The banks at first failed to give any assistance to the government. The business men of Manila, and especially the Chinese, discounted the new Philippine peso, because it did not contain as much silver as did the Mexican dollar. They were quickly brought to time, and given to understand where they stood if they discredited the currency of the country.The Spanish Philippine coins and the Mexican coins in circulation were collected by the treasury and exported to the San Francisco mint, where they were reminted into new coins of the weight and fineness prescribed by law.The establishment of a gold standard fund to maintain the parity between the gold and silver dollar was quickly effected by the sale of exchange on the United States in accordance with the established law, at a costestimated to be the same as the transportation of the gold coin itself.The army, by direction of the secretary of war, ceased to pay in United States money, and its paymasters were given credit at the Insular Treasury, where they obtained the necessary funds in Philippine currency.The government also authorized, in addition to the coinage of silver, the issuance of paper money in two, five, and ten peso notes. All of the coins and bills were readily interchangeable with the United States coins in common use, the dollar being worth two pesos, the half dollar one peso, the twenty-five cent piece a half peso, the ten-cent piece a peseta, the five-cent piece a media peseta and the cent two centavos.Unfortunately the silver value of the new peso was such that when the price of silver again rose, its bullion value was greater than its money value, and in consequence coins of this denomination were hoarded and exported. It proved necessary to prohibit their exportation, and to issue new coins of less bullion value, but this was the only really serious difficulty attending a fundamental reform which put the currency on a sound basis. The original pesos were recoined and a handsome profit made on the transaction.No one who has not lived in a country where the circulating medium is constantly fluctuating in value can fully appreciate the enormous benefit conferred on the Philippine Islands by this important reform.Another reform of far-reaching importance was the readjustment of the burden of taxation so that it should bear lightly on the necessities of life, and heavily on its luxuries. This was a complete reversal of the scheme which we found in force, under which wheat flour and kerosene oil paid very heavy import duties while cigars and champagne were lightly taxed.We imposed export taxes on certain products of the country. Such taxes are objected to by many politicaleconomists, but were approved of by the Filipinos, who strongly opposed the imposition of a logical and very necessary personal tax to provide funds for the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges. It is usually wise, when practicable, to obtain funds for necessary governmental purposes by the imposition of taxes which are willingly paid.Mr. Taft resigned the governorship of the Philippines to become secretary of war, his resignation taking effect January 31, 1904. He had performed a monumental work for the Filipinos, and for humanity at large, during his years of service in the islands, and carried with him the good will of most of the people whom he had so faithfully, efficiently and self-sacrificingly served. He had at one time very gravely impaired his health by hard work, and when the opportunity came to satisfy a lifelong ambition by accepting appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he had passed it by, in order to perform his duty to the people of the Philippine Islands. As secretary of war, and as President of the United States, he availed himself of every opportunity which these high offices afforded to help the Filipinos, and to increase the prosperity of their country. They have had no better friend, and no other friend whom they have ever had has been so useful to them. One more proof of his real greatness is afforded by the fact that to-day, after being reviled by many Filipino politicians whom he befriended, who have succeeded to a large degree in making the common people of the Philippines consider him their enemy, his interest in the people of the Islands is as keen, and his eagerness to help them is as great, as in the early days when they acclaimed him their deliverer.General Luke E. Wright, a democrat of Memphis, Tennessee, was appointed by President Roosevelt civil governor in Mr. Taft’s place. He rendered his country and the Filipinos most distinguished service. It is one thingto build up a great government, with numerous political appointments at one’s disposal, and another to stand by and keep it running smoothly and efficiently, when a lot of disappointed politicians, who have seen their last hope of political preferment go a-glimmering, are throwing sand into the bearings of the machine. This latter class had begun to plot against Governor Taft before his resignation took effect, but their machinations were rendered fruitless by the wave of regret raised by his coming departure.They now devoted themselves, with a good deal of success, to injuring Governor Wright, who declined to be dictated to, in the matter of appointments, by the Federal Party, and aroused the ire of many politicians by occasionally telling the Filipinos unpalatable but wholesome and necessary truths relative to their fitness for immediate independence.General Wright, whose title had been changed from governor to governor-general on February 6, 1905, went on leave during the latter part of that year, fully expecting to return and resume his work in the Philippines, but the islands were not to see him again. He resigned, effective April 1, 1906, to become United States Ambassador to Japan. In my opinion, the acceptance of his resignation at this time was one of the gravest mistakes ever made in the Philippine policy of the United States. The islands were deprived of the services of a very able and distinguished man, thoroughly conversant with their needs, who had the courage of his convictions, and whose convictions were thoroughly sound.Certain Filipino politicians openly boasted that they had secured his removal, and they and their ilk were encouraged to put forth new and pernicious efforts. Had General Wright returned to the islands much of the political unrest from which they have since suffered would have been avoided. He was beloved by his associates, who felt a sense of personal loss when they learned thatthe places which had known him in The Philippines would know him no more.He was succeeded for the brief period of five and a half months by Judge Henry C. Ide, vice-governor and secretary of finance and justice, who had performed his duties while he was on leave. Judge Ide was a republican, from Vermont. He resigned on September 19, 1906.He was succeeded by General James F. Smith, a democrat from California, who had come to the islands as a colonel of volunteers, and had won promotion because of his valuable services in the Visayas, and more especially in the island of Negros, where he had earned the good will of the Filipinos by his tact and kindness. Later he had served, unwillingly, as head of the Manila custom house.He was subsequently made a justice of the supreme court of the Philippines. A lawyer by profession, he had resigned this position with regret to accept appointment, on January 1, 1903, as secretary of public instruction. He did not desire the governor-generalship and made a strong but unsuccessful effort to avoid accepting the position, which he finally took from a sense of duty. He was a good lawyer, with a big heart, and a keen insight into human nature. He thoroughly understood the Filipinos, and he made an excellent governor-general. It was during his term of office that the Philippine Legislature, composed of an upper appointive house, the Philippine Commission, and a lower elective house, the Philippine Assembly, met for the first time on October 16, 1907.I devote a separate chapter22to the Philippine Legislature and its work, so need not discuss it here. Suffice it to say that such success as attended the work of this body during its inaugural, first and special sessions, was very largely due to the tactful influence of Governor-General Smith, who gave the speaker of the assembly much valuable, friendly counsel, and kept the two housesworking in comparative harmony. Having struggled through one session of the legislature, Governor-General Smith felt at liberty to resign. He greatly desired to leave the Philippine government service and return to the practice of his profession. His resignation was reluctantly accepted, about a year after he had tendered it, and he left the service on November 10, 1909.Typical Scene in a Trade SchoolTypical Scene in a Trade SchoolIn institutions like this, young Filipinos are being taught the dignity of labor and are learning useful trades.He was succeeded by Vice-Governor W. Cameron Forbes, a republican from Massachusetts, who had accepted appointment as secretary of commerce and police on June 15, 1904. A man of independent means, Mr. Forbes entered the public service only because of the opportunity for greater usefulness which was thus afforded him. He brought to bear on the problems which confronted him as secretary of commerce and police intelligence and ability of a very high order. Wide practical experience in the management of large business interests had admirably fitted him to improve the organization and increase the efficiency of the insular police force, and to mature and carry out plans for bettering means of communication and otherwise facilitating and stimulating the normal, healthful commercial development of the islands. I have devoted several chapters to the discussion of the results accomplished along these lines,23and will not attempt here to enumerate them.Like all of his predecessors, he brought to the office of governor-general mature experience gained on the ground, having been in the service more than five years at the time of his promotion.As governor-general, he not only retained his keen interest in the large problems which had previously engaged his attention, and laboured unceasingly and most successfully in the performance of the duties of his new office, but took an especial interest in the development of the summer capital, and in the work for the non-Christianpeoples of the islands, devoting a much greater amount of time and attention to familiarizing himself with the needs of this portion of the population than had ever previously been given to it by any governor-general. He visited the Moros and the Bukidnons in the south, and the Negritos, the Benguet Igorots, the Lepanto Igorots, the Bontoc Igorots, the Ilongots, the Ifugaos, the Kalingas, and both the wild and the civilized Tingians, in the north, repeatedly inspecting the several sub-provinces of the Mountain Province.Through his generosity in making proper grounds available, public interest in outdoor sports was greatly stimulated at Manila and at Baguio, while his own participation in polo, baseball and golf was a good example to Americans and Filipinos alike, in a country where vigorous outdoor exercise is very necessary to the physical development of the young and the preservation of the health of the mature. He was a true friend of the Filipinos, whom he genuinely liked and was always ready to assist. His personal influence was a powerful factor in the success of the very important work carried on at the Philippine Normal School and the Philippine Training School for Nurses.During his term of office the prosperity of the islands increased by leaps and bounds, public order became better than ever before in their history, and the efficiency of the civil service reached its maximum. No other governor-general ever drew so heavily on his private means in promoting the public good, and it was the irony of fate that he should have been accused, by certain irresponsible anti-imperialists, of using his public office to promote his private interests. Near the end of his administration grossly and absurdly false charges were made against him on the floor of the House by Representative William A. Jones. As their falsity has been conclusively and finally shown,24I will not here lend importance to them by repeating them. No officialhas ever given any country a cleaner administration than Governor-General Forbes gave the Philippines.It was his fortune to be in office at the time of the change in the national administration of the United States. After continuing to serve for months with no sign from Washington as to whether his resignation was desired, he was advised by the Chief of the bureau of insular affairs that the appointment of Mr. Francis Burton Harrison, who is a Tammany Hall democrat, as his successor had been sent to the Senate,25and three days after its confirmation received a curt request for his resignation to be effected in a week and a day. He was also requested to employ servants for Mr. Harrison. Spaniards who read on the public streets newspapers which printed this message were seen to tear them up and stamp on the pieces! Our Spanish friends are accustomed to expect courtesy in connection with the removal of faithful and efficient public servants.All other governors-general had taken the oath of office at Manila. Mr. Harrison took it at Washington on September 2, 1913. He is the first American governor of the islands who has entered upon his high duties without previous experience in the country which he is to govern, and he has as yet displayed little inclination to profit by the experience of either Filipino or American administrative insular officials of high rank. It is too soon to discuss any feature of his administration other than his attitude toward the civil service, which I take up elsewhere,26and I can only express the hope that when he has gained that knowledge which can come only through personal observation on the ground, he will grow to be a wise, strong, conservative official.The establishment of civil government in the Philippine Islands under American rule was a gradual evolution up to the time of the assumption of control by Governor-General Harrison.I will not attempt to follow in detail all of its successive stages, but in closing this chapter will endeavour briefly to summarize the results obtained up to that time.The Philippines now have two delegates to the Congress of the United States appointed by the legislature in accordance with the provision of Section 8 of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. Both are Filipinos.The ranking executive officials of the insular government are a governor-general, a secretary of the interior, a secretary of finance and justice, a secretary of commerce and police and a secretary of public instruction. All of these officers are appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The secretary of finance and justice is a Filipino; the other secretaries of departments are Americans.There is a legislature composed of two houses known respectively as the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. The Philippine Commission is composed of nine members; five are the governor-general and the four secretaries of departmentex officio, and four are appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate. Four of the members are Filipinos and five are Americans.27The Philippine Assembly is composed ofeighty-one elected members, all of whom are Filipinos. They represent thirty-four of the thirty-nine provinces into which the archipelago is divided. The two houses of the legislature have equal powers. Neither has any special privilege in the matter of initiating legislation, and affirmative action by both is required in order to pass it. The Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Agusan are not represented in the assembly, nor are they subject to the jurisdiction of the Philippine Legislature. The Philippine Commission alone has legislative jurisdiction over them, their population being largely composedof Moros, or members of other non-Christian tribes.The provinces may be divided into regularly organized provinces governed under the provincial government act, and specially organized provinces, which include the Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Mindoro, Palawan, Agusan and Nueva Vizcaya, of which the first is governed under a special law and the remaining four are governed under a different one known as “The Special Provincial Government Act.”Regularly organized provinces have a governor and a treasurer. The governor is elected, and the treasurer is appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission. These two officials, with another known as the third member, constitute a provincial board. The third member is elected. As the Filipinos usually elect to office men from among their own people, practically all of the elective provincial officers are Filipinos, as are ten of the appointive officers, it having been the policy to appoint Filipinos whenever possible.Regularly organized provinces are divided into municipalities which elect their own officers and control their own affairs for the most part. Provincial treasurers have intervention in municipal expenditures, which are approved in advance for each fiscal year, and municipal officers may be removed for misconduct by the governor-general.All officers of the six special government provinces are appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission.There are four regularly organized municipalities in these provinces, but the remainder of their territory is divided into townships, which elect their own officers, except their secretary-treasurers, who are appointed by the provincial governor; and intorancheriasor settlements, with all of their officials appointed by the provincialgovernor. This latter form of local government is confined to the more primitive wild people.The judiciary is independent. The details of its organization will be found inChapter XV.Three of the seven justices of the supreme court, including the chief justice, are Filipinos, as are approximately half of the judges of the courts of first instance and practically all justices of the peace.At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, 71 per cent of the employees in the classified civil service of the islands were Filipinos painstakingly trained for the positions to which they had been appointed.Prior to the American occupation, the Filipinos had practically no intervention in the government of their country.The changes introduced in the twelve years since the establishment of civil government began are of a sweeping and radical nature. For reasons hereinafter fully set forth, I believe they have been somewhat too sweeping, and too radical. At all events, it is now certainly the part of wisdom carefully to analyze their results before going further.I deem the subject of the establishment of civil governmental control over the non-Christian tribes of the Philippines worthy of special consideration.281P. 981.2September 15, 1913.3The building where the executive offices of the insular government have been located since the American occupation.4Taylor, 18 HS.5This name is applied to certain provinces organized under special acts because the majority of their inhabitants are non-Christians.6Tayabas, Romblon, Masbate, Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Cebú, Bohol, Occidental Negros, Oriental Negros, Leyte, Albay, Ambos, Camarines, Sorsogon, Marinduque, Batangas, Surigao, and Misamis.7Obviously a misprint, perhaps, for “perusal of.”8Blount, p. 380.9For further details see pp. 746; 753.10A native surf boat.11See Chapters XXI–XXIV.12Chap. XV.13Chap. XIV.14Chap. XVI.15Chap. XVII.16Chap. XVIII.17See Chapter XIX.18Chap. XXX.19Chap. XXX.20Chap. XXXI.21Chap. XXXII.22Chapter XXVII.23Chapters XIV, XXII, XXIII and XXIV.24Reply to Jones, Pamphlet, Manila, 1913.25See pp. 375–77.26See pp. 357–77.27Under the new regime these figures have been reversed.28See Chapters XX–XXIV.
