vi" 
 
 
 
 
 ■At %*. - . * » \ 
 
 ^^9- 
 
 
 
 
 K^"^ °^ 
 
 
 ^' 
 
 
 
 ^^•^^. 