Chapter XIIThe Establishment of Civil GovernmentThe first Philippine Commission did not complete its work until March, 1900. By this time conditions had so far improved in the archipelago that President McKinley was prepared to initiate a movement looking toward the establishment of civil government there. With this end in view he appointed the following commission of five civilians; William H. Taft of Ohio, Dean C. Worcester of Michigan, Luke E. Wright of Tennessee, Henry C. Ide of Vermont and Bernard Moses of California. Our appointments were dated March 16, 1900. Our instructions which were full, are given in the appendix.1I was the only member of the first commission to be reappointed. Neither General Otis nor Admiral Dewey cared to serve, and indeed the professional duties of each of them rendered his appointment to the new commission difficult, if not impossible. Mr. Schurman had at one time expressed himself as vigorously opposed to the idea of a new commission, maintaining that the best results could be obtained by the appointment of a civil governor with wide powers. It was therefore taken for granted that he would not desire reappointment. Colonel Denby was keenly interested in the work and would have been glad to continue it, but he was past seventy and with his good wife had then spent some fifteen years in the Far East. He doubted whether his strength would be adequate to bear the strain of the arduous task which obviously lay before the new commission, and Mrs. Denby desired to remain in the United States where shecould be near her children from whom she had been long separated, so her husband felt constrained to say that he did not wish to return to the Philippines.I separated from him with the keenest regret. He was an amiable, tactful man of commanding ability and unimpeachable integrity, actuated by the best of motives and loyal to the highest ideals. He constantly sought to avoid not only evil but the appearance of evil. I count it one of the great privileges of my life to have been associated with him. The one thing in the book written by James H. Blount which aroused my ire was his characterization of Colonel Denby as a hypocrite. No falser, meaner, more utterly contemptible statement was ever made, and when I read it the temptation rose hot within me to make public Blount’s personal Philippine record, but after the first heat of anger had passed I remembered what the good old Colonel would have wished me to do in such a case, and forbore.The second Philippine commission, hereinafter referred to as “the commission,” received its instructions on April 7, 1900.They covered a most delicate and complicated subject, namely, the gradual transfer of control from military to civil authority in a country extensive regions of which were still in open rebellion.In the opinion of President McKinley there was no reason why steps should not be taken, from time to time, to inaugurate governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory came under the permanent control of our troops, and indeed, as we have seen, this had already been done by the army. It was provided that we should continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil governments already commenced by the military authorities. In doing this we were to act as a board of which Mr. Taft was designated president. It was contemplated that the transfer of authority from military commanders to civil officers would be gradual,and full and complete coöperation between these authorities was enjoined. Having familiarized ourselves with the conditions then prevailing in the islands, we were to devote our attention first to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives should be given the opportunity to manage their local affairs to the fullest extent and with the least supervision and control found to be practicable. We were then to consider the organization of larger administrative divisions, and when of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands was such that the central administration could safely be transferred from military to civil control were to report this conclusion to the secretary of war with our recommendations as to the form of central government which should be established.Beginning with September 1, 1900, we were authorized to exercise, subject to the approval of the President and the secretary of war, the legislative power, which was then to be transferred from the military governor to us until the establishment of civil central government, or until Congress should otherwise provide. We were authorized during a like period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial, educational, and civil service systems, and in the municipal and departmental governments, as were duly provided for. Until the complete transfer of control the military governor was to remain the chief executive head of the government and to exercise the executive authority previously possessed by him and not expressly assigned to the commission by the president in his instructions. In establishing municipal governments we were to take as the basis of our work those established by the military governor, under the order of August 8, 1899, which I had helped to set up, as well as those established under the report of a board constituted by the military governor by his order of January 29, 1900, of which Señor Cayetano Arellano was the president.In the establishment of departmental or provincialgovernments we were to give special attention to the then-existing government of the island of Negros, established with the approval of the people of that island under the order of the military governor of July 22, 1899.We were instructed to investigate troubles growing out of large land holdings, including those of the religious orders, and to promote, extend and improve the system of education already inaugurated by the military authorities, giving first importance to the extension of a system of primary education free to all, which would tend to fit the people for the duties of citizenship and the ordinary avocations of a civilized community. Instruction was to be given at first in the native dialects, but full opportunity for all of the people to acquire English was to be provided as soon as possible. If necessity demanded, we were authorized to make changes in the existing system of taxation and in the body of the laws under which the people were governed, although such changes were to be relegated to the civil government which we were to establish later, so far as might be. Our instructions contained the following important passages:—“In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government.“At the same time the commission should bear in mind, and the people of the islands should be made plainly to understand, that there are certain great principles of government which have been made the basis of our governmental system which we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of individual freedom, and of which they have, unfortunately, been denied the experience possessed by us; that there are also certain practical rules of government which we have found tobe essential to the preservation of these great principles of liberty and law, and that these principles and these rules of government must be established and maintained in their islands for the sake of their liberty and happiness, however much they may conflict with the customs or laws of procedure with which they are familiar.“It is evident that the most enlightened thought of the Philippine Islands fully appreciates the importance of these principles and rules, and they will inevitably within a short time command universal assent. Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore, must be imposed these inviolable rules:—“That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed.”It has been the fashion in some quarters to sneer at the last of these paragraphs, and to insinuate, if not to charge, that President McKinley in his policy toward the Philippine Islands was actuated by unworthy motives. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning to the end the real good of the several peoplesof the archipelago came first with him, and no one who had the privilege of knowing him well doubts it. Thoroughly imbued with the lofty sentiments expressed by him in our instructions, we set forth on our long pilgrimage to a country where we were to undertake a heavy task essentially different from that which had ever before fallen to the lot of any five citizens of the United States.An Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and PupilsAn Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and PupilsOn April 17, 1900, we sailed from San Francisco on the United States army transportHancock. We were forty-five strong. Of this goodly company only four remain in the Philippines to-day,2—Mr. and Mrs. Branagan, Mrs. Worcester and myself. Singularly enough, with two exceptions, all of the others are still alive and at work. Arthur W. Ferguson, prince of interpreters, who was later appointed Executive Secretary, died in the service after more than six years of extraordinarily faithful and efficient work. James A. LeRoy, my faithful, able and efficient private secretary, contracted tuberculosis, and fell a victim to it after a long and gallant fight.At Honolulu we met with a severe disappointment. It was of course our duty to call on Governor Dole. We were advised that silk hats and frock coats must be donned for this visit, and it was perishing hot. We reached the palace in a reeking perspiration and had a long wait in a suffocating room. When Mr. Dole appeared, he was closely followed by an attendant bearing a large and most attractive-looking bottle carefully wrapped in a napkin, and our spirits rose. But, alas! It contained Poland water.At Tokio we had an audience with the Emperor and were received by the Empress as well. In the high official who had charge of the palace where these events took place, I discovered an old University of Michigan graduate who made the occasion especially pleasant for me.We finally reached Manila on the morning of June 3. Although the thermometer was in the nineties, a certainfrigidity pervaded the atmosphere on our arrival, which General MacArthur, the military governor, seemed to regard in the light of an intrusion.He had been directed to provide suitable office quarters for us. To our amazement and amusement we found desks for five commissioners and five private secretaries placed in one little room in the Ayuntamiento.3While it was possible to get through the room without scrambling over them, it would have been equally possible to circle it, walking on them, without stepping on the floor. In the course of our first long official interview with the General, he informed us that we were “an injection into an otherwise normal situation.”He added that we had already mediatized the volume of work that flowed over his desk. At the moment none of us were quite sure what he meant, but we found the word in the dictionary. How often in the weary years that were to follow I wished that some one would materially mediatize the task which fell to my lot! It was General MacArthur’s honestly held and frankly expressed opinion that what the Filipinos needed was “military government pinned to their backs for ten years with bayonets.” He later changed that view very radically, and when civil provincial governments were finally established it was with his approval, and, in many instances, upon his specific recommendation.At the outset some effort was made to keep the public away from us. Word was passed that we had no authority, which was true enough, as our legislative activities were not to begin until September 1. The ninety days which intervened were very advantageously spent in gaining familiarity with the situation, which we had no difficulty in doing. Plenty of people were already weary of military rule and flocked to us. None of my companions had ever before set foot in the Philippines, andalthough I had spent more than four years there, I still had plenty to learn.In this connection I am reminded of an event which occurred somewhat later. While the commission was en route from Iloilo to Catbalogan when we were establishing civil provincial governments, General Hughes and Mr. Taft became involved in a somewhat animated discussion. The General displayed an accurate knowledge of facts which were of such a nature that one would hardly have expected an army officer to be familiar with them. Mr. Taft said: “General, how do you do it? You have always been a busy man, devoted to your profession. How have you managed to accumulate such a remarkable fund of information?” The General smiled his rare smile and replied: “Governor, I will tell you. I always try to go to bed at night knowing a little more than I did when I got up in the morning.” It is a wise plan to follow.On September 1 we assumed the legislative power, our first official act being to appropriate $2,000,000 Mexican for the construction and repair of highways and bridges.We were impressed with the fundamental necessity of promptly opening up lines of land communication in a country which almost completely lacked them, and there were many poor people in dire need of employment who would be relieved by the opportunity to earn an honest living which the inauguration of road construction would afford them.Our second act appropriated $5000 Mexican for the purpose of making a survey to ascertain the most advantageous route for a railroad into the mountains of Benguet, where we wished to establish a much-needed health resort for the people of the archipelago.Seven days later we passed an act for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine Islands. This measure was ofbasic importance. We had stipulated before leaving Washington that no political appointees should be forced upon us under any circumstances. The members of the second commission, like their predecessors of the first, were firm in the belief that national politics should, if possible, be kept out of the administration of Philippine affairs, and we endeavoured to insure this result.Our tenth act appropriated $1500 Mexican to be paid to the widow of Salvador Reyes, vice-president of Santa Cruz in Laguna Province, assassinated because of his loyalty to the established government.Our fifteenth act increased the monthly salaries of Filipino public school teachers in Manila.Our sixteenth and seventeenth acts reorganized the Forestry Bureau and the Mining Bureau.On October 15 we appropriated $1,000,000 United States currency, for improving the port of Manila, where there was urgent need of protection for shipping during the typhoon season.On December 12 we passed an act authorizing the establishment of local police in cities and towns in the Philippine Islands and appropriating $150,000 United States currency for their maintenance.Two days later we passed a much-needed act regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors within the city of Manila and its attached barrios.On December 21, we appropriated $75,000 United States currency for the construction of the Benguet Road, little dreaming how much time would elapse and how many more dollars would be appropriated, before a vehicle passed over it.It will be sufficiently evident that I cannot here give an account of the several acts which we passed when I say that they number four hundred forty-nine during the first year. We created the administrative bureaus of a well-organized government, established civil rule in numerous municipalities and provinces, provided for the necessaryexpenses of government, organized courts and reformed the judiciary. So important were the results following the establishment of the Civil Service Act and the act providing for the organization of courts for the Philippine Islands that I have devoted a chapter to each.Although there were no limits on our power to enact legislation other than those imposed by our instructions hereinbefore referred to, nothing was further from our desire than to exercise too arbitrarily the authority conferred upon us.Taylor has correctly described our method of procedure in the following words:—“On September 1, 1900, the Commission began its legislative and executive duties. In performing them it adopted the policy of passing no laws, except in cases of emergency, without publishing them in the daily press, nor until after they had passed a second reading and the public had been given an opportunity to come before the Commission and suggest objections or amendments to the bills. Before enacting them they were submitted to the military governor for his consideration and comment.”4The other especially important events of our first legislative year were the establishment of civil rule in the municipalities as well as in thirty-eight provinces and the substitution of the military central government by the gradual creation of bureaus and the ultimate appointment of a civil governor and of five heads of executive departments.On November 23, 1900, we passed an act providing for the establishment of a civil government in the province of Benguet, and thus it happened that a province practically all of whose inhabitants were members of a non-Christian tribe was the first to enjoy the benefits of civil rule. This action grew out of investigations by General Wright and myself made when visiting Baguio during the latter part of July, which led us to the conclusion that civil government could be established in Benguet at any time andshould be established as soon as possible. In view of the rather primitive state of civilization of the people for whom we were legislating, a special act adapted to local conditions was passed providing for a provincial government and fixing a form of government for the several settlements.On January 31, 1901, we passed an act for the organization of municipal governments in the Philippine Islands which, with various amendments, is still in effect and has been made applicable to all municipal corporations of the Philippines inhabited chiefly by Filipinos, except the city of Manila, the city of Baguio and a few small settlements in the so-called special government provinces.5On February 6, 1901, we passed a general act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands. A special act was required to make it applicable to any given province.Having thus prepared for the serious work of establishing civil government throughout the archipelago so fast and so far as conditions might seem to justify, we determined to visit the several provinces and to familiarize ourselves with conditions on the ground in each case before taking action. We invariably sought the opinion of the military authorities as to the fitness of the provinces under consideration for civil rule, and never established it except with their approval. Indeed, in several cases we yielded to their judgment and organized provinces which we ourselves thought might better wait for a time.Our first trip was to the northward along the line of the Manila-Dagupan railway, and in the course of it we organized the provinces of Bulaean, Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinán.On the 2d of March we crossed Manila Bay to Bataan and established a civil provincial government there.The first provincial officers were necessarily appointed, not elected. I well remember the consternation which Mr. Taft created on this trip, when in announcing the appointment of a man of strong character who was much disliked by some of the people present, he said that if the appointee did not behave well his official head would be promptly removed. Surprise showed on almost every face in the audience. They had become sufficiently accustomed to the idea of being beheaded or otherwise sent out of the world by their own people, but had been led to believe that the Americans were a humane nation, and it took Mr. Taft at least five minutes to explain his joke.During the second week in March the commission transferred its officers bodily to the United States Army TransportSumnerand started on a long journey in the course of which it visited and established provincial governments in eighteen provinces,6returning to Manila on the 3d of May.This trip was most interesting but dreadfully wearing. Everywhere we were overwhelmed by the hospitality of our Filipino friends. We arrived at some new place nearly every morning, and the programme in each was much the same. After an early breakfast we hurried ashore, drove or walked about for a short time to see what the town was like, and then attended a popular meeting in its largest building, where we held long and frank converse with the people on local conditions, giving them every opportunity to air their views, with the result that the local orators, of whom there were usually more than a sufficiency, had an opportunity to bring their heavy guns into action. Then followed a recess in the course of which we partook of a very elaborate lunch, and when possible conferred privately with influentialmen, often learning things which they did not care to tell us in public. Then came another open meeting at which the actual organization of the province was effected and the officials were appointed and sworn in. After this there was a long formal dinner, with the endless courses which characterize such functions in the Philippines, and then came a ball which lasted till the wee small hours. When at last we got on board, tired out, our steamer sailed, and often brought us to some new place by sunrise.In several instances we did not pass the act organizing a given province at the time of our visit, but for one reason or another postponed action until a later date. We visited a number of places like Joló, Basilan, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao and Samar, where we had no intention of establishing civil government, in order to observe local conditions.We touched at Marinduque on our trip south, and found that nothing could then be done there, but the better element were anxious for a change, and we promised them that if they would bring about certain specified results before our return we would give them a provincial government. They undertook to do so, and kept their word. Needless to say we also kept ours.We had grave doubts as to the advisability of establishing civil governments in Cebú, Bohol and Batangas. In the first of these places the people were sullen and ugly. In the second there was a marked disinclination on the part of leading citizens to accept public office. There had been a little scattering rifle fire on the outskirts of the capital of the third very shortly before our arrival there, but the organization of all these provinces was recommended by the military authorities, and we decided to try an experiment which could do little harm, as we could return any one of them to military control in short order should such a course seem necessary.A Modern Primary School BuildingA Modern Primary School BuildingContrast this structure with the native houses near it.An effort has been made to make it appear that inorganizing Cebú, Bohol and Batangas, we acted prematurely and upon our own initiative, thus complicating the situation for the military authorities. I will let Blount voice this complaint. He says in part:—“In his report for 1901 Governor Taft says that the four principal provinces, including Batangas, which gave trouble shortly after the civil government was set up in that year, and had to be returned to military control, were organized under civil rule ‘on the recommendation’ of the then commanding general (MacArthur). It certainly seems unlikely that the haste to change from military rule to civil rule came on the motion of the military. If the Commission ever got,in writing,from General MacArthur, a ‘recommendation’ that any provinces be placed under civil rule while still in insurrection, the text of the writing will show a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley, the commander-in-chief. Parol7contemporaneous evidence will show that General MacArthur told them, substantially, that they were ‘riding for a fall.’ In fact, whenever an insurrection would break out in a province after Governor Taft’s inauguration as governor, the whole attitude of the army in the Philippines, from the commanding general down was ‘I told you so.’ They did not say this where Governor Taft could hear it, but it was common knowledge that they were much addicted to damning ‘politics’ as the cause of all the trouble.”8Prophecy is always dangerous and when unnecessary seems rather inexcusable. I submit the essential portions of the record to show exactly what we did get from General MacArthur, and add the suggestion that it was really hardly essential that he should make his recommendations in writing, as he did, for the reason that he was a gentleman and would not have repudiated a verbal recommendation once made.On February 5, 1901, Governor Taft wrote General MacArthur a letter closing with the following paragraph:—“As already communicated to you the purpose of the Commission is to make a Southern trip on the 23rd of February, or as soon thereafter as practicable, with the idea of arrangingfor provincial governments there, and I am directed by the Commission to request your opinion as to the provinces in which provincial governments may be safely established. It is understood that Panay, Romblon, Tayabas, and possibly one or two of the Camarines are ready for this. What has been said with reference to the Northern provinces applies to these, but we shall communicate with you further as to the Southern provinces when we have been advised as to the possibility of securing a steamer.”On February 9, General MacArthur gave the following instructions to the Commanding General, Department of the Visayas:—“The Military Governor desires that you report to this office at the earliest date practicable the provinces in your department that may be considered ready for the establishment of civil governments therein and in this connection directs me to say that it should not be considered as necessary that complete pacification has been brought about in a province before reporting it as ready for such government; that the provincial civil governments to be established will doubtless prove useful agents in the further work of pacification.”On February 27, that officer reported that in his opinion Iloilo, Capiz, Oriental Negros and Occidental Negros were ready; that Antique might be in a few days, and that Cebú, Bohol and Leyte were not. These facts were reported to Governor Taft by General MacArthur on March 4, and on the same day Lieutenant-Colonel Crowder wrote to the commanding general of the Visayas:—“The Military Governor directs me to say that he regards the initiation of provincial civil government as an aid in the work of pacification, in which view it is not necessary that a province should be completely pacified as a condition to the initiation of such government. He has expressed to the Commission the opinion that you may be able, upon their arrival at Iloilo, to submit a supplementary list of provinces in which it would be advisable to establish at once these governments.”Meanwhile General MacArthur wrote on February 13, to Governor Taft:—“In partial reply to your letter of the 5th instant I have the honor to inform you that the Commanding General, Department of Southern Luzon, reports but one province, Tayabas, as ready at the present time for civil government. I add the provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite, believing that the institution of civil government in all these provinces will be in assistance of the military authorities in the work of pacification.”General MacArthur’s communications seem to me to show something more than “a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley,” especially as the President had no knowledge of these provinces, and never made any recommendation whatsoever relative to the establishment of civil government there.Similarly, in establishing civil government in Cebu and Bohol, the commission acted on the specific recommendation of the military, and rather against its own judgment. There seemed no very good reason for refusing to try civil government, if the commanding general wanted it tried, and when it failed, as it promptly did, in Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, these provinces were immediately returned to the full control of the military, and left there until conditions became satisfactory.Having escaped the perils of the deep, and the much graver perils of the dinner table, during our southern trip, we returned to Manila, wearier, wiser and sadder men than when we started, for we had learned much of the superstitions, the ignorance and the obsessions which prevailed among the Filipinos, and we knew that many of the men who from love of country had accepted office under us had done so at the peril of their lives. We had all had an excellent opportunity to come to know the Filipinos. Their dignity of bearing, their courtesy, their friendly hospitality, their love of imposing functions, and offiestasand display, their childishness and irresponsibility in many matters, their passion for gambling, for litigation and for political intrigue, even the loves and the hatreds of some of them, had been spread before us likean open book. It is a fact that except for the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, the people wanted what we had to give them and were grateful for it. Never before had they had their day in court, and they appreciated it.The establishment of civil government throughout so large a proportion of the provinces in the islands would have been impossible at this time had it not been for the helpful activities of the Federal Party organized on December 23, 1900, by many of the best and most influential Filipinos in the archipelago for the purpose of aiding in the establishment of peace and order. Its members were tireless in their activities. They succeeded in persuading many Insurgent leaders to lay down their arms, so that a normal condition could be restored in territory which the latter had previously harried. They convinced many of the common people of the true purposes of the American government, and in numerous other ways rendered invaluable services.The officers and many of the members and agents of this party were promptly sentenced to death by Aguinaldo, and many of them were assassinated;9but the party persisted in its efforts until success was attained.During June of 1901 Professor Moses and I made a horseback trip through Pangasinán, La Union, Benguet, Lepanto and Ilocos Sur, accompanied by our private secretaries. Professor Moses was in wretched health as the result of overwork and confinement, and needed out-of-door exercise.I had been intrusted with the drafting of legislation for the government of the non-Christian tribes, and wanted to learn as much about them as possible, so that I could act intelligently.We started from Dagupan mounted on horses kindly furnished us by the army, and escorted by four mounted infantrymen. None of us had ridden for years, andarmy officers were offering wagers that we would not get as far as Baguio. At Mangaldan a cavalry outfit replaced our mounted infantrymen, and while the members of our new escort were resting under the shade of a tree in the cemetery, I heard them voicing joyful anticipations of the easy time they were to have travelling with tenderfeet. I made up ray mind to give them some healthful exercise on the trip.Having first visited the work at the lower end of the Benguet Road and then travelled across country in a driving storm over wretched trails, we reached Bauang, our point of departure for the interior. Here I called the sergeant in charge and asked him where were the extra shoes for our horses. In some confusion he confessed that he had brought none, whereupon I read him a homily on the duties of a cavalryman, and sent the whole outfit to San Fernando to get the horses reshod and provided with extra shoes for the trip.We arrived at Baguio in a howling typhoon. When we emerged from the hills into the open, and our horses got the full sweep of the storm, they at first refused to face it. We forced them into it, however, and a few moments later had found refuge in the house of Mr. Otto Scheerer, a hospitable German. The cavalrymen and the horses got in under the building. It gave me great joy to hear through the floor the voice of the sergeant remarking, with much emphasis of the sort best represented in print by dashes, that if he had known the sort of a trip he was starting on he would have been on sick report the morning of his departure.We waited in vain three days for the storm to end and then rode on. Mr. Scheerer, who accompanied us, had sent ahead to arrange for lunch at the house of a rich Igorot named Acop, but when we arrived at this man’s place, soaked, cold, and hungry, we found it shut up. He had not received the message and was away from home. Investigation showed that our only resource in the commissaryline were some wads of sticky, unsalted, boiled rice which our Igorot carriers had inside their hats, in contact with their frowsy hair. We bolted as much of this as the Igorots could spare, killing its rather high flavour with cayenne peppers picked beside the trail, and continued our journey. In descending a steep hill my horse stumbled and while attempting to recover himself drove a sharp stone into his hoof and turned a complete somersault, throwing me over his head on to the rocks. When I got him up he was dead lame, and I walked the rest of the way to Ambuklao, where we arrived just at sunset.This once prosperous little Igorot hamlet had been burned by the Spaniards, for no apparent reason, during their flight from the province in 1906, and we found only two houses standing. They were naturally crowded. I was so dead with fatigue that I threw my saddle on the ground, and using it as a pillow, lay down in a couple of inches of water and fell sound asleep. Later the Igorots vacated one of the houses, and placed it at our disposal. I spent the greater part of the night in a contest with an old Igorot woman, who for the commendable purpose of keeping us warm tended a smoky pitch-pine fire, and shut the door, which afforded our only means of ventilation, every time I dropped asleep. Awakened by the stifling smoke I would open it again, but as soon as I dozed she would shut it. I finally solved the problem by lying down with my head sticking out of the door.The next day was bright and clear. We rested until noon, drying out our belongings meanwhile, and then continued our journey, visiting the Igorot settlements on the Agno River and those in southern Lepanto and finally reaching Cervantes, the capital of that sub-province. The Igorots of Benguet and Lepanto received us with the utmost friendliness, and when not in danger of breaking our necks by falling over the edges of the wretched trails, we greatly enjoyed our trip.At Cervantes we were met by a delegation of Bontoc Igorots, who begged us to visit their country, and we were just preparing to do so when we received a telegram recalling us to Manila to be present at the inauguration of Mr. Taft as civil governor. During our absence the commission had established provincial governments in Rizal, Cavite and Nueva Ecija. Mr. Taft was inaugurated on July 4, 1901. Thenceforth he exercised control over the provinces where civil government had been established, while the military governor continued in charge of each of the remaining provinces until it was duly organized and transferred to civil control.In August, 1901, the commission sailed on a tour of the remaining northern provinces, visiting La Union, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela and Zambales in the order named, and establishing a government in each. On the trip to Abra those members of the commission not previously accustomed to roughing it in the islands were given a novel experience, for we went up the Abra River on bamboo rafts. However, a veritable ship of state had been prepared for Governor Taft, and no one suffered any great discomfort.At Vigan, the capital of Ilocos, we narrowly escaped drowning in the surf when returning to our steamer. For a time our goodviray10with some twenty oarsmen was unable to make headway through the rolling waves. It broached to, nearly filled with water, and struck the bottom heavily several times. Some of the men quit rowing and began to pray, whereupon General J. F. Bell, who was sitting in the stern, rose to his feet, and shouted at them until they became more afraid of him than of the sea, and pulled for dear life until we were out of danger. Upon arrival at the ship we watched with interest the progress of other boats through the surf, and were alarmed to see the men in one madly divesting themselves of their clothing. When it finally came alongside its occupantsmade flying leaps for the gangway, and we discovered that a great hole had been knocked in its bottom, and that raincoats, ordinary coats, and trousers had been jammed into this opening in order to keep the rapidly sinking craft afloat for a few moments.In the Cagayan valley we had a taste of real tropical heat. Never have I seen a man suffer more than did Mr. Taft at Ilagan on the day when we established a provincial government for Isabela, and the night that followed still lingers in my memory. The air was suffocating. My bed was in a corner. I dragged it out between a window and a door and threw both wide open. Still I could not sleep. Slipping off my pajamas, I seated myself on the broad window sill. The heat was intolerable. I poured water over myself and resumed my seat in the window. The water would not evaporate. I sat there until morning, as I could not endure the heat lying down.Such conditions are unknown throughout the greater part of the archipelago, where cool sea breezes temper the heat at all times. In the Cagayan valley an immense plain is bordered by ranges of high mountains to the east and the west. They seem to shut off both monsoons to a considerable extent, and there very trying heat is by no means unusual.On September 1, 1901, the first day of the second year of actual service of the commission, a complete central civil government was established. Commissioner Wright was appointed secretary of commerce and police; Commissioner Ide, secretary of finance and justice; Commissioner Moses, secretary of public instruction, and I myself secretary of the interior. The commission was strengthened by the addition of three Filipino members: Señor Benito Legarda, Señor José R. de Luzuriaga, and Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, all of whom were men of exceptional ability and had rendered distinguished service in the establishment of peace and order.Old-style Central School BuildingOld-style Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed by the Spaniards.Modern Central School BuildingModern Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed under American rule.Except for the addition of one more Filipino on July6, 1908, the organization of the commission has remained unchanged up to the present time, although there have been numerous changes in its personnel. The task which lay before it was to enact a code of laws adapted to the peculiar conditions existing in the Philippines, and this was indeed a herculean undertaking. Its members laboured unremittingly. Governor Taft and General Wright were towers of strength in the early days. The rest of us did what we could, and I, for one, am very proud of the result. Certainly no one can ever claim that the commission was not industrious. Before it finally ceased to be the legislative body of the islands it had passed some eighteen hundred acts. Obviously, as it is not my purpose to write an encyclopedia of law, I cannot discuss them in detail, and must content myself with here barely mentioning a few of the more important results obtained, leaving the more detailed discussion of some of them for later chapters.In general, it may be said that the additional bureaus necessary for the work of the Insular government were created, and given proper powers. Civil government was gradually extended to the entire archipelago.11The criminal code was amended and supplemented by the passage of new laws. The administration of justice was reorganized and reformed.12An efficient native insular police force was organized, and an admirable state of public order brought about.13The health service was extended to the provinces, and health conditions were greatly improved throughout the islands.14Baguio was made accessible and became both the summer capital and a health resort for the people of the islands.15The scientific work of the government was cordinated, and efficiency and economy in its performance were insured.16Primary and secondary schools were established throughout the islands, supplemented by trade schools, anda normal school at Manila.17Legislation was enacted, and submitted to the President and to Congress, covering the disposition of public lands.18The purchase of extensive estates belonging to certain religious orders, and the sale of their holdings therein to tenants, was provided for.19Fairly adequate legislation for the protection and development of the forest resources of the islands was enacted.20Means of communication by land and sea were greatly improved, and the development of commerce was thus stimulated.21It is a noteworthy fact that all of these things were done with a per capita taxation of about $2.24!Another fundamentally important aid to the commercial development of the islands was afforded by a radical reformation of the currency.The islands under the sovereignty of Spain had their own distinct silver coinage in peso, media peso, peseta and media peseta pieces.In 1878 the Spanish government, hoping to check the heavy exportation of gold currency from the Philippines, passed a law prohibiting the importation of Mexican dollars, but allowed the Mexican dollars then in the islands to continue to circulate as legal tender.When the American troops arrived, there were in circulation the Spanish-Philippine peso and subsidiary silver coins; Spanish pesos of different mintings; Mexican pesos of different mintings; Hongkong dollars, fractional silver coins from different Chinese countries, and copper coins from nearly every country in the Orient. Although a law had been passed prohibiting the introduction of Mexican dollars into the islands, they were being constantly smuggled in. Fluctuations in the price of silver affected the value of the silver coins, and the money in common use was in reality a commodity, worth on any given day what one could get for it. These conditionsaffected most disastrously the business interests of the islands. Merchants were forced to allow very wide margins in commercial transactions, because they did not know what their goods would actually cost them in local currency upon arrival. The most important business of the local banks was in reality that of exchange brokers and note shavers. They hammered the exchange rate down and bought silver, then boosted the rate skyward and sold.The American army brought in a large amount of gold, but this did not remain in circulation long, as it was exported by the different business concerns, or hoarded.United States silver money had a limited circulation during the early days of American occupation, but it passed at less than its true value. An effort was made under the military administration to keep the ratio of exchange at two to one by the purchase from the public of all United States currency offered at that rate to the banks.For a long time the banks refused to carry private accounts in United States currency, but when it was offered for deposit it was changed into Mexicans with a heavy charge for the transaction, and an account opened in Mexican currency to the credit of the depositor. If the depositor afterward desired to get United States currency, he gave a check for it at the then existing rate of exchange. Such conditions were intolerable, and the commission passed an act making it an offence to refuse to accept for deposit the currency of the sovereign power, but this did not remedy the fundamental difficulty. There came a heavy slump in the price of silver. The Insular government lost a very large sum because of the decrease in value of its silver coin.Mr. Charles A. Conant had been brought from the United States to make a report on the feasibility of providing an American coinage for the islands. He recommended that the unit of value should be a peso,equivalent to fifty cents United States currency. Congress, by an act passed July 1, 1902, vested general authority over the coinage in the Philippine government, but the commission decided not to take action until more specific authority could be obtained from Congress, as the proposed reform was radical, and it was very important that the new currency should at the outset command the confidence so essential to its success.After long discussion, Congress authorized, by an act passed March 2, 1903, a new currency system based on a theoretical peso of 12.9 grains of gold 900 fine, equivalent to one-half of a United States gold dollar. The circulating medium was to be the Philippine silver peso, which was to be legal tender for all debts, public and private, and its value was to be maintained on a parity with the theoretical gold peso. For this purpose the creation of a gold standard, or gold reserve fund, was provided for, and this fund was to be maintained and could be used for no other purpose.Considerable difficulty was experienced in introducing the new currency into the islands. The banks at first failed to give any assistance to the government. The business men of Manila, and especially the Chinese, discounted the new Philippine peso, because it did not contain as much silver as did the Mexican dollar. They were quickly brought to time, and given to understand where they stood if they discredited the currency of the country.The Spanish Philippine coins and the Mexican coins in circulation were collected by the treasury and exported to the San Francisco mint, where they were reminted into new coins of the weight and fineness prescribed by law.The establishment of a gold standard fund to maintain the parity between the gold and silver dollar was quickly effected by the sale of exchange on the United States in accordance with the established law, at a costestimated to be the same as the transportation of the gold coin itself.The army, by direction of the secretary of war, ceased to pay in United States money, and its paymasters were given credit at the Insular Treasury, where they obtained the necessary funds in Philippine currency.The government also authorized, in addition to the coinage of silver, the issuance of paper money in two, five, and ten peso notes. All of the coins and bills were readily interchangeable with the United States coins in common use, the dollar being worth two pesos, the half dollar one peso, the twenty-five cent piece a half peso, the ten-cent piece a peseta, the five-cent piece a media peseta and the cent two centavos.Unfortunately the silver value of the new peso was such that when the price of silver again rose, its bullion value was greater than its money value, and in consequence coins of this denomination were hoarded and exported. It proved necessary to prohibit their exportation, and to issue new coins of less bullion value, but this was the only really serious difficulty attending a fundamental reform which put the currency on a sound basis. The original pesos were recoined and a handsome profit made on the transaction.No one who has not lived in a country where the circulating medium is constantly fluctuating in value can fully appreciate the enormous benefit conferred on the Philippine Islands by this important reform.Another reform of far-reaching importance was the readjustment of the burden of taxation so that it should bear lightly on the necessities of life, and heavily on its luxuries. This was a complete reversal of the scheme which we found in force, under which wheat flour and kerosene oil paid very heavy import duties while cigars and champagne were lightly taxed.We imposed export taxes on certain products of the country. Such taxes are objected to by many politicaleconomists, but were approved of by the Filipinos, who strongly opposed the imposition of a logical and very necessary personal tax to provide funds for the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges. It is usually wise, when practicable, to obtain funds for necessary governmental purposes by the imposition of taxes which are willingly paid.Mr. Taft resigned the governorship of the Philippines to become secretary of war, his resignation taking effect January 31, 1904. He had performed a monumental work for the Filipinos, and for humanity at large, during his years of service in the islands, and carried with him the good will of most of the people whom he had so faithfully, efficiently and self-sacrificingly served. He had at one time very gravely impaired his health by hard work, and when the opportunity came to satisfy a lifelong ambition by accepting appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he had passed it by, in order to perform his duty to the people of the Philippine Islands. As secretary of war, and as President of the United States, he availed himself of every opportunity which these high offices afforded to help the Filipinos, and to increase the prosperity of their country. They have had no better friend, and no other friend whom they have ever had has been so useful to them. One more proof of his real greatness is afforded by the fact that to-day, after being reviled by many Filipino politicians whom he befriended, who have succeeded to a large degree in making the common people of the Philippines consider him their enemy, his interest in the people of the Islands is as keen, and his eagerness to help them is as great, as in the early days when they acclaimed him their deliverer.General Luke E. Wright, a democrat of Memphis, Tennessee, was appointed by President Roosevelt civil governor in Mr. Taft’s place. He rendered his country and the Filipinos most distinguished service. It is one thingto build up a great government, with numerous political appointments at one’s disposal, and another to stand by and keep it running smoothly and efficiently, when a lot of disappointed politicians, who have seen their last hope of political preferment go a-glimmering, are throwing sand into the bearings of the machine. This latter class had begun to plot against Governor Taft before his resignation took effect, but their machinations were rendered fruitless by the wave of regret raised by his coming departure.They now devoted themselves, with a good deal of success, to injuring Governor Wright, who declined to be dictated to, in the matter of appointments, by the Federal Party, and aroused the ire of many politicians by occasionally telling the Filipinos unpalatable but wholesome and necessary truths relative to their fitness for immediate independence.General Wright, whose title had been changed from governor to governor-general on February 6, 1905, went on leave during the latter part of that year, fully expecting to return and resume his work in the Philippines, but the islands were not to see him again. He resigned, effective April 1, 1906, to become United States Ambassador to Japan. In my opinion, the acceptance of his resignation at this time was one of the gravest mistakes ever made in the Philippine policy of the United States. The islands were deprived of the services of a very able and distinguished man, thoroughly conversant with their needs, who had the courage of his convictions, and whose convictions were thoroughly sound.Certain Filipino politicians openly boasted that they had secured his removal, and they and their ilk were encouraged to put forth new and pernicious efforts. Had General Wright returned to the islands much of the political unrest from which they have since suffered would have been avoided. He was beloved by his associates, who felt a sense of personal loss when they learned thatthe places which had known him in The Philippines would know him no more.He was succeeded for the brief period of five and a half months by Judge Henry C. Ide, vice-governor and secretary of finance and justice, who had performed his duties while he was on leave. Judge Ide was a republican, from Vermont. He resigned on September 19, 1906.He was succeeded by General James F. Smith, a democrat from California, who had come to the islands as a colonel of volunteers, and had won promotion because of his valuable services in the Visayas, and more especially in the island of Negros, where he had earned the good will of the Filipinos by his tact and kindness. Later he had served, unwillingly, as head of the Manila custom house.He was subsequently made a justice of the supreme court of the Philippines. A lawyer by profession, he had resigned this position with regret to accept appointment, on January 1, 1903, as secretary of public instruction. He did not desire the governor-generalship and made a strong but unsuccessful effort to avoid accepting the position, which he finally took from a sense of duty. He was a good lawyer, with a big heart, and a keen insight into human nature. He thoroughly understood the Filipinos, and he made an excellent governor-general. It was during his term of office that the Philippine Legislature, composed of an upper appointive house, the Philippine Commission, and a lower elective house, the Philippine Assembly, met for the first time on October 16, 1907.I devote a separate chapter22to the Philippine Legislature and its work, so need not discuss it here. Suffice it to say that such success as attended the work of this body during its inaugural, first and special sessions, was very largely due to the tactful influence of Governor-General Smith, who gave the speaker of the assembly much valuable, friendly counsel, and kept the two housesworking in comparative harmony. Having struggled through one session of the legislature, Governor-General Smith felt at liberty to resign. He greatly desired to leave the Philippine government service and return to the practice of his profession. His resignation was reluctantly accepted, about a year after he had tendered it, and he left the service on November 10, 1909.Typical Scene in a Trade SchoolTypical Scene in a Trade SchoolIn institutions like this, young Filipinos are being taught the dignity of labor and are learning useful trades.He was succeeded by Vice-Governor W. Cameron Forbes, a republican from Massachusetts, who had accepted appointment as secretary of commerce and police on June 15, 1904. A man of independent means, Mr. Forbes entered the public service only because of the opportunity for greater usefulness which was thus afforded him. He brought to bear on the problems which confronted him as secretary of commerce and police intelligence and ability of a very high order. Wide practical experience in the management of large business interests had admirably fitted him to improve the organization and increase the efficiency of the insular police force, and to mature and carry out plans for bettering means of communication and otherwise facilitating and stimulating the normal, healthful commercial development of the islands. I have devoted several chapters to the discussion of the results accomplished along these lines,23and will not attempt here to enumerate them.Like all of his predecessors, he brought to the office of governor-general mature experience gained on the ground, having been in the service more than five years at the time of his promotion.As governor-general, he not only retained his keen interest in the large problems which had previously engaged his attention, and laboured unceasingly and most successfully in the performance of the duties of his new office, but took an especial interest in the development of the summer capital, and in the work for the non-Christianpeoples of the islands, devoting a much greater amount of time and attention to familiarizing himself with the needs of this portion of the population than had ever previously been given to it by any governor-general. He visited the Moros and the Bukidnons in the south, and the Negritos, the Benguet Igorots, the Lepanto Igorots, the Bontoc Igorots, the Ilongots, the Ifugaos, the Kalingas, and both the wild and the civilized Tingians, in the north, repeatedly inspecting the several sub-provinces of the Mountain Province.Through his generosity in making proper grounds available, public interest in outdoor sports was greatly stimulated at Manila and at Baguio, while his own participation in polo, baseball and golf was a good example to Americans and Filipinos alike, in a country where vigorous outdoor exercise is very necessary to the physical development of the young and the preservation of the health of the mature. He was a true friend of the Filipinos, whom he genuinely liked and was always ready to assist. His personal influence was a powerful factor in the success of the very important work carried on at the Philippine Normal School and the Philippine Training School for Nurses.During his term of office the prosperity of the islands increased by leaps and bounds, public order became better than ever before in their history, and the efficiency of the civil service reached its maximum. No other governor-general ever drew so heavily on his private means in promoting the public good, and it was the irony of fate that he should have been accused, by certain irresponsible anti-imperialists, of using his public office to promote his private interests. Near the end of his administration grossly and absurdly false charges were made against him on the floor of the House by Representative William A. Jones. As their falsity has been conclusively and finally shown,24I will not here lend importance to them by repeating them. No officialhas ever given any country a cleaner administration than Governor-General Forbes gave the Philippines.It was his fortune to be in office at the time of the change in the national administration of the United States. After continuing to serve for months with no sign from Washington as to whether his resignation was desired, he was advised by the Chief of the bureau of insular affairs that the appointment of Mr. Francis Burton Harrison, who is a Tammany Hall democrat, as his successor had been sent to the Senate,25and three days after its confirmation received a curt request for his resignation to be effected in a week and a day. He was also requested to employ servants for Mr. Harrison. Spaniards who read on the public streets newspapers which printed this message were seen to tear them up and stamp on the pieces! Our Spanish friends are accustomed to expect courtesy in connection with the removal of faithful and efficient public servants.All other governors-general had taken the oath of office at Manila. Mr. Harrison took it at Washington on September 2, 1913. He is the first American governor of the islands who has entered upon his high duties without previous experience in the country which he is to govern, and he has as yet displayed little inclination to profit by the experience of either Filipino or American administrative insular officials of high rank. It is too soon to discuss any feature of his administration other than his attitude toward the civil service, which I take up elsewhere,26and I can only express the hope that when he has gained that knowledge which can come only through personal observation on the ground, he will grow to be a wise, strong, conservative official.The establishment of civil government in the Philippine Islands under American rule was a gradual evolution up to the time of the assumption of control by Governor-General Harrison.I will not attempt to follow in detail all of its successive stages, but in closing this chapter will endeavour briefly to summarize the results obtained up to that time.The Philippines now have two delegates to the Congress of the United States appointed by the legislature in accordance with the provision of Section 8 of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. Both are Filipinos.The ranking executive officials of the insular government are a governor-general, a secretary of the interior, a secretary of finance and justice, a secretary of commerce and police and a secretary of public instruction. All of these officers are appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The secretary of finance and justice is a Filipino; the other secretaries of departments are Americans.There is a legislature composed of two houses known respectively as the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. The Philippine Commission is composed of nine members; five are the governor-general and the four secretaries of departmentex officio, and four are appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate. Four of the members are Filipinos and five are Americans.27The Philippine Assembly is composed ofeighty-one elected members, all of whom are Filipinos. They represent thirty-four of the thirty-nine provinces into which the archipelago is divided. The two houses of the legislature have equal powers. Neither has any special privilege in the matter of initiating legislation, and affirmative action by both is required in order to pass it. The Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Agusan are not represented in the assembly, nor are they subject to the jurisdiction of the Philippine Legislature. The Philippine Commission alone has legislative jurisdiction over them, their population being largely composedof Moros, or members of other non-Christian tribes.The provinces may be divided into regularly organized provinces governed under the provincial government act, and specially organized provinces, which include the Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Mindoro, Palawan, Agusan and Nueva Vizcaya, of which the first is governed under a special law and the remaining four are governed under a different one known as “The Special Provincial Government Act.”Regularly organized provinces have a governor and a treasurer. The governor is elected, and the treasurer is appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission. These two officials, with another known as the third member, constitute a provincial board. The third member is elected. As the Filipinos usually elect to office men from among their own people, practically all of the elective provincial officers are Filipinos, as are ten of the appointive officers, it having been the policy to appoint Filipinos whenever possible.Regularly organized provinces are divided into municipalities which elect their own officers and control their own affairs for the most part. Provincial treasurers have intervention in municipal expenditures, which are approved in advance for each fiscal year, and municipal officers may be removed for misconduct by the governor-general.All officers of the six special government provinces are appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission.There are four regularly organized municipalities in these provinces, but the remainder of their territory is divided into townships, which elect their own officers, except their secretary-treasurers, who are appointed by the provincial governor; and intorancheriasor settlements, with all of their officials appointed by the provincialgovernor. This latter form of local government is confined to the more primitive wild people.The judiciary is independent. The details of its organization will be found inChapter XV.Three of the seven justices of the supreme court, including the chief justice, are Filipinos, as are approximately half of the judges of the courts of first instance and practically all justices of the peace.At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, 71 per cent of the employees in the classified civil service of the islands were Filipinos painstakingly trained for the positions to which they had been appointed.Prior to the American occupation, the Filipinos had practically no intervention in the government of their country.The changes introduced in the twelve years since the establishment of civil government began are of a sweeping and radical nature. For reasons hereinafter fully set forth, I believe they have been somewhat too sweeping, and too radical. At all events, it is now certainly the part of wisdom carefully to analyze their results before going further.I deem the subject of the establishment of civil governmental control over the non-Christian tribes of the Philippines worthy of special consideration.281P. 981.2September 15, 1913.3The building where the executive offices of the insular government have been located since the American occupation.4Taylor, 18 HS.5This name is applied to certain provinces organized under special acts because the majority of their inhabitants are non-Christians.6Tayabas, Romblon, Masbate, Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Cebú, Bohol, Occidental Negros, Oriental Negros, Leyte, Albay, Ambos, Camarines, Sorsogon, Marinduque, Batangas, Surigao, and Misamis.7Obviously a misprint, perhaps, for “perusal of.”8Blount, p. 380.9For further details see pp. 746; 753.10A native surf boat.11See Chapters XXI–XXIV.12Chap. XV.13Chap. XIV.14Chap. XVI.15Chap. XVII.16Chap. XVIII.17See Chapter XIX.18Chap. XXX.19Chap. XXX.20Chap. XXXI.21Chap. XXXII.22Chapter XXVII.23Chapters XIV, XXII, XXIII and XXIV.24Reply to Jones, Pamphlet, Manila, 1913.25See pp. 375–77.26See pp. 357–77.27Under the new regime these figures have been reversed.28See Chapters XX–XXIV.
Chapter XIIThe Establishment of Civil Government
The first Philippine Commission did not complete its work until March, 1900. By this time conditions had so far improved in the archipelago that President McKinley was prepared to initiate a movement looking toward the establishment of civil government there. With this end in view he appointed the following commission of five civilians; William H. Taft of Ohio, Dean C. Worcester of Michigan, Luke E. Wright of Tennessee, Henry C. Ide of Vermont and Bernard Moses of California. Our appointments were dated March 16, 1900. Our instructions which were full, are given in the appendix.1I was the only member of the first commission to be reappointed. Neither General Otis nor Admiral Dewey cared to serve, and indeed the professional duties of each of them rendered his appointment to the new commission difficult, if not impossible. Mr. Schurman had at one time expressed himself as vigorously opposed to the idea of a new commission, maintaining that the best results could be obtained by the appointment of a civil governor with wide powers. It was therefore taken for granted that he would not desire reappointment. Colonel Denby was keenly interested in the work and would have been glad to continue it, but he was past seventy and with his good wife had then spent some fifteen years in the Far East. He doubted whether his strength would be adequate to bear the strain of the arduous task which obviously lay before the new commission, and Mrs. Denby desired to remain in the United States where shecould be near her children from whom she had been long separated, so her husband felt constrained to say that he did not wish to return to the Philippines.I separated from him with the keenest regret. He was an amiable, tactful man of commanding ability and unimpeachable integrity, actuated by the best of motives and loyal to the highest ideals. He constantly sought to avoid not only evil but the appearance of evil. I count it one of the great privileges of my life to have been associated with him. The one thing in the book written by James H. Blount which aroused my ire was his characterization of Colonel Denby as a hypocrite. No falser, meaner, more utterly contemptible statement was ever made, and when I read it the temptation rose hot within me to make public Blount’s personal Philippine record, but after the first heat of anger had passed I remembered what the good old Colonel would have wished me to do in such a case, and forbore.The second Philippine commission, hereinafter referred to as “the commission,” received its instructions on April 7, 1900.They covered a most delicate and complicated subject, namely, the gradual transfer of control from military to civil authority in a country extensive regions of which were still in open rebellion.In the opinion of President McKinley there was no reason why steps should not be taken, from time to time, to inaugurate governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory came under the permanent control of our troops, and indeed, as we have seen, this had already been done by the army. It was provided that we should continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil governments already commenced by the military authorities. In doing this we were to act as a board of which Mr. Taft was designated president. It was contemplated that the transfer of authority from military commanders to civil officers would be gradual,and full and complete coöperation between these authorities was enjoined. Having familiarized ourselves with the conditions then prevailing in the islands, we were to devote our attention first to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives should be given the opportunity to manage their local affairs to the fullest extent and with the least supervision and control found to be practicable. We were then to consider the organization of larger administrative divisions, and when of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands was such that the central administration could safely be transferred from military to civil control were to report this conclusion to the secretary of war with our recommendations as to the form of central government which should be established.Beginning with September 1, 1900, we were authorized to exercise, subject to the approval of the President and the secretary of war, the legislative power, which was then to be transferred from the military governor to us until the establishment of civil central government, or until Congress should otherwise provide. We were authorized during a like period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial, educational, and civil service systems, and in the municipal and departmental governments, as were duly provided for. Until the complete transfer of control the military governor was to remain the chief executive head of the government and to exercise the executive authority previously possessed by him and not expressly assigned to the commission by the president in his instructions. In establishing municipal governments we were to take as the basis of our work those established by the military governor, under the order of August 8, 1899, which I had helped to set up, as well as those established under the report of a board constituted by the military governor by his order of January 29, 1900, of which Señor Cayetano Arellano was the president.In the establishment of departmental or provincialgovernments we were to give special attention to the then-existing government of the island of Negros, established with the approval of the people of that island under the order of the military governor of July 22, 1899.We were instructed to investigate troubles growing out of large land holdings, including those of the religious orders, and to promote, extend and improve the system of education already inaugurated by the military authorities, giving first importance to the extension of a system of primary education free to all, which would tend to fit the people for the duties of citizenship and the ordinary avocations of a civilized community. Instruction was to be given at first in the native dialects, but full opportunity for all of the people to acquire English was to be provided as soon as possible. If necessity demanded, we were authorized to make changes in the existing system of taxation and in the body of the laws under which the people were governed, although such changes were to be relegated to the civil government which we were to establish later, so far as might be. Our instructions contained the following important passages:—“In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government.“At the same time the commission should bear in mind, and the people of the islands should be made plainly to understand, that there are certain great principles of government which have been made the basis of our governmental system which we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of individual freedom, and of which they have, unfortunately, been denied the experience possessed by us; that there are also certain practical rules of government which we have found tobe essential to the preservation of these great principles of liberty and law, and that these principles and these rules of government must be established and maintained in their islands for the sake of their liberty and happiness, however much they may conflict with the customs or laws of procedure with which they are familiar.“It is evident that the most enlightened thought of the Philippine Islands fully appreciates the importance of these principles and rules, and they will inevitably within a short time command universal assent. Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore, must be imposed these inviolable rules:—“That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed.”It has been the fashion in some quarters to sneer at the last of these paragraphs, and to insinuate, if not to charge, that President McKinley in his policy toward the Philippine Islands was actuated by unworthy motives. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning to the end the real good of the several peoplesof the archipelago came first with him, and no one who had the privilege of knowing him well doubts it. Thoroughly imbued with the lofty sentiments expressed by him in our instructions, we set forth on our long pilgrimage to a country where we were to undertake a heavy task essentially different from that which had ever before fallen to the lot of any five citizens of the United States.An Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and PupilsAn Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and PupilsOn April 17, 1900, we sailed from San Francisco on the United States army transportHancock. We were forty-five strong. Of this goodly company only four remain in the Philippines to-day,2—Mr. and Mrs. Branagan, Mrs. Worcester and myself. Singularly enough, with two exceptions, all of the others are still alive and at work. Arthur W. Ferguson, prince of interpreters, who was later appointed Executive Secretary, died in the service after more than six years of extraordinarily faithful and efficient work. James A. LeRoy, my faithful, able and efficient private secretary, contracted tuberculosis, and fell a victim to it after a long and gallant fight.At Honolulu we met with a severe disappointment. It was of course our duty to call on Governor Dole. We were advised that silk hats and frock coats must be donned for this visit, and it was perishing hot. We reached the palace in a reeking perspiration and had a long wait in a suffocating room. When Mr. Dole appeared, he was closely followed by an attendant bearing a large and most attractive-looking bottle carefully wrapped in a napkin, and our spirits rose. But, alas! It contained Poland water.At Tokio we had an audience with the Emperor and were received by the Empress as well. In the high official who had charge of the palace where these events took place, I discovered an old University of Michigan graduate who made the occasion especially pleasant for me.We finally reached Manila on the morning of June 3. Although the thermometer was in the nineties, a certainfrigidity pervaded the atmosphere on our arrival, which General MacArthur, the military governor, seemed to regard in the light of an intrusion.He had been directed to provide suitable office quarters for us. To our amazement and amusement we found desks for five commissioners and five private secretaries placed in one little room in the Ayuntamiento.3While it was possible to get through the room without scrambling over them, it would have been equally possible to circle it, walking on them, without stepping on the floor. In the course of our first long official interview with the General, he informed us that we were “an injection into an otherwise normal situation.”He added that we had already mediatized the volume of work that flowed over his desk. At the moment none of us were quite sure what he meant, but we found the word in the dictionary. How often in the weary years that were to follow I wished that some one would materially mediatize the task which fell to my lot! It was General MacArthur’s honestly held and frankly expressed opinion that what the Filipinos needed was “military government pinned to their backs for ten years with bayonets.” He later changed that view very radically, and when civil provincial governments were finally established it was with his approval, and, in many instances, upon his specific recommendation.At the outset some effort was made to keep the public away from us. Word was passed that we had no authority, which was true enough, as our legislative activities were not to begin until September 1. The ninety days which intervened were very advantageously spent in gaining familiarity with the situation, which we had no difficulty in doing. Plenty of people were already weary of military rule and flocked to us. None of my companions had ever before set foot in the Philippines, andalthough I had spent more than four years there, I still had plenty to learn.In this connection I am reminded of an event which occurred somewhat later. While the commission was en route from Iloilo to Catbalogan when we were establishing civil provincial governments, General Hughes and Mr. Taft became involved in a somewhat animated discussion. The General displayed an accurate knowledge of facts which were of such a nature that one would hardly have expected an army officer to be familiar with them. Mr. Taft said: “General, how do you do it? You have always been a busy man, devoted to your profession. How have you managed to accumulate such a remarkable fund of information?” The General smiled his rare smile and replied: “Governor, I will tell you. I always try to go to bed at night knowing a little more than I did when I got up in the morning.” It is a wise plan to follow.On September 1 we assumed the legislative power, our first official act being to appropriate $2,000,000 Mexican for the construction and repair of highways and bridges.We were impressed with the fundamental necessity of promptly opening up lines of land communication in a country which almost completely lacked them, and there were many poor people in dire need of employment who would be relieved by the opportunity to earn an honest living which the inauguration of road construction would afford them.Our second act appropriated $5000 Mexican for the purpose of making a survey to ascertain the most advantageous route for a railroad into the mountains of Benguet, where we wished to establish a much-needed health resort for the people of the archipelago.Seven days later we passed an act for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine Islands. This measure was ofbasic importance. We had stipulated before leaving Washington that no political appointees should be forced upon us under any circumstances. The members of the second commission, like their predecessors of the first, were firm in the belief that national politics should, if possible, be kept out of the administration of Philippine affairs, and we endeavoured to insure this result.Our tenth act appropriated $1500 Mexican to be paid to the widow of Salvador Reyes, vice-president of Santa Cruz in Laguna Province, assassinated because of his loyalty to the established government.Our fifteenth act increased the monthly salaries of Filipino public school teachers in Manila.Our sixteenth and seventeenth acts reorganized the Forestry Bureau and the Mining Bureau.On October 15 we appropriated $1,000,000 United States currency, for improving the port of Manila, where there was urgent need of protection for shipping during the typhoon season.On December 12 we passed an act authorizing the establishment of local police in cities and towns in the Philippine Islands and appropriating $150,000 United States currency for their maintenance.Two days later we passed a much-needed act regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors within the city of Manila and its attached barrios.On December 21, we appropriated $75,000 United States currency for the construction of the Benguet Road, little dreaming how much time would elapse and how many more dollars would be appropriated, before a vehicle passed over it.It will be sufficiently evident that I cannot here give an account of the several acts which we passed when I say that they number four hundred forty-nine during the first year. We created the administrative bureaus of a well-organized government, established civil rule in numerous municipalities and provinces, provided for the necessaryexpenses of government, organized courts and reformed the judiciary. So important were the results following the establishment of the Civil Service Act and the act providing for the organization of courts for the Philippine Islands that I have devoted a chapter to each.Although there were no limits on our power to enact legislation other than those imposed by our instructions hereinbefore referred to, nothing was further from our desire than to exercise too arbitrarily the authority conferred upon us.Taylor has correctly described our method of procedure in the following words:—“On September 1, 1900, the Commission began its legislative and executive duties. In performing them it adopted the policy of passing no laws, except in cases of emergency, without publishing them in the daily press, nor until after they had passed a second reading and the public had been given an opportunity to come before the Commission and suggest objections or amendments to the bills. Before enacting them they were submitted to the military governor for his consideration and comment.”4The other especially important events of our first legislative year were the establishment of civil rule in the municipalities as well as in thirty-eight provinces and the substitution of the military central government by the gradual creation of bureaus and the ultimate appointment of a civil governor and of five heads of executive departments.On November 23, 1900, we passed an act providing for the establishment of a civil government in the province of Benguet, and thus it happened that a province practically all of whose inhabitants were members of a non-Christian tribe was the first to enjoy the benefits of civil rule. This action grew out of investigations by General Wright and myself made when visiting Baguio during the latter part of July, which led us to the conclusion that civil government could be established in Benguet at any time andshould be established as soon as possible. In view of the rather primitive state of civilization of the people for whom we were legislating, a special act adapted to local conditions was passed providing for a provincial government and fixing a form of government for the several settlements.On January 31, 1901, we passed an act for the organization of municipal governments in the Philippine Islands which, with various amendments, is still in effect and has been made applicable to all municipal corporations of the Philippines inhabited chiefly by Filipinos, except the city of Manila, the city of Baguio and a few small settlements in the so-called special government provinces.5On February 6, 1901, we passed a general act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands. A special act was required to make it applicable to any given province.Having thus prepared for the serious work of establishing civil government throughout the archipelago so fast and so far as conditions might seem to justify, we determined to visit the several provinces and to familiarize ourselves with conditions on the ground in each case before taking action. We invariably sought the opinion of the military authorities as to the fitness of the provinces under consideration for civil rule, and never established it except with their approval. Indeed, in several cases we yielded to their judgment and organized provinces which we ourselves thought might better wait for a time.Our first trip was to the northward along the line of the Manila-Dagupan railway, and in the course of it we organized the provinces of Bulaean, Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinán.On the 2d of March we crossed Manila Bay to Bataan and established a civil provincial government there.The first provincial officers were necessarily appointed, not elected. I well remember the consternation which Mr. Taft created on this trip, when in announcing the appointment of a man of strong character who was much disliked by some of the people present, he said that if the appointee did not behave well his official head would be promptly removed. Surprise showed on almost every face in the audience. They had become sufficiently accustomed to the idea of being beheaded or otherwise sent out of the world by their own people, but had been led to believe that the Americans were a humane nation, and it took Mr. Taft at least five minutes to explain his joke.During the second week in March the commission transferred its officers bodily to the United States Army TransportSumnerand started on a long journey in the course of which it visited and established provincial governments in eighteen provinces,6returning to Manila on the 3d of May.This trip was most interesting but dreadfully wearing. Everywhere we were overwhelmed by the hospitality of our Filipino friends. We arrived at some new place nearly every morning, and the programme in each was much the same. After an early breakfast we hurried ashore, drove or walked about for a short time to see what the town was like, and then attended a popular meeting in its largest building, where we held long and frank converse with the people on local conditions, giving them every opportunity to air their views, with the result that the local orators, of whom there were usually more than a sufficiency, had an opportunity to bring their heavy guns into action. Then followed a recess in the course of which we partook of a very elaborate lunch, and when possible conferred privately with influentialmen, often learning things which they did not care to tell us in public. Then came another open meeting at which the actual organization of the province was effected and the officials were appointed and sworn in. After this there was a long formal dinner, with the endless courses which characterize such functions in the Philippines, and then came a ball which lasted till the wee small hours. When at last we got on board, tired out, our steamer sailed, and often brought us to some new place by sunrise.In several instances we did not pass the act organizing a given province at the time of our visit, but for one reason or another postponed action until a later date. We visited a number of places like Joló, Basilan, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao and Samar, where we had no intention of establishing civil government, in order to observe local conditions.We touched at Marinduque on our trip south, and found that nothing could then be done there, but the better element were anxious for a change, and we promised them that if they would bring about certain specified results before our return we would give them a provincial government. They undertook to do so, and kept their word. Needless to say we also kept ours.We had grave doubts as to the advisability of establishing civil governments in Cebú, Bohol and Batangas. In the first of these places the people were sullen and ugly. In the second there was a marked disinclination on the part of leading citizens to accept public office. There had been a little scattering rifle fire on the outskirts of the capital of the third very shortly before our arrival there, but the organization of all these provinces was recommended by the military authorities, and we decided to try an experiment which could do little harm, as we could return any one of them to military control in short order should such a course seem necessary.A Modern Primary School BuildingA Modern Primary School BuildingContrast this structure with the native houses near it.An effort has been made to make it appear that inorganizing Cebú, Bohol and Batangas, we acted prematurely and upon our own initiative, thus complicating the situation for the military authorities. I will let Blount voice this complaint. He says in part:—“In his report for 1901 Governor Taft says that the four principal provinces, including Batangas, which gave trouble shortly after the civil government was set up in that year, and had to be returned to military control, were organized under civil rule ‘on the recommendation’ of the then commanding general (MacArthur). It certainly seems unlikely that the haste to change from military rule to civil rule came on the motion of the military. If the Commission ever got,in writing,from General MacArthur, a ‘recommendation’ that any provinces be placed under civil rule while still in insurrection, the text of the writing will show a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley, the commander-in-chief. Parol7contemporaneous evidence will show that General MacArthur told them, substantially, that they were ‘riding for a fall.’ In fact, whenever an insurrection would break out in a province after Governor Taft’s inauguration as governor, the whole attitude of the army in the Philippines, from the commanding general down was ‘I told you so.’ They did not say this where Governor Taft could hear it, but it was common knowledge that they were much addicted to damning ‘politics’ as the cause of all the trouble.”8Prophecy is always dangerous and when unnecessary seems rather inexcusable. I submit the essential portions of the record to show exactly what we did get from General MacArthur, and add the suggestion that it was really hardly essential that he should make his recommendations in writing, as he did, for the reason that he was a gentleman and would not have repudiated a verbal recommendation once made.On February 5, 1901, Governor Taft wrote General MacArthur a letter closing with the following paragraph:—“As already communicated to you the purpose of the Commission is to make a Southern trip on the 23rd of February, or as soon thereafter as practicable, with the idea of arrangingfor provincial governments there, and I am directed by the Commission to request your opinion as to the provinces in which provincial governments may be safely established. It is understood that Panay, Romblon, Tayabas, and possibly one or two of the Camarines are ready for this. What has been said with reference to the Northern provinces applies to these, but we shall communicate with you further as to the Southern provinces when we have been advised as to the possibility of securing a steamer.”On February 9, General MacArthur gave the following instructions to the Commanding General, Department of the Visayas:—“The Military Governor desires that you report to this office at the earliest date practicable the provinces in your department that may be considered ready for the establishment of civil governments therein and in this connection directs me to say that it should not be considered as necessary that complete pacification has been brought about in a province before reporting it as ready for such government; that the provincial civil governments to be established will doubtless prove useful agents in the further work of pacification.”On February 27, that officer reported that in his opinion Iloilo, Capiz, Oriental Negros and Occidental Negros were ready; that Antique might be in a few days, and that Cebú, Bohol and Leyte were not. These facts were reported to Governor Taft by General MacArthur on March 4, and on the same day Lieutenant-Colonel Crowder wrote to the commanding general of the Visayas:—“The Military Governor directs me to say that he regards the initiation of provincial civil government as an aid in the work of pacification, in which view it is not necessary that a province should be completely pacified as a condition to the initiation of such government. He has expressed to the Commission the opinion that you may be able, upon their arrival at Iloilo, to submit a supplementary list of provinces in which it would be advisable to establish at once these governments.”Meanwhile General MacArthur wrote on February 13, to Governor Taft:—“In partial reply to your letter of the 5th instant I have the honor to inform you that the Commanding General, Department of Southern Luzon, reports but one province, Tayabas, as ready at the present time for civil government. I add the provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite, believing that the institution of civil government in all these provinces will be in assistance of the military authorities in the work of pacification.”General MacArthur’s communications seem to me to show something more than “a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley,” especially as the President had no knowledge of these provinces, and never made any recommendation whatsoever relative to the establishment of civil government there.Similarly, in establishing civil government in Cebu and Bohol, the commission acted on the specific recommendation of the military, and rather against its own judgment. There seemed no very good reason for refusing to try civil government, if the commanding general wanted it tried, and when it failed, as it promptly did, in Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, these provinces were immediately returned to the full control of the military, and left there until conditions became satisfactory.Having escaped the perils of the deep, and the much graver perils of the dinner table, during our southern trip, we returned to Manila, wearier, wiser and sadder men than when we started, for we had learned much of the superstitions, the ignorance and the obsessions which prevailed among the Filipinos, and we knew that many of the men who from love of country had accepted office under us had done so at the peril of their lives. We had all had an excellent opportunity to come to know the Filipinos. Their dignity of bearing, their courtesy, their friendly hospitality, their love of imposing functions, and offiestasand display, their childishness and irresponsibility in many matters, their passion for gambling, for litigation and for political intrigue, even the loves and the hatreds of some of them, had been spread before us likean open book. It is a fact that except for the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, the people wanted what we had to give them and were grateful for it. Never before had they had their day in court, and they appreciated it.The establishment of civil government throughout so large a proportion of the provinces in the islands would have been impossible at this time had it not been for the helpful activities of the Federal Party organized on December 23, 1900, by many of the best and most influential Filipinos in the archipelago for the purpose of aiding in the establishment of peace and order. Its members were tireless in their activities. They succeeded in persuading many Insurgent leaders to lay down their arms, so that a normal condition could be restored in territory which the latter had previously harried. They convinced many of the common people of the true purposes of the American government, and in numerous other ways rendered invaluable services.The officers and many of the members and agents of this party were promptly sentenced to death by Aguinaldo, and many of them were assassinated;9but the party persisted in its efforts until success was attained.During June of 1901 Professor Moses and I made a horseback trip through Pangasinán, La Union, Benguet, Lepanto and Ilocos Sur, accompanied by our private secretaries. Professor Moses was in wretched health as the result of overwork and confinement, and needed out-of-door exercise.I had been intrusted with the drafting of legislation for the government of the non-Christian tribes, and wanted to learn as much about them as possible, so that I could act intelligently.We started from Dagupan mounted on horses kindly furnished us by the army, and escorted by four mounted infantrymen. None of us had ridden for years, andarmy officers were offering wagers that we would not get as far as Baguio. At Mangaldan a cavalry outfit replaced our mounted infantrymen, and while the members of our new escort were resting under the shade of a tree in the cemetery, I heard them voicing joyful anticipations of the easy time they were to have travelling with tenderfeet. I made up ray mind to give them some healthful exercise on the trip.Having first visited the work at the lower end of the Benguet Road and then travelled across country in a driving storm over wretched trails, we reached Bauang, our point of departure for the interior. Here I called the sergeant in charge and asked him where were the extra shoes for our horses. In some confusion he confessed that he had brought none, whereupon I read him a homily on the duties of a cavalryman, and sent the whole outfit to San Fernando to get the horses reshod and provided with extra shoes for the trip.We arrived at Baguio in a howling typhoon. When we emerged from the hills into the open, and our horses got the full sweep of the storm, they at first refused to face it. We forced them into it, however, and a few moments later had found refuge in the house of Mr. Otto Scheerer, a hospitable German. The cavalrymen and the horses got in under the building. It gave me great joy to hear through the floor the voice of the sergeant remarking, with much emphasis of the sort best represented in print by dashes, that if he had known the sort of a trip he was starting on he would have been on sick report the morning of his departure.We waited in vain three days for the storm to end and then rode on. Mr. Scheerer, who accompanied us, had sent ahead to arrange for lunch at the house of a rich Igorot named Acop, but when we arrived at this man’s place, soaked, cold, and hungry, we found it shut up. He had not received the message and was away from home. Investigation showed that our only resource in the commissaryline were some wads of sticky, unsalted, boiled rice which our Igorot carriers had inside their hats, in contact with their frowsy hair. We bolted as much of this as the Igorots could spare, killing its rather high flavour with cayenne peppers picked beside the trail, and continued our journey. In descending a steep hill my horse stumbled and while attempting to recover himself drove a sharp stone into his hoof and turned a complete somersault, throwing me over his head on to the rocks. When I got him up he was dead lame, and I walked the rest of the way to Ambuklao, where we arrived just at sunset.This once prosperous little Igorot hamlet had been burned by the Spaniards, for no apparent reason, during their flight from the province in 1906, and we found only two houses standing. They were naturally crowded. I was so dead with fatigue that I threw my saddle on the ground, and using it as a pillow, lay down in a couple of inches of water and fell sound asleep. Later the Igorots vacated one of the houses, and placed it at our disposal. I spent the greater part of the night in a contest with an old Igorot woman, who for the commendable purpose of keeping us warm tended a smoky pitch-pine fire, and shut the door, which afforded our only means of ventilation, every time I dropped asleep. Awakened by the stifling smoke I would open it again, but as soon as I dozed she would shut it. I finally solved the problem by lying down with my head sticking out of the door.The next day was bright and clear. We rested until noon, drying out our belongings meanwhile, and then continued our journey, visiting the Igorot settlements on the Agno River and those in southern Lepanto and finally reaching Cervantes, the capital of that sub-province. The Igorots of Benguet and Lepanto received us with the utmost friendliness, and when not in danger of breaking our necks by falling over the edges of the wretched trails, we greatly enjoyed our trip.At Cervantes we were met by a delegation of Bontoc Igorots, who begged us to visit their country, and we were just preparing to do so when we received a telegram recalling us to Manila to be present at the inauguration of Mr. Taft as civil governor. During our absence the commission had established provincial governments in Rizal, Cavite and Nueva Ecija. Mr. Taft was inaugurated on July 4, 1901. Thenceforth he exercised control over the provinces where civil government had been established, while the military governor continued in charge of each of the remaining provinces until it was duly organized and transferred to civil control.In August, 1901, the commission sailed on a tour of the remaining northern provinces, visiting La Union, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela and Zambales in the order named, and establishing a government in each. On the trip to Abra those members of the commission not previously accustomed to roughing it in the islands were given a novel experience, for we went up the Abra River on bamboo rafts. However, a veritable ship of state had been prepared for Governor Taft, and no one suffered any great discomfort.At Vigan, the capital of Ilocos, we narrowly escaped drowning in the surf when returning to our steamer. For a time our goodviray10with some twenty oarsmen was unable to make headway through the rolling waves. It broached to, nearly filled with water, and struck the bottom heavily several times. Some of the men quit rowing and began to pray, whereupon General J. F. Bell, who was sitting in the stern, rose to his feet, and shouted at them until they became more afraid of him than of the sea, and pulled for dear life until we were out of danger. Upon arrival at the ship we watched with interest the progress of other boats through the surf, and were alarmed to see the men in one madly divesting themselves of their clothing. When it finally came alongside its occupantsmade flying leaps for the gangway, and we discovered that a great hole had been knocked in its bottom, and that raincoats, ordinary coats, and trousers had been jammed into this opening in order to keep the rapidly sinking craft afloat for a few moments.In the Cagayan valley we had a taste of real tropical heat. Never have I seen a man suffer more than did Mr. Taft at Ilagan on the day when we established a provincial government for Isabela, and the night that followed still lingers in my memory. The air was suffocating. My bed was in a corner. I dragged it out between a window and a door and threw both wide open. Still I could not sleep. Slipping off my pajamas, I seated myself on the broad window sill. The heat was intolerable. I poured water over myself and resumed my seat in the window. The water would not evaporate. I sat there until morning, as I could not endure the heat lying down.Such conditions are unknown throughout the greater part of the archipelago, where cool sea breezes temper the heat at all times. In the Cagayan valley an immense plain is bordered by ranges of high mountains to the east and the west. They seem to shut off both monsoons to a considerable extent, and there very trying heat is by no means unusual.On September 1, 1901, the first day of the second year of actual service of the commission, a complete central civil government was established. Commissioner Wright was appointed secretary of commerce and police; Commissioner Ide, secretary of finance and justice; Commissioner Moses, secretary of public instruction, and I myself secretary of the interior. The commission was strengthened by the addition of three Filipino members: Señor Benito Legarda, Señor José R. de Luzuriaga, and Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, all of whom were men of exceptional ability and had rendered distinguished service in the establishment of peace and order.Old-style Central School BuildingOld-style Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed by the Spaniards.Modern Central School BuildingModern Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed under American rule.Except for the addition of one more Filipino on July6, 1908, the organization of the commission has remained unchanged up to the present time, although there have been numerous changes in its personnel. The task which lay before it was to enact a code of laws adapted to the peculiar conditions existing in the Philippines, and this was indeed a herculean undertaking. Its members laboured unremittingly. Governor Taft and General Wright were towers of strength in the early days. The rest of us did what we could, and I, for one, am very proud of the result. Certainly no one can ever claim that the commission was not industrious. Before it finally ceased to be the legislative body of the islands it had passed some eighteen hundred acts. Obviously, as it is not my purpose to write an encyclopedia of law, I cannot discuss them in detail, and must content myself with here barely mentioning a few of the more important results obtained, leaving the more detailed discussion of some of them for later chapters.In general, it may be said that the additional bureaus necessary for the work of the Insular government were created, and given proper powers. Civil government was gradually extended to the entire archipelago.11The criminal code was amended and supplemented by the passage of new laws. The administration of justice was reorganized and reformed.12An efficient native insular police force was organized, and an admirable state of public order brought about.13The health service was extended to the provinces, and health conditions were greatly improved throughout the islands.14Baguio was made accessible and became both the summer capital and a health resort for the people of the islands.15The scientific work of the government was cordinated, and efficiency and economy in its performance were insured.16Primary and secondary schools were established throughout the islands, supplemented by trade schools, anda normal school at Manila.17Legislation was enacted, and submitted to the President and to Congress, covering the disposition of public lands.18The purchase of extensive estates belonging to certain religious orders, and the sale of their holdings therein to tenants, was provided for.19Fairly adequate legislation for the protection and development of the forest resources of the islands was enacted.20Means of communication by land and sea were greatly improved, and the development of commerce was thus stimulated.21It is a noteworthy fact that all of these things were done with a per capita taxation of about $2.24!Another fundamentally important aid to the commercial development of the islands was afforded by a radical reformation of the currency.The islands under the sovereignty of Spain had their own distinct silver coinage in peso, media peso, peseta and media peseta pieces.In 1878 the Spanish government, hoping to check the heavy exportation of gold currency from the Philippines, passed a law prohibiting the importation of Mexican dollars, but allowed the Mexican dollars then in the islands to continue to circulate as legal tender.When the American troops arrived, there were in circulation the Spanish-Philippine peso and subsidiary silver coins; Spanish pesos of different mintings; Mexican pesos of different mintings; Hongkong dollars, fractional silver coins from different Chinese countries, and copper coins from nearly every country in the Orient. Although a law had been passed prohibiting the introduction of Mexican dollars into the islands, they were being constantly smuggled in. Fluctuations in the price of silver affected the value of the silver coins, and the money in common use was in reality a commodity, worth on any given day what one could get for it. These conditionsaffected most disastrously the business interests of the islands. Merchants were forced to allow very wide margins in commercial transactions, because they did not know what their goods would actually cost them in local currency upon arrival. The most important business of the local banks was in reality that of exchange brokers and note shavers. They hammered the exchange rate down and bought silver, then boosted the rate skyward and sold.The American army brought in a large amount of gold, but this did not remain in circulation long, as it was exported by the different business concerns, or hoarded.United States silver money had a limited circulation during the early days of American occupation, but it passed at less than its true value. An effort was made under the military administration to keep the ratio of exchange at two to one by the purchase from the public of all United States currency offered at that rate to the banks.For a long time the banks refused to carry private accounts in United States currency, but when it was offered for deposit it was changed into Mexicans with a heavy charge for the transaction, and an account opened in Mexican currency to the credit of the depositor. If the depositor afterward desired to get United States currency, he gave a check for it at the then existing rate of exchange. Such conditions were intolerable, and the commission passed an act making it an offence to refuse to accept for deposit the currency of the sovereign power, but this did not remedy the fundamental difficulty. There came a heavy slump in the price of silver. The Insular government lost a very large sum because of the decrease in value of its silver coin.Mr. Charles A. Conant had been brought from the United States to make a report on the feasibility of providing an American coinage for the islands. He recommended that the unit of value should be a peso,equivalent to fifty cents United States currency. Congress, by an act passed July 1, 1902, vested general authority over the coinage in the Philippine government, but the commission decided not to take action until more specific authority could be obtained from Congress, as the proposed reform was radical, and it was very important that the new currency should at the outset command the confidence so essential to its success.After long discussion, Congress authorized, by an act passed March 2, 1903, a new currency system based on a theoretical peso of 12.9 grains of gold 900 fine, equivalent to one-half of a United States gold dollar. The circulating medium was to be the Philippine silver peso, which was to be legal tender for all debts, public and private, and its value was to be maintained on a parity with the theoretical gold peso. For this purpose the creation of a gold standard, or gold reserve fund, was provided for, and this fund was to be maintained and could be used for no other purpose.Considerable difficulty was experienced in introducing the new currency into the islands. The banks at first failed to give any assistance to the government. The business men of Manila, and especially the Chinese, discounted the new Philippine peso, because it did not contain as much silver as did the Mexican dollar. They were quickly brought to time, and given to understand where they stood if they discredited the currency of the country.The Spanish Philippine coins and the Mexican coins in circulation were collected by the treasury and exported to the San Francisco mint, where they were reminted into new coins of the weight and fineness prescribed by law.The establishment of a gold standard fund to maintain the parity between the gold and silver dollar was quickly effected by the sale of exchange on the United States in accordance with the established law, at a costestimated to be the same as the transportation of the gold coin itself.The army, by direction of the secretary of war, ceased to pay in United States money, and its paymasters were given credit at the Insular Treasury, where they obtained the necessary funds in Philippine currency.The government also authorized, in addition to the coinage of silver, the issuance of paper money in two, five, and ten peso notes. All of the coins and bills were readily interchangeable with the United States coins in common use, the dollar being worth two pesos, the half dollar one peso, the twenty-five cent piece a half peso, the ten-cent piece a peseta, the five-cent piece a media peseta and the cent two centavos.Unfortunately the silver value of the new peso was such that when the price of silver again rose, its bullion value was greater than its money value, and in consequence coins of this denomination were hoarded and exported. It proved necessary to prohibit their exportation, and to issue new coins of less bullion value, but this was the only really serious difficulty attending a fundamental reform which put the currency on a sound basis. The original pesos were recoined and a handsome profit made on the transaction.No one who has not lived in a country where the circulating medium is constantly fluctuating in value can fully appreciate the enormous benefit conferred on the Philippine Islands by this important reform.Another reform of far-reaching importance was the readjustment of the burden of taxation so that it should bear lightly on the necessities of life, and heavily on its luxuries. This was a complete reversal of the scheme which we found in force, under which wheat flour and kerosene oil paid very heavy import duties while cigars and champagne were lightly taxed.We imposed export taxes on certain products of the country. Such taxes are objected to by many politicaleconomists, but were approved of by the Filipinos, who strongly opposed the imposition of a logical and very necessary personal tax to provide funds for the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges. It is usually wise, when practicable, to obtain funds for necessary governmental purposes by the imposition of taxes which are willingly paid.Mr. Taft resigned the governorship of the Philippines to become secretary of war, his resignation taking effect January 31, 1904. He had performed a monumental work for the Filipinos, and for humanity at large, during his years of service in the islands, and carried with him the good will of most of the people whom he had so faithfully, efficiently and self-sacrificingly served. He had at one time very gravely impaired his health by hard work, and when the opportunity came to satisfy a lifelong ambition by accepting appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he had passed it by, in order to perform his duty to the people of the Philippine Islands. As secretary of war, and as President of the United States, he availed himself of every opportunity which these high offices afforded to help the Filipinos, and to increase the prosperity of their country. They have had no better friend, and no other friend whom they have ever had has been so useful to them. One more proof of his real greatness is afforded by the fact that to-day, after being reviled by many Filipino politicians whom he befriended, who have succeeded to a large degree in making the common people of the Philippines consider him their enemy, his interest in the people of the Islands is as keen, and his eagerness to help them is as great, as in the early days when they acclaimed him their deliverer.General Luke E. Wright, a democrat of Memphis, Tennessee, was appointed by President Roosevelt civil governor in Mr. Taft’s place. He rendered his country and the Filipinos most distinguished service. It is one thingto build up a great government, with numerous political appointments at one’s disposal, and another to stand by and keep it running smoothly and efficiently, when a lot of disappointed politicians, who have seen their last hope of political preferment go a-glimmering, are throwing sand into the bearings of the machine. This latter class had begun to plot against Governor Taft before his resignation took effect, but their machinations were rendered fruitless by the wave of regret raised by his coming departure.They now devoted themselves, with a good deal of success, to injuring Governor Wright, who declined to be dictated to, in the matter of appointments, by the Federal Party, and aroused the ire of many politicians by occasionally telling the Filipinos unpalatable but wholesome and necessary truths relative to their fitness for immediate independence.General Wright, whose title had been changed from governor to governor-general on February 6, 1905, went on leave during the latter part of that year, fully expecting to return and resume his work in the Philippines, but the islands were not to see him again. He resigned, effective April 1, 1906, to become United States Ambassador to Japan. In my opinion, the acceptance of his resignation at this time was one of the gravest mistakes ever made in the Philippine policy of the United States. The islands were deprived of the services of a very able and distinguished man, thoroughly conversant with their needs, who had the courage of his convictions, and whose convictions were thoroughly sound.Certain Filipino politicians openly boasted that they had secured his removal, and they and their ilk were encouraged to put forth new and pernicious efforts. Had General Wright returned to the islands much of the political unrest from which they have since suffered would have been avoided. He was beloved by his associates, who felt a sense of personal loss when they learned thatthe places which had known him in The Philippines would know him no more.He was succeeded for the brief period of five and a half months by Judge Henry C. Ide, vice-governor and secretary of finance and justice, who had performed his duties while he was on leave. Judge Ide was a republican, from Vermont. He resigned on September 19, 1906.He was succeeded by General James F. Smith, a democrat from California, who had come to the islands as a colonel of volunteers, and had won promotion because of his valuable services in the Visayas, and more especially in the island of Negros, where he had earned the good will of the Filipinos by his tact and kindness. Later he had served, unwillingly, as head of the Manila custom house.He was subsequently made a justice of the supreme court of the Philippines. A lawyer by profession, he had resigned this position with regret to accept appointment, on January 1, 1903, as secretary of public instruction. He did not desire the governor-generalship and made a strong but unsuccessful effort to avoid accepting the position, which he finally took from a sense of duty. He was a good lawyer, with a big heart, and a keen insight into human nature. He thoroughly understood the Filipinos, and he made an excellent governor-general. It was during his term of office that the Philippine Legislature, composed of an upper appointive house, the Philippine Commission, and a lower elective house, the Philippine Assembly, met for the first time on October 16, 1907.I devote a separate chapter22to the Philippine Legislature and its work, so need not discuss it here. Suffice it to say that such success as attended the work of this body during its inaugural, first and special sessions, was very largely due to the tactful influence of Governor-General Smith, who gave the speaker of the assembly much valuable, friendly counsel, and kept the two housesworking in comparative harmony. Having struggled through one session of the legislature, Governor-General Smith felt at liberty to resign. He greatly desired to leave the Philippine government service and return to the practice of his profession. His resignation was reluctantly accepted, about a year after he had tendered it, and he left the service on November 10, 1909.Typical Scene in a Trade SchoolTypical Scene in a Trade SchoolIn institutions like this, young Filipinos are being taught the dignity of labor and are learning useful trades.He was succeeded by Vice-Governor W. Cameron Forbes, a republican from Massachusetts, who had accepted appointment as secretary of commerce and police on June 15, 1904. A man of independent means, Mr. Forbes entered the public service only because of the opportunity for greater usefulness which was thus afforded him. He brought to bear on the problems which confronted him as secretary of commerce and police intelligence and ability of a very high order. Wide practical experience in the management of large business interests had admirably fitted him to improve the organization and increase the efficiency of the insular police force, and to mature and carry out plans for bettering means of communication and otherwise facilitating and stimulating the normal, healthful commercial development of the islands. I have devoted several chapters to the discussion of the results accomplished along these lines,23and will not attempt here to enumerate them.Like all of his predecessors, he brought to the office of governor-general mature experience gained on the ground, having been in the service more than five years at the time of his promotion.As governor-general, he not only retained his keen interest in the large problems which had previously engaged his attention, and laboured unceasingly and most successfully in the performance of the duties of his new office, but took an especial interest in the development of the summer capital, and in the work for the non-Christianpeoples of the islands, devoting a much greater amount of time and attention to familiarizing himself with the needs of this portion of the population than had ever previously been given to it by any governor-general. He visited the Moros and the Bukidnons in the south, and the Negritos, the Benguet Igorots, the Lepanto Igorots, the Bontoc Igorots, the Ilongots, the Ifugaos, the Kalingas, and both the wild and the civilized Tingians, in the north, repeatedly inspecting the several sub-provinces of the Mountain Province.Through his generosity in making proper grounds available, public interest in outdoor sports was greatly stimulated at Manila and at Baguio, while his own participation in polo, baseball and golf was a good example to Americans and Filipinos alike, in a country where vigorous outdoor exercise is very necessary to the physical development of the young and the preservation of the health of the mature. He was a true friend of the Filipinos, whom he genuinely liked and was always ready to assist. His personal influence was a powerful factor in the success of the very important work carried on at the Philippine Normal School and the Philippine Training School for Nurses.During his term of office the prosperity of the islands increased by leaps and bounds, public order became better than ever before in their history, and the efficiency of the civil service reached its maximum. No other governor-general ever drew so heavily on his private means in promoting the public good, and it was the irony of fate that he should have been accused, by certain irresponsible anti-imperialists, of using his public office to promote his private interests. Near the end of his administration grossly and absurdly false charges were made against him on the floor of the House by Representative William A. Jones. As their falsity has been conclusively and finally shown,24I will not here lend importance to them by repeating them. No officialhas ever given any country a cleaner administration than Governor-General Forbes gave the Philippines.It was his fortune to be in office at the time of the change in the national administration of the United States. After continuing to serve for months with no sign from Washington as to whether his resignation was desired, he was advised by the Chief of the bureau of insular affairs that the appointment of Mr. Francis Burton Harrison, who is a Tammany Hall democrat, as his successor had been sent to the Senate,25and three days after its confirmation received a curt request for his resignation to be effected in a week and a day. He was also requested to employ servants for Mr. Harrison. Spaniards who read on the public streets newspapers which printed this message were seen to tear them up and stamp on the pieces! Our Spanish friends are accustomed to expect courtesy in connection with the removal of faithful and efficient public servants.All other governors-general had taken the oath of office at Manila. Mr. Harrison took it at Washington on September 2, 1913. He is the first American governor of the islands who has entered upon his high duties without previous experience in the country which he is to govern, and he has as yet displayed little inclination to profit by the experience of either Filipino or American administrative insular officials of high rank. It is too soon to discuss any feature of his administration other than his attitude toward the civil service, which I take up elsewhere,26and I can only express the hope that when he has gained that knowledge which can come only through personal observation on the ground, he will grow to be a wise, strong, conservative official.The establishment of civil government in the Philippine Islands under American rule was a gradual evolution up to the time of the assumption of control by Governor-General Harrison.I will not attempt to follow in detail all of its successive stages, but in closing this chapter will endeavour briefly to summarize the results obtained up to that time.The Philippines now have two delegates to the Congress of the United States appointed by the legislature in accordance with the provision of Section 8 of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. Both are Filipinos.The ranking executive officials of the insular government are a governor-general, a secretary of the interior, a secretary of finance and justice, a secretary of commerce and police and a secretary of public instruction. All of these officers are appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The secretary of finance and justice is a Filipino; the other secretaries of departments are Americans.There is a legislature composed of two houses known respectively as the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. The Philippine Commission is composed of nine members; five are the governor-general and the four secretaries of departmentex officio, and four are appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate. Four of the members are Filipinos and five are Americans.27The Philippine Assembly is composed ofeighty-one elected members, all of whom are Filipinos. They represent thirty-four of the thirty-nine provinces into which the archipelago is divided. The two houses of the legislature have equal powers. Neither has any special privilege in the matter of initiating legislation, and affirmative action by both is required in order to pass it. The Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Agusan are not represented in the assembly, nor are they subject to the jurisdiction of the Philippine Legislature. The Philippine Commission alone has legislative jurisdiction over them, their population being largely composedof Moros, or members of other non-Christian tribes.The provinces may be divided into regularly organized provinces governed under the provincial government act, and specially organized provinces, which include the Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Mindoro, Palawan, Agusan and Nueva Vizcaya, of which the first is governed under a special law and the remaining four are governed under a different one known as “The Special Provincial Government Act.”Regularly organized provinces have a governor and a treasurer. The governor is elected, and the treasurer is appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission. These two officials, with another known as the third member, constitute a provincial board. The third member is elected. As the Filipinos usually elect to office men from among their own people, practically all of the elective provincial officers are Filipinos, as are ten of the appointive officers, it having been the policy to appoint Filipinos whenever possible.Regularly organized provinces are divided into municipalities which elect their own officers and control their own affairs for the most part. Provincial treasurers have intervention in municipal expenditures, which are approved in advance for each fiscal year, and municipal officers may be removed for misconduct by the governor-general.All officers of the six special government provinces are appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission.There are four regularly organized municipalities in these provinces, but the remainder of their territory is divided into townships, which elect their own officers, except their secretary-treasurers, who are appointed by the provincial governor; and intorancheriasor settlements, with all of their officials appointed by the provincialgovernor. This latter form of local government is confined to the more primitive wild people.The judiciary is independent. The details of its organization will be found inChapter XV.Three of the seven justices of the supreme court, including the chief justice, are Filipinos, as are approximately half of the judges of the courts of first instance and practically all justices of the peace.At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, 71 per cent of the employees in the classified civil service of the islands were Filipinos painstakingly trained for the positions to which they had been appointed.Prior to the American occupation, the Filipinos had practically no intervention in the government of their country.The changes introduced in the twelve years since the establishment of civil government began are of a sweeping and radical nature. For reasons hereinafter fully set forth, I believe they have been somewhat too sweeping, and too radical. At all events, it is now certainly the part of wisdom carefully to analyze their results before going further.I deem the subject of the establishment of civil governmental control over the non-Christian tribes of the Philippines worthy of special consideration.28
The first Philippine Commission did not complete its work until March, 1900. By this time conditions had so far improved in the archipelago that President McKinley was prepared to initiate a movement looking toward the establishment of civil government there. With this end in view he appointed the following commission of five civilians; William H. Taft of Ohio, Dean C. Worcester of Michigan, Luke E. Wright of Tennessee, Henry C. Ide of Vermont and Bernard Moses of California. Our appointments were dated March 16, 1900. Our instructions which were full, are given in the appendix.1I was the only member of the first commission to be reappointed. Neither General Otis nor Admiral Dewey cared to serve, and indeed the professional duties of each of them rendered his appointment to the new commission difficult, if not impossible. Mr. Schurman had at one time expressed himself as vigorously opposed to the idea of a new commission, maintaining that the best results could be obtained by the appointment of a civil governor with wide powers. It was therefore taken for granted that he would not desire reappointment. Colonel Denby was keenly interested in the work and would have been glad to continue it, but he was past seventy and with his good wife had then spent some fifteen years in the Far East. He doubted whether his strength would be adequate to bear the strain of the arduous task which obviously lay before the new commission, and Mrs. Denby desired to remain in the United States where shecould be near her children from whom she had been long separated, so her husband felt constrained to say that he did not wish to return to the Philippines.
I separated from him with the keenest regret. He was an amiable, tactful man of commanding ability and unimpeachable integrity, actuated by the best of motives and loyal to the highest ideals. He constantly sought to avoid not only evil but the appearance of evil. I count it one of the great privileges of my life to have been associated with him. The one thing in the book written by James H. Blount which aroused my ire was his characterization of Colonel Denby as a hypocrite. No falser, meaner, more utterly contemptible statement was ever made, and when I read it the temptation rose hot within me to make public Blount’s personal Philippine record, but after the first heat of anger had passed I remembered what the good old Colonel would have wished me to do in such a case, and forbore.
The second Philippine commission, hereinafter referred to as “the commission,” received its instructions on April 7, 1900.
They covered a most delicate and complicated subject, namely, the gradual transfer of control from military to civil authority in a country extensive regions of which were still in open rebellion.
In the opinion of President McKinley there was no reason why steps should not be taken, from time to time, to inaugurate governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory came under the permanent control of our troops, and indeed, as we have seen, this had already been done by the army. It was provided that we should continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil governments already commenced by the military authorities. In doing this we were to act as a board of which Mr. Taft was designated president. It was contemplated that the transfer of authority from military commanders to civil officers would be gradual,and full and complete coöperation between these authorities was enjoined. Having familiarized ourselves with the conditions then prevailing in the islands, we were to devote our attention first to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives should be given the opportunity to manage their local affairs to the fullest extent and with the least supervision and control found to be practicable. We were then to consider the organization of larger administrative divisions, and when of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands was such that the central administration could safely be transferred from military to civil control were to report this conclusion to the secretary of war with our recommendations as to the form of central government which should be established.
Beginning with September 1, 1900, we were authorized to exercise, subject to the approval of the President and the secretary of war, the legislative power, which was then to be transferred from the military governor to us until the establishment of civil central government, or until Congress should otherwise provide. We were authorized during a like period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial, educational, and civil service systems, and in the municipal and departmental governments, as were duly provided for. Until the complete transfer of control the military governor was to remain the chief executive head of the government and to exercise the executive authority previously possessed by him and not expressly assigned to the commission by the president in his instructions. In establishing municipal governments we were to take as the basis of our work those established by the military governor, under the order of August 8, 1899, which I had helped to set up, as well as those established under the report of a board constituted by the military governor by his order of January 29, 1900, of which Señor Cayetano Arellano was the president.
In the establishment of departmental or provincialgovernments we were to give special attention to the then-existing government of the island of Negros, established with the approval of the people of that island under the order of the military governor of July 22, 1899.
We were instructed to investigate troubles growing out of large land holdings, including those of the religious orders, and to promote, extend and improve the system of education already inaugurated by the military authorities, giving first importance to the extension of a system of primary education free to all, which would tend to fit the people for the duties of citizenship and the ordinary avocations of a civilized community. Instruction was to be given at first in the native dialects, but full opportunity for all of the people to acquire English was to be provided as soon as possible. If necessity demanded, we were authorized to make changes in the existing system of taxation and in the body of the laws under which the people were governed, although such changes were to be relegated to the civil government which we were to establish later, so far as might be. Our instructions contained the following important passages:—
“In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government.“At the same time the commission should bear in mind, and the people of the islands should be made plainly to understand, that there are certain great principles of government which have been made the basis of our governmental system which we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of individual freedom, and of which they have, unfortunately, been denied the experience possessed by us; that there are also certain practical rules of government which we have found tobe essential to the preservation of these great principles of liberty and law, and that these principles and these rules of government must be established and maintained in their islands for the sake of their liberty and happiness, however much they may conflict with the customs or laws of procedure with which they are familiar.“It is evident that the most enlightened thought of the Philippine Islands fully appreciates the importance of these principles and rules, and they will inevitably within a short time command universal assent. Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore, must be imposed these inviolable rules:—“That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed.”
“In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government.
“At the same time the commission should bear in mind, and the people of the islands should be made plainly to understand, that there are certain great principles of government which have been made the basis of our governmental system which we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of individual freedom, and of which they have, unfortunately, been denied the experience possessed by us; that there are also certain practical rules of government which we have found tobe essential to the preservation of these great principles of liberty and law, and that these principles and these rules of government must be established and maintained in their islands for the sake of their liberty and happiness, however much they may conflict with the customs or laws of procedure with which they are familiar.
“It is evident that the most enlightened thought of the Philippine Islands fully appreciates the importance of these principles and rules, and they will inevitably within a short time command universal assent. Upon every division and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore, must be imposed these inviolable rules:—
“That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law; that private property shall not be taken for public use without just compensation; that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be passed; that no law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed.”
It has been the fashion in some quarters to sneer at the last of these paragraphs, and to insinuate, if not to charge, that President McKinley in his policy toward the Philippine Islands was actuated by unworthy motives. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning to the end the real good of the several peoplesof the archipelago came first with him, and no one who had the privilege of knowing him well doubts it. Thoroughly imbued with the lofty sentiments expressed by him in our instructions, we set forth on our long pilgrimage to a country where we were to undertake a heavy task essentially different from that which had ever before fallen to the lot of any five citizens of the United States.
An Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and PupilsAn Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and Pupils
An Old-style Schoolhouse, with Teachers and Pupils
On April 17, 1900, we sailed from San Francisco on the United States army transportHancock. We were forty-five strong. Of this goodly company only four remain in the Philippines to-day,2—Mr. and Mrs. Branagan, Mrs. Worcester and myself. Singularly enough, with two exceptions, all of the others are still alive and at work. Arthur W. Ferguson, prince of interpreters, who was later appointed Executive Secretary, died in the service after more than six years of extraordinarily faithful and efficient work. James A. LeRoy, my faithful, able and efficient private secretary, contracted tuberculosis, and fell a victim to it after a long and gallant fight.
At Honolulu we met with a severe disappointment. It was of course our duty to call on Governor Dole. We were advised that silk hats and frock coats must be donned for this visit, and it was perishing hot. We reached the palace in a reeking perspiration and had a long wait in a suffocating room. When Mr. Dole appeared, he was closely followed by an attendant bearing a large and most attractive-looking bottle carefully wrapped in a napkin, and our spirits rose. But, alas! It contained Poland water.
At Tokio we had an audience with the Emperor and were received by the Empress as well. In the high official who had charge of the palace where these events took place, I discovered an old University of Michigan graduate who made the occasion especially pleasant for me.
We finally reached Manila on the morning of June 3. Although the thermometer was in the nineties, a certainfrigidity pervaded the atmosphere on our arrival, which General MacArthur, the military governor, seemed to regard in the light of an intrusion.
He had been directed to provide suitable office quarters for us. To our amazement and amusement we found desks for five commissioners and five private secretaries placed in one little room in the Ayuntamiento.3While it was possible to get through the room without scrambling over them, it would have been equally possible to circle it, walking on them, without stepping on the floor. In the course of our first long official interview with the General, he informed us that we were “an injection into an otherwise normal situation.”
He added that we had already mediatized the volume of work that flowed over his desk. At the moment none of us were quite sure what he meant, but we found the word in the dictionary. How often in the weary years that were to follow I wished that some one would materially mediatize the task which fell to my lot! It was General MacArthur’s honestly held and frankly expressed opinion that what the Filipinos needed was “military government pinned to their backs for ten years with bayonets.” He later changed that view very radically, and when civil provincial governments were finally established it was with his approval, and, in many instances, upon his specific recommendation.
At the outset some effort was made to keep the public away from us. Word was passed that we had no authority, which was true enough, as our legislative activities were not to begin until September 1. The ninety days which intervened were very advantageously spent in gaining familiarity with the situation, which we had no difficulty in doing. Plenty of people were already weary of military rule and flocked to us. None of my companions had ever before set foot in the Philippines, andalthough I had spent more than four years there, I still had plenty to learn.
In this connection I am reminded of an event which occurred somewhat later. While the commission was en route from Iloilo to Catbalogan when we were establishing civil provincial governments, General Hughes and Mr. Taft became involved in a somewhat animated discussion. The General displayed an accurate knowledge of facts which were of such a nature that one would hardly have expected an army officer to be familiar with them. Mr. Taft said: “General, how do you do it? You have always been a busy man, devoted to your profession. How have you managed to accumulate such a remarkable fund of information?” The General smiled his rare smile and replied: “Governor, I will tell you. I always try to go to bed at night knowing a little more than I did when I got up in the morning.” It is a wise plan to follow.
On September 1 we assumed the legislative power, our first official act being to appropriate $2,000,000 Mexican for the construction and repair of highways and bridges.
We were impressed with the fundamental necessity of promptly opening up lines of land communication in a country which almost completely lacked them, and there were many poor people in dire need of employment who would be relieved by the opportunity to earn an honest living which the inauguration of road construction would afford them.
Our second act appropriated $5000 Mexican for the purpose of making a survey to ascertain the most advantageous route for a railroad into the mountains of Benguet, where we wished to establish a much-needed health resort for the people of the archipelago.
Seven days later we passed an act for the establishment and maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine Islands. This measure was ofbasic importance. We had stipulated before leaving Washington that no political appointees should be forced upon us under any circumstances. The members of the second commission, like their predecessors of the first, were firm in the belief that national politics should, if possible, be kept out of the administration of Philippine affairs, and we endeavoured to insure this result.
Our tenth act appropriated $1500 Mexican to be paid to the widow of Salvador Reyes, vice-president of Santa Cruz in Laguna Province, assassinated because of his loyalty to the established government.
Our fifteenth act increased the monthly salaries of Filipino public school teachers in Manila.
Our sixteenth and seventeenth acts reorganized the Forestry Bureau and the Mining Bureau.
On October 15 we appropriated $1,000,000 United States currency, for improving the port of Manila, where there was urgent need of protection for shipping during the typhoon season.
On December 12 we passed an act authorizing the establishment of local police in cities and towns in the Philippine Islands and appropriating $150,000 United States currency for their maintenance.
Two days later we passed a much-needed act regulating the sale of intoxicating liquors within the city of Manila and its attached barrios.
On December 21, we appropriated $75,000 United States currency for the construction of the Benguet Road, little dreaming how much time would elapse and how many more dollars would be appropriated, before a vehicle passed over it.
It will be sufficiently evident that I cannot here give an account of the several acts which we passed when I say that they number four hundred forty-nine during the first year. We created the administrative bureaus of a well-organized government, established civil rule in numerous municipalities and provinces, provided for the necessaryexpenses of government, organized courts and reformed the judiciary. So important were the results following the establishment of the Civil Service Act and the act providing for the organization of courts for the Philippine Islands that I have devoted a chapter to each.
Although there were no limits on our power to enact legislation other than those imposed by our instructions hereinbefore referred to, nothing was further from our desire than to exercise too arbitrarily the authority conferred upon us.
Taylor has correctly described our method of procedure in the following words:—
“On September 1, 1900, the Commission began its legislative and executive duties. In performing them it adopted the policy of passing no laws, except in cases of emergency, without publishing them in the daily press, nor until after they had passed a second reading and the public had been given an opportunity to come before the Commission and suggest objections or amendments to the bills. Before enacting them they were submitted to the military governor for his consideration and comment.”4
“On September 1, 1900, the Commission began its legislative and executive duties. In performing them it adopted the policy of passing no laws, except in cases of emergency, without publishing them in the daily press, nor until after they had passed a second reading and the public had been given an opportunity to come before the Commission and suggest objections or amendments to the bills. Before enacting them they were submitted to the military governor for his consideration and comment.”4
The other especially important events of our first legislative year were the establishment of civil rule in the municipalities as well as in thirty-eight provinces and the substitution of the military central government by the gradual creation of bureaus and the ultimate appointment of a civil governor and of five heads of executive departments.
On November 23, 1900, we passed an act providing for the establishment of a civil government in the province of Benguet, and thus it happened that a province practically all of whose inhabitants were members of a non-Christian tribe was the first to enjoy the benefits of civil rule. This action grew out of investigations by General Wright and myself made when visiting Baguio during the latter part of July, which led us to the conclusion that civil government could be established in Benguet at any time andshould be established as soon as possible. In view of the rather primitive state of civilization of the people for whom we were legislating, a special act adapted to local conditions was passed providing for a provincial government and fixing a form of government for the several settlements.
On January 31, 1901, we passed an act for the organization of municipal governments in the Philippine Islands which, with various amendments, is still in effect and has been made applicable to all municipal corporations of the Philippines inhabited chiefly by Filipinos, except the city of Manila, the city of Baguio and a few small settlements in the so-called special government provinces.5
On February 6, 1901, we passed a general act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands. A special act was required to make it applicable to any given province.
Having thus prepared for the serious work of establishing civil government throughout the archipelago so fast and so far as conditions might seem to justify, we determined to visit the several provinces and to familiarize ourselves with conditions on the ground in each case before taking action. We invariably sought the opinion of the military authorities as to the fitness of the provinces under consideration for civil rule, and never established it except with their approval. Indeed, in several cases we yielded to their judgment and organized provinces which we ourselves thought might better wait for a time.
Our first trip was to the northward along the line of the Manila-Dagupan railway, and in the course of it we organized the provinces of Bulaean, Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinán.
On the 2d of March we crossed Manila Bay to Bataan and established a civil provincial government there.
The first provincial officers were necessarily appointed, not elected. I well remember the consternation which Mr. Taft created on this trip, when in announcing the appointment of a man of strong character who was much disliked by some of the people present, he said that if the appointee did not behave well his official head would be promptly removed. Surprise showed on almost every face in the audience. They had become sufficiently accustomed to the idea of being beheaded or otherwise sent out of the world by their own people, but had been led to believe that the Americans were a humane nation, and it took Mr. Taft at least five minutes to explain his joke.
During the second week in March the commission transferred its officers bodily to the United States Army TransportSumnerand started on a long journey in the course of which it visited and established provincial governments in eighteen provinces,6returning to Manila on the 3d of May.
This trip was most interesting but dreadfully wearing. Everywhere we were overwhelmed by the hospitality of our Filipino friends. We arrived at some new place nearly every morning, and the programme in each was much the same. After an early breakfast we hurried ashore, drove or walked about for a short time to see what the town was like, and then attended a popular meeting in its largest building, where we held long and frank converse with the people on local conditions, giving them every opportunity to air their views, with the result that the local orators, of whom there were usually more than a sufficiency, had an opportunity to bring their heavy guns into action. Then followed a recess in the course of which we partook of a very elaborate lunch, and when possible conferred privately with influentialmen, often learning things which they did not care to tell us in public. Then came another open meeting at which the actual organization of the province was effected and the officials were appointed and sworn in. After this there was a long formal dinner, with the endless courses which characterize such functions in the Philippines, and then came a ball which lasted till the wee small hours. When at last we got on board, tired out, our steamer sailed, and often brought us to some new place by sunrise.
In several instances we did not pass the act organizing a given province at the time of our visit, but for one reason or another postponed action until a later date. We visited a number of places like Joló, Basilan, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao and Samar, where we had no intention of establishing civil government, in order to observe local conditions.
We touched at Marinduque on our trip south, and found that nothing could then be done there, but the better element were anxious for a change, and we promised them that if they would bring about certain specified results before our return we would give them a provincial government. They undertook to do so, and kept their word. Needless to say we also kept ours.
We had grave doubts as to the advisability of establishing civil governments in Cebú, Bohol and Batangas. In the first of these places the people were sullen and ugly. In the second there was a marked disinclination on the part of leading citizens to accept public office. There had been a little scattering rifle fire on the outskirts of the capital of the third very shortly before our arrival there, but the organization of all these provinces was recommended by the military authorities, and we decided to try an experiment which could do little harm, as we could return any one of them to military control in short order should such a course seem necessary.
A Modern Primary School BuildingA Modern Primary School BuildingContrast this structure with the native houses near it.
A Modern Primary School Building
Contrast this structure with the native houses near it.
An effort has been made to make it appear that inorganizing Cebú, Bohol and Batangas, we acted prematurely and upon our own initiative, thus complicating the situation for the military authorities. I will let Blount voice this complaint. He says in part:—
“In his report for 1901 Governor Taft says that the four principal provinces, including Batangas, which gave trouble shortly after the civil government was set up in that year, and had to be returned to military control, were organized under civil rule ‘on the recommendation’ of the then commanding general (MacArthur). It certainly seems unlikely that the haste to change from military rule to civil rule came on the motion of the military. If the Commission ever got,in writing,from General MacArthur, a ‘recommendation’ that any provinces be placed under civil rule while still in insurrection, the text of the writing will show a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley, the commander-in-chief. Parol7contemporaneous evidence will show that General MacArthur told them, substantially, that they were ‘riding for a fall.’ In fact, whenever an insurrection would break out in a province after Governor Taft’s inauguration as governor, the whole attitude of the army in the Philippines, from the commanding general down was ‘I told you so.’ They did not say this where Governor Taft could hear it, but it was common knowledge that they were much addicted to damning ‘politics’ as the cause of all the trouble.”8
“In his report for 1901 Governor Taft says that the four principal provinces, including Batangas, which gave trouble shortly after the civil government was set up in that year, and had to be returned to military control, were organized under civil rule ‘on the recommendation’ of the then commanding general (MacArthur). It certainly seems unlikely that the haste to change from military rule to civil rule came on the motion of the military. If the Commission ever got,in writing,from General MacArthur, a ‘recommendation’ that any provinces be placed under civil rule while still in insurrection, the text of the writing will show a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley, the commander-in-chief. Parol7contemporaneous evidence will show that General MacArthur told them, substantially, that they were ‘riding for a fall.’ In fact, whenever an insurrection would break out in a province after Governor Taft’s inauguration as governor, the whole attitude of the army in the Philippines, from the commanding general down was ‘I told you so.’ They did not say this where Governor Taft could hear it, but it was common knowledge that they were much addicted to damning ‘politics’ as the cause of all the trouble.”8
Prophecy is always dangerous and when unnecessary seems rather inexcusable. I submit the essential portions of the record to show exactly what we did get from General MacArthur, and add the suggestion that it was really hardly essential that he should make his recommendations in writing, as he did, for the reason that he was a gentleman and would not have repudiated a verbal recommendation once made.
On February 5, 1901, Governor Taft wrote General MacArthur a letter closing with the following paragraph:—
“As already communicated to you the purpose of the Commission is to make a Southern trip on the 23rd of February, or as soon thereafter as practicable, with the idea of arrangingfor provincial governments there, and I am directed by the Commission to request your opinion as to the provinces in which provincial governments may be safely established. It is understood that Panay, Romblon, Tayabas, and possibly one or two of the Camarines are ready for this. What has been said with reference to the Northern provinces applies to these, but we shall communicate with you further as to the Southern provinces when we have been advised as to the possibility of securing a steamer.”
“As already communicated to you the purpose of the Commission is to make a Southern trip on the 23rd of February, or as soon thereafter as practicable, with the idea of arrangingfor provincial governments there, and I am directed by the Commission to request your opinion as to the provinces in which provincial governments may be safely established. It is understood that Panay, Romblon, Tayabas, and possibly one or two of the Camarines are ready for this. What has been said with reference to the Northern provinces applies to these, but we shall communicate with you further as to the Southern provinces when we have been advised as to the possibility of securing a steamer.”
On February 9, General MacArthur gave the following instructions to the Commanding General, Department of the Visayas:—
“The Military Governor desires that you report to this office at the earliest date practicable the provinces in your department that may be considered ready for the establishment of civil governments therein and in this connection directs me to say that it should not be considered as necessary that complete pacification has been brought about in a province before reporting it as ready for such government; that the provincial civil governments to be established will doubtless prove useful agents in the further work of pacification.”
“The Military Governor desires that you report to this office at the earliest date practicable the provinces in your department that may be considered ready for the establishment of civil governments therein and in this connection directs me to say that it should not be considered as necessary that complete pacification has been brought about in a province before reporting it as ready for such government; that the provincial civil governments to be established will doubtless prove useful agents in the further work of pacification.”
On February 27, that officer reported that in his opinion Iloilo, Capiz, Oriental Negros and Occidental Negros were ready; that Antique might be in a few days, and that Cebú, Bohol and Leyte were not. These facts were reported to Governor Taft by General MacArthur on March 4, and on the same day Lieutenant-Colonel Crowder wrote to the commanding general of the Visayas:—
“The Military Governor directs me to say that he regards the initiation of provincial civil government as an aid in the work of pacification, in which view it is not necessary that a province should be completely pacified as a condition to the initiation of such government. He has expressed to the Commission the opinion that you may be able, upon their arrival at Iloilo, to submit a supplementary list of provinces in which it would be advisable to establish at once these governments.”
“The Military Governor directs me to say that he regards the initiation of provincial civil government as an aid in the work of pacification, in which view it is not necessary that a province should be completely pacified as a condition to the initiation of such government. He has expressed to the Commission the opinion that you may be able, upon their arrival at Iloilo, to submit a supplementary list of provinces in which it would be advisable to establish at once these governments.”
Meanwhile General MacArthur wrote on February 13, to Governor Taft:—
“In partial reply to your letter of the 5th instant I have the honor to inform you that the Commanding General, Department of Southern Luzon, reports but one province, Tayabas, as ready at the present time for civil government. I add the provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite, believing that the institution of civil government in all these provinces will be in assistance of the military authorities in the work of pacification.”
“In partial reply to your letter of the 5th instant I have the honor to inform you that the Commanding General, Department of Southern Luzon, reports but one province, Tayabas, as ready at the present time for civil government. I add the provinces of Laguna, Batangas and Cavite, believing that the institution of civil government in all these provinces will be in assistance of the military authorities in the work of pacification.”
General MacArthur’s communications seem to me to show something more than “a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley,” especially as the President had no knowledge of these provinces, and never made any recommendation whatsoever relative to the establishment of civil government there.
Similarly, in establishing civil government in Cebu and Bohol, the commission acted on the specific recommendation of the military, and rather against its own judgment. There seemed no very good reason for refusing to try civil government, if the commanding general wanted it tried, and when it failed, as it promptly did, in Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, these provinces were immediately returned to the full control of the military, and left there until conditions became satisfactory.
Having escaped the perils of the deep, and the much graver perils of the dinner table, during our southern trip, we returned to Manila, wearier, wiser and sadder men than when we started, for we had learned much of the superstitions, the ignorance and the obsessions which prevailed among the Filipinos, and we knew that many of the men who from love of country had accepted office under us had done so at the peril of their lives. We had all had an excellent opportunity to come to know the Filipinos. Their dignity of bearing, their courtesy, their friendly hospitality, their love of imposing functions, and offiestasand display, their childishness and irresponsibility in many matters, their passion for gambling, for litigation and for political intrigue, even the loves and the hatreds of some of them, had been spread before us likean open book. It is a fact that except for the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, the people wanted what we had to give them and were grateful for it. Never before had they had their day in court, and they appreciated it.
The establishment of civil government throughout so large a proportion of the provinces in the islands would have been impossible at this time had it not been for the helpful activities of the Federal Party organized on December 23, 1900, by many of the best and most influential Filipinos in the archipelago for the purpose of aiding in the establishment of peace and order. Its members were tireless in their activities. They succeeded in persuading many Insurgent leaders to lay down their arms, so that a normal condition could be restored in territory which the latter had previously harried. They convinced many of the common people of the true purposes of the American government, and in numerous other ways rendered invaluable services.
The officers and many of the members and agents of this party were promptly sentenced to death by Aguinaldo, and many of them were assassinated;9but the party persisted in its efforts until success was attained.
During June of 1901 Professor Moses and I made a horseback trip through Pangasinán, La Union, Benguet, Lepanto and Ilocos Sur, accompanied by our private secretaries. Professor Moses was in wretched health as the result of overwork and confinement, and needed out-of-door exercise.
I had been intrusted with the drafting of legislation for the government of the non-Christian tribes, and wanted to learn as much about them as possible, so that I could act intelligently.
We started from Dagupan mounted on horses kindly furnished us by the army, and escorted by four mounted infantrymen. None of us had ridden for years, andarmy officers were offering wagers that we would not get as far as Baguio. At Mangaldan a cavalry outfit replaced our mounted infantrymen, and while the members of our new escort were resting under the shade of a tree in the cemetery, I heard them voicing joyful anticipations of the easy time they were to have travelling with tenderfeet. I made up ray mind to give them some healthful exercise on the trip.
Having first visited the work at the lower end of the Benguet Road and then travelled across country in a driving storm over wretched trails, we reached Bauang, our point of departure for the interior. Here I called the sergeant in charge and asked him where were the extra shoes for our horses. In some confusion he confessed that he had brought none, whereupon I read him a homily on the duties of a cavalryman, and sent the whole outfit to San Fernando to get the horses reshod and provided with extra shoes for the trip.
We arrived at Baguio in a howling typhoon. When we emerged from the hills into the open, and our horses got the full sweep of the storm, they at first refused to face it. We forced them into it, however, and a few moments later had found refuge in the house of Mr. Otto Scheerer, a hospitable German. The cavalrymen and the horses got in under the building. It gave me great joy to hear through the floor the voice of the sergeant remarking, with much emphasis of the sort best represented in print by dashes, that if he had known the sort of a trip he was starting on he would have been on sick report the morning of his departure.
We waited in vain three days for the storm to end and then rode on. Mr. Scheerer, who accompanied us, had sent ahead to arrange for lunch at the house of a rich Igorot named Acop, but when we arrived at this man’s place, soaked, cold, and hungry, we found it shut up. He had not received the message and was away from home. Investigation showed that our only resource in the commissaryline were some wads of sticky, unsalted, boiled rice which our Igorot carriers had inside their hats, in contact with their frowsy hair. We bolted as much of this as the Igorots could spare, killing its rather high flavour with cayenne peppers picked beside the trail, and continued our journey. In descending a steep hill my horse stumbled and while attempting to recover himself drove a sharp stone into his hoof and turned a complete somersault, throwing me over his head on to the rocks. When I got him up he was dead lame, and I walked the rest of the way to Ambuklao, where we arrived just at sunset.
This once prosperous little Igorot hamlet had been burned by the Spaniards, for no apparent reason, during their flight from the province in 1906, and we found only two houses standing. They were naturally crowded. I was so dead with fatigue that I threw my saddle on the ground, and using it as a pillow, lay down in a couple of inches of water and fell sound asleep. Later the Igorots vacated one of the houses, and placed it at our disposal. I spent the greater part of the night in a contest with an old Igorot woman, who for the commendable purpose of keeping us warm tended a smoky pitch-pine fire, and shut the door, which afforded our only means of ventilation, every time I dropped asleep. Awakened by the stifling smoke I would open it again, but as soon as I dozed she would shut it. I finally solved the problem by lying down with my head sticking out of the door.
The next day was bright and clear. We rested until noon, drying out our belongings meanwhile, and then continued our journey, visiting the Igorot settlements on the Agno River and those in southern Lepanto and finally reaching Cervantes, the capital of that sub-province. The Igorots of Benguet and Lepanto received us with the utmost friendliness, and when not in danger of breaking our necks by falling over the edges of the wretched trails, we greatly enjoyed our trip.
At Cervantes we were met by a delegation of Bontoc Igorots, who begged us to visit their country, and we were just preparing to do so when we received a telegram recalling us to Manila to be present at the inauguration of Mr. Taft as civil governor. During our absence the commission had established provincial governments in Rizal, Cavite and Nueva Ecija. Mr. Taft was inaugurated on July 4, 1901. Thenceforth he exercised control over the provinces where civil government had been established, while the military governor continued in charge of each of the remaining provinces until it was duly organized and transferred to civil control.
In August, 1901, the commission sailed on a tour of the remaining northern provinces, visiting La Union, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Ilocos Norte, Cagayan, Isabela and Zambales in the order named, and establishing a government in each. On the trip to Abra those members of the commission not previously accustomed to roughing it in the islands were given a novel experience, for we went up the Abra River on bamboo rafts. However, a veritable ship of state had been prepared for Governor Taft, and no one suffered any great discomfort.
At Vigan, the capital of Ilocos, we narrowly escaped drowning in the surf when returning to our steamer. For a time our goodviray10with some twenty oarsmen was unable to make headway through the rolling waves. It broached to, nearly filled with water, and struck the bottom heavily several times. Some of the men quit rowing and began to pray, whereupon General J. F. Bell, who was sitting in the stern, rose to his feet, and shouted at them until they became more afraid of him than of the sea, and pulled for dear life until we were out of danger. Upon arrival at the ship we watched with interest the progress of other boats through the surf, and were alarmed to see the men in one madly divesting themselves of their clothing. When it finally came alongside its occupantsmade flying leaps for the gangway, and we discovered that a great hole had been knocked in its bottom, and that raincoats, ordinary coats, and trousers had been jammed into this opening in order to keep the rapidly sinking craft afloat for a few moments.
In the Cagayan valley we had a taste of real tropical heat. Never have I seen a man suffer more than did Mr. Taft at Ilagan on the day when we established a provincial government for Isabela, and the night that followed still lingers in my memory. The air was suffocating. My bed was in a corner. I dragged it out between a window and a door and threw both wide open. Still I could not sleep. Slipping off my pajamas, I seated myself on the broad window sill. The heat was intolerable. I poured water over myself and resumed my seat in the window. The water would not evaporate. I sat there until morning, as I could not endure the heat lying down.
Such conditions are unknown throughout the greater part of the archipelago, where cool sea breezes temper the heat at all times. In the Cagayan valley an immense plain is bordered by ranges of high mountains to the east and the west. They seem to shut off both monsoons to a considerable extent, and there very trying heat is by no means unusual.
On September 1, 1901, the first day of the second year of actual service of the commission, a complete central civil government was established. Commissioner Wright was appointed secretary of commerce and police; Commissioner Ide, secretary of finance and justice; Commissioner Moses, secretary of public instruction, and I myself secretary of the interior. The commission was strengthened by the addition of three Filipino members: Señor Benito Legarda, Señor José R. de Luzuriaga, and Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, all of whom were men of exceptional ability and had rendered distinguished service in the establishment of peace and order.
Old-style Central School BuildingOld-style Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed by the Spaniards.
Old-style Central School Building
This structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed by the Spaniards.
Modern Central School BuildingModern Central School BuildingThis structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed under American rule.
Modern Central School Building
This structure is typical of the better-class school-houses constructed under American rule.
Except for the addition of one more Filipino on July6, 1908, the organization of the commission has remained unchanged up to the present time, although there have been numerous changes in its personnel. The task which lay before it was to enact a code of laws adapted to the peculiar conditions existing in the Philippines, and this was indeed a herculean undertaking. Its members laboured unremittingly. Governor Taft and General Wright were towers of strength in the early days. The rest of us did what we could, and I, for one, am very proud of the result. Certainly no one can ever claim that the commission was not industrious. Before it finally ceased to be the legislative body of the islands it had passed some eighteen hundred acts. Obviously, as it is not my purpose to write an encyclopedia of law, I cannot discuss them in detail, and must content myself with here barely mentioning a few of the more important results obtained, leaving the more detailed discussion of some of them for later chapters.
In general, it may be said that the additional bureaus necessary for the work of the Insular government were created, and given proper powers. Civil government was gradually extended to the entire archipelago.11The criminal code was amended and supplemented by the passage of new laws. The administration of justice was reorganized and reformed.12An efficient native insular police force was organized, and an admirable state of public order brought about.13The health service was extended to the provinces, and health conditions were greatly improved throughout the islands.14Baguio was made accessible and became both the summer capital and a health resort for the people of the islands.15The scientific work of the government was cordinated, and efficiency and economy in its performance were insured.16
Primary and secondary schools were established throughout the islands, supplemented by trade schools, anda normal school at Manila.17Legislation was enacted, and submitted to the President and to Congress, covering the disposition of public lands.18The purchase of extensive estates belonging to certain religious orders, and the sale of their holdings therein to tenants, was provided for.19Fairly adequate legislation for the protection and development of the forest resources of the islands was enacted.20Means of communication by land and sea were greatly improved, and the development of commerce was thus stimulated.21
It is a noteworthy fact that all of these things were done with a per capita taxation of about $2.24!
Another fundamentally important aid to the commercial development of the islands was afforded by a radical reformation of the currency.
The islands under the sovereignty of Spain had their own distinct silver coinage in peso, media peso, peseta and media peseta pieces.
In 1878 the Spanish government, hoping to check the heavy exportation of gold currency from the Philippines, passed a law prohibiting the importation of Mexican dollars, but allowed the Mexican dollars then in the islands to continue to circulate as legal tender.
When the American troops arrived, there were in circulation the Spanish-Philippine peso and subsidiary silver coins; Spanish pesos of different mintings; Mexican pesos of different mintings; Hongkong dollars, fractional silver coins from different Chinese countries, and copper coins from nearly every country in the Orient. Although a law had been passed prohibiting the introduction of Mexican dollars into the islands, they were being constantly smuggled in. Fluctuations in the price of silver affected the value of the silver coins, and the money in common use was in reality a commodity, worth on any given day what one could get for it. These conditionsaffected most disastrously the business interests of the islands. Merchants were forced to allow very wide margins in commercial transactions, because they did not know what their goods would actually cost them in local currency upon arrival. The most important business of the local banks was in reality that of exchange brokers and note shavers. They hammered the exchange rate down and bought silver, then boosted the rate skyward and sold.
The American army brought in a large amount of gold, but this did not remain in circulation long, as it was exported by the different business concerns, or hoarded.
United States silver money had a limited circulation during the early days of American occupation, but it passed at less than its true value. An effort was made under the military administration to keep the ratio of exchange at two to one by the purchase from the public of all United States currency offered at that rate to the banks.
For a long time the banks refused to carry private accounts in United States currency, but when it was offered for deposit it was changed into Mexicans with a heavy charge for the transaction, and an account opened in Mexican currency to the credit of the depositor. If the depositor afterward desired to get United States currency, he gave a check for it at the then existing rate of exchange. Such conditions were intolerable, and the commission passed an act making it an offence to refuse to accept for deposit the currency of the sovereign power, but this did not remedy the fundamental difficulty. There came a heavy slump in the price of silver. The Insular government lost a very large sum because of the decrease in value of its silver coin.
Mr. Charles A. Conant had been brought from the United States to make a report on the feasibility of providing an American coinage for the islands. He recommended that the unit of value should be a peso,equivalent to fifty cents United States currency. Congress, by an act passed July 1, 1902, vested general authority over the coinage in the Philippine government, but the commission decided not to take action until more specific authority could be obtained from Congress, as the proposed reform was radical, and it was very important that the new currency should at the outset command the confidence so essential to its success.
After long discussion, Congress authorized, by an act passed March 2, 1903, a new currency system based on a theoretical peso of 12.9 grains of gold 900 fine, equivalent to one-half of a United States gold dollar. The circulating medium was to be the Philippine silver peso, which was to be legal tender for all debts, public and private, and its value was to be maintained on a parity with the theoretical gold peso. For this purpose the creation of a gold standard, or gold reserve fund, was provided for, and this fund was to be maintained and could be used for no other purpose.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in introducing the new currency into the islands. The banks at first failed to give any assistance to the government. The business men of Manila, and especially the Chinese, discounted the new Philippine peso, because it did not contain as much silver as did the Mexican dollar. They were quickly brought to time, and given to understand where they stood if they discredited the currency of the country.
The Spanish Philippine coins and the Mexican coins in circulation were collected by the treasury and exported to the San Francisco mint, where they were reminted into new coins of the weight and fineness prescribed by law.
The establishment of a gold standard fund to maintain the parity between the gold and silver dollar was quickly effected by the sale of exchange on the United States in accordance with the established law, at a costestimated to be the same as the transportation of the gold coin itself.
The army, by direction of the secretary of war, ceased to pay in United States money, and its paymasters were given credit at the Insular Treasury, where they obtained the necessary funds in Philippine currency.
The government also authorized, in addition to the coinage of silver, the issuance of paper money in two, five, and ten peso notes. All of the coins and bills were readily interchangeable with the United States coins in common use, the dollar being worth two pesos, the half dollar one peso, the twenty-five cent piece a half peso, the ten-cent piece a peseta, the five-cent piece a media peseta and the cent two centavos.
Unfortunately the silver value of the new peso was such that when the price of silver again rose, its bullion value was greater than its money value, and in consequence coins of this denomination were hoarded and exported. It proved necessary to prohibit their exportation, and to issue new coins of less bullion value, but this was the only really serious difficulty attending a fundamental reform which put the currency on a sound basis. The original pesos were recoined and a handsome profit made on the transaction.
No one who has not lived in a country where the circulating medium is constantly fluctuating in value can fully appreciate the enormous benefit conferred on the Philippine Islands by this important reform.
Another reform of far-reaching importance was the readjustment of the burden of taxation so that it should bear lightly on the necessities of life, and heavily on its luxuries. This was a complete reversal of the scheme which we found in force, under which wheat flour and kerosene oil paid very heavy import duties while cigars and champagne were lightly taxed.
We imposed export taxes on certain products of the country. Such taxes are objected to by many politicaleconomists, but were approved of by the Filipinos, who strongly opposed the imposition of a logical and very necessary personal tax to provide funds for the construction and maintenance of highways and bridges. It is usually wise, when practicable, to obtain funds for necessary governmental purposes by the imposition of taxes which are willingly paid.
Mr. Taft resigned the governorship of the Philippines to become secretary of war, his resignation taking effect January 31, 1904. He had performed a monumental work for the Filipinos, and for humanity at large, during his years of service in the islands, and carried with him the good will of most of the people whom he had so faithfully, efficiently and self-sacrificingly served. He had at one time very gravely impaired his health by hard work, and when the opportunity came to satisfy a lifelong ambition by accepting appointment as a Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he had passed it by, in order to perform his duty to the people of the Philippine Islands. As secretary of war, and as President of the United States, he availed himself of every opportunity which these high offices afforded to help the Filipinos, and to increase the prosperity of their country. They have had no better friend, and no other friend whom they have ever had has been so useful to them. One more proof of his real greatness is afforded by the fact that to-day, after being reviled by many Filipino politicians whom he befriended, who have succeeded to a large degree in making the common people of the Philippines consider him their enemy, his interest in the people of the Islands is as keen, and his eagerness to help them is as great, as in the early days when they acclaimed him their deliverer.
General Luke E. Wright, a democrat of Memphis, Tennessee, was appointed by President Roosevelt civil governor in Mr. Taft’s place. He rendered his country and the Filipinos most distinguished service. It is one thingto build up a great government, with numerous political appointments at one’s disposal, and another to stand by and keep it running smoothly and efficiently, when a lot of disappointed politicians, who have seen their last hope of political preferment go a-glimmering, are throwing sand into the bearings of the machine. This latter class had begun to plot against Governor Taft before his resignation took effect, but their machinations were rendered fruitless by the wave of regret raised by his coming departure.
They now devoted themselves, with a good deal of success, to injuring Governor Wright, who declined to be dictated to, in the matter of appointments, by the Federal Party, and aroused the ire of many politicians by occasionally telling the Filipinos unpalatable but wholesome and necessary truths relative to their fitness for immediate independence.
General Wright, whose title had been changed from governor to governor-general on February 6, 1905, went on leave during the latter part of that year, fully expecting to return and resume his work in the Philippines, but the islands were not to see him again. He resigned, effective April 1, 1906, to become United States Ambassador to Japan. In my opinion, the acceptance of his resignation at this time was one of the gravest mistakes ever made in the Philippine policy of the United States. The islands were deprived of the services of a very able and distinguished man, thoroughly conversant with their needs, who had the courage of his convictions, and whose convictions were thoroughly sound.
Certain Filipino politicians openly boasted that they had secured his removal, and they and their ilk were encouraged to put forth new and pernicious efforts. Had General Wright returned to the islands much of the political unrest from which they have since suffered would have been avoided. He was beloved by his associates, who felt a sense of personal loss when they learned thatthe places which had known him in The Philippines would know him no more.
He was succeeded for the brief period of five and a half months by Judge Henry C. Ide, vice-governor and secretary of finance and justice, who had performed his duties while he was on leave. Judge Ide was a republican, from Vermont. He resigned on September 19, 1906.
He was succeeded by General James F. Smith, a democrat from California, who had come to the islands as a colonel of volunteers, and had won promotion because of his valuable services in the Visayas, and more especially in the island of Negros, where he had earned the good will of the Filipinos by his tact and kindness. Later he had served, unwillingly, as head of the Manila custom house.
He was subsequently made a justice of the supreme court of the Philippines. A lawyer by profession, he had resigned this position with regret to accept appointment, on January 1, 1903, as secretary of public instruction. He did not desire the governor-generalship and made a strong but unsuccessful effort to avoid accepting the position, which he finally took from a sense of duty. He was a good lawyer, with a big heart, and a keen insight into human nature. He thoroughly understood the Filipinos, and he made an excellent governor-general. It was during his term of office that the Philippine Legislature, composed of an upper appointive house, the Philippine Commission, and a lower elective house, the Philippine Assembly, met for the first time on October 16, 1907.
I devote a separate chapter22to the Philippine Legislature and its work, so need not discuss it here. Suffice it to say that such success as attended the work of this body during its inaugural, first and special sessions, was very largely due to the tactful influence of Governor-General Smith, who gave the speaker of the assembly much valuable, friendly counsel, and kept the two housesworking in comparative harmony. Having struggled through one session of the legislature, Governor-General Smith felt at liberty to resign. He greatly desired to leave the Philippine government service and return to the practice of his profession. His resignation was reluctantly accepted, about a year after he had tendered it, and he left the service on November 10, 1909.
Typical Scene in a Trade SchoolTypical Scene in a Trade SchoolIn institutions like this, young Filipinos are being taught the dignity of labor and are learning useful trades.
Typical Scene in a Trade School
In institutions like this, young Filipinos are being taught the dignity of labor and are learning useful trades.
He was succeeded by Vice-Governor W. Cameron Forbes, a republican from Massachusetts, who had accepted appointment as secretary of commerce and police on June 15, 1904. A man of independent means, Mr. Forbes entered the public service only because of the opportunity for greater usefulness which was thus afforded him. He brought to bear on the problems which confronted him as secretary of commerce and police intelligence and ability of a very high order. Wide practical experience in the management of large business interests had admirably fitted him to improve the organization and increase the efficiency of the insular police force, and to mature and carry out plans for bettering means of communication and otherwise facilitating and stimulating the normal, healthful commercial development of the islands. I have devoted several chapters to the discussion of the results accomplished along these lines,23and will not attempt here to enumerate them.
Like all of his predecessors, he brought to the office of governor-general mature experience gained on the ground, having been in the service more than five years at the time of his promotion.
As governor-general, he not only retained his keen interest in the large problems which had previously engaged his attention, and laboured unceasingly and most successfully in the performance of the duties of his new office, but took an especial interest in the development of the summer capital, and in the work for the non-Christianpeoples of the islands, devoting a much greater amount of time and attention to familiarizing himself with the needs of this portion of the population than had ever previously been given to it by any governor-general. He visited the Moros and the Bukidnons in the south, and the Negritos, the Benguet Igorots, the Lepanto Igorots, the Bontoc Igorots, the Ilongots, the Ifugaos, the Kalingas, and both the wild and the civilized Tingians, in the north, repeatedly inspecting the several sub-provinces of the Mountain Province.
Through his generosity in making proper grounds available, public interest in outdoor sports was greatly stimulated at Manila and at Baguio, while his own participation in polo, baseball and golf was a good example to Americans and Filipinos alike, in a country where vigorous outdoor exercise is very necessary to the physical development of the young and the preservation of the health of the mature. He was a true friend of the Filipinos, whom he genuinely liked and was always ready to assist. His personal influence was a powerful factor in the success of the very important work carried on at the Philippine Normal School and the Philippine Training School for Nurses.
During his term of office the prosperity of the islands increased by leaps and bounds, public order became better than ever before in their history, and the efficiency of the civil service reached its maximum. No other governor-general ever drew so heavily on his private means in promoting the public good, and it was the irony of fate that he should have been accused, by certain irresponsible anti-imperialists, of using his public office to promote his private interests. Near the end of his administration grossly and absurdly false charges were made against him on the floor of the House by Representative William A. Jones. As their falsity has been conclusively and finally shown,24I will not here lend importance to them by repeating them. No officialhas ever given any country a cleaner administration than Governor-General Forbes gave the Philippines.
It was his fortune to be in office at the time of the change in the national administration of the United States. After continuing to serve for months with no sign from Washington as to whether his resignation was desired, he was advised by the Chief of the bureau of insular affairs that the appointment of Mr. Francis Burton Harrison, who is a Tammany Hall democrat, as his successor had been sent to the Senate,25and three days after its confirmation received a curt request for his resignation to be effected in a week and a day. He was also requested to employ servants for Mr. Harrison. Spaniards who read on the public streets newspapers which printed this message were seen to tear them up and stamp on the pieces! Our Spanish friends are accustomed to expect courtesy in connection with the removal of faithful and efficient public servants.
All other governors-general had taken the oath of office at Manila. Mr. Harrison took it at Washington on September 2, 1913. He is the first American governor of the islands who has entered upon his high duties without previous experience in the country which he is to govern, and he has as yet displayed little inclination to profit by the experience of either Filipino or American administrative insular officials of high rank. It is too soon to discuss any feature of his administration other than his attitude toward the civil service, which I take up elsewhere,26and I can only express the hope that when he has gained that knowledge which can come only through personal observation on the ground, he will grow to be a wise, strong, conservative official.
The establishment of civil government in the Philippine Islands under American rule was a gradual evolution up to the time of the assumption of control by Governor-General Harrison.
I will not attempt to follow in detail all of its successive stages, but in closing this chapter will endeavour briefly to summarize the results obtained up to that time.
The Philippines now have two delegates to the Congress of the United States appointed by the legislature in accordance with the provision of Section 8 of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. Both are Filipinos.
The ranking executive officials of the insular government are a governor-general, a secretary of the interior, a secretary of finance and justice, a secretary of commerce and police and a secretary of public instruction. All of these officers are appointed by the President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The secretary of finance and justice is a Filipino; the other secretaries of departments are Americans.
There is a legislature composed of two houses known respectively as the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. The Philippine Commission is composed of nine members; five are the governor-general and the four secretaries of departmentex officio, and four are appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate. Four of the members are Filipinos and five are Americans.27
The Philippine Assembly is composed ofeighty-one elected members, all of whom are Filipinos. They represent thirty-four of the thirty-nine provinces into which the archipelago is divided. The two houses of the legislature have equal powers. Neither has any special privilege in the matter of initiating legislation, and affirmative action by both is required in order to pass it. The Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Agusan are not represented in the assembly, nor are they subject to the jurisdiction of the Philippine Legislature. The Philippine Commission alone has legislative jurisdiction over them, their population being largely composedof Moros, or members of other non-Christian tribes.
The provinces may be divided into regularly organized provinces governed under the provincial government act, and specially organized provinces, which include the Moro Province, the Mountain Province and the provinces of Mindoro, Palawan, Agusan and Nueva Vizcaya, of which the first is governed under a special law and the remaining four are governed under a different one known as “The Special Provincial Government Act.”
Regularly organized provinces have a governor and a treasurer. The governor is elected, and the treasurer is appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission. These two officials, with another known as the third member, constitute a provincial board. The third member is elected. As the Filipinos usually elect to office men from among their own people, practically all of the elective provincial officers are Filipinos, as are ten of the appointive officers, it having been the policy to appoint Filipinos whenever possible.
Regularly organized provinces are divided into municipalities which elect their own officers and control their own affairs for the most part. Provincial treasurers have intervention in municipal expenditures, which are approved in advance for each fiscal year, and municipal officers may be removed for misconduct by the governor-general.
All officers of the six special government provinces are appointed by the governor-general with the approval of the commission.
There are four regularly organized municipalities in these provinces, but the remainder of their territory is divided into townships, which elect their own officers, except their secretary-treasurers, who are appointed by the provincial governor; and intorancheriasor settlements, with all of their officials appointed by the provincialgovernor. This latter form of local government is confined to the more primitive wild people.
The judiciary is independent. The details of its organization will be found inChapter XV.
Three of the seven justices of the supreme court, including the chief justice, are Filipinos, as are approximately half of the judges of the courts of first instance and practically all justices of the peace.
At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, 71 per cent of the employees in the classified civil service of the islands were Filipinos painstakingly trained for the positions to which they had been appointed.
Prior to the American occupation, the Filipinos had practically no intervention in the government of their country.
The changes introduced in the twelve years since the establishment of civil government began are of a sweeping and radical nature. For reasons hereinafter fully set forth, I believe they have been somewhat too sweeping, and too radical. At all events, it is now certainly the part of wisdom carefully to analyze their results before going further.
I deem the subject of the establishment of civil governmental control over the non-Christian tribes of the Philippines worthy of special consideration.28
1P. 981.2September 15, 1913.3The building where the executive offices of the insular government have been located since the American occupation.4Taylor, 18 HS.5This name is applied to certain provinces organized under special acts because the majority of their inhabitants are non-Christians.6Tayabas, Romblon, Masbate, Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Cebú, Bohol, Occidental Negros, Oriental Negros, Leyte, Albay, Ambos, Camarines, Sorsogon, Marinduque, Batangas, Surigao, and Misamis.7Obviously a misprint, perhaps, for “perusal of.”8Blount, p. 380.9For further details see pp. 746; 753.10A native surf boat.11See Chapters XXI–XXIV.12Chap. XV.13Chap. XIV.14Chap. XVI.15Chap. XVII.16Chap. XVIII.17See Chapter XIX.18Chap. XXX.19Chap. XXX.20Chap. XXXI.21Chap. XXXII.22Chapter XXVII.23Chapters XIV, XXII, XXIII and XXIV.24Reply to Jones, Pamphlet, Manila, 1913.25See pp. 375–77.26See pp. 357–77.27Under the new regime these figures have been reversed.28See Chapters XX–XXIV.
1P. 981.
2September 15, 1913.
3The building where the executive offices of the insular government have been located since the American occupation.
4Taylor, 18 HS.
5This name is applied to certain provinces organized under special acts because the majority of their inhabitants are non-Christians.
6Tayabas, Romblon, Masbate, Iloilo, Antique, Capiz, Cebú, Bohol, Occidental Negros, Oriental Negros, Leyte, Albay, Ambos, Camarines, Sorsogon, Marinduque, Batangas, Surigao, and Misamis.
7Obviously a misprint, perhaps, for “perusal of.”
8Blount, p. 380.
9For further details see pp. 746; 753.
10A native surf boat.
11See Chapters XXI–XXIV.
12Chap. XV.
13Chap. XIV.
14Chap. XVI.
15Chap. XVII.
16Chap. XVIII.
17See Chapter XIX.
18Chap. XXX.
19Chap. XXX.
20Chap. XXXI.
21Chap. XXXII.
22Chapter XXVII.
23Chapters XIV, XXII, XXIII and XXIV.
24Reply to Jones, Pamphlet, Manila, 1913.
25See pp. 375–77.
26See pp. 357–77.
27Under the new regime these figures have been reversed.
28See Chapters XX–XXIV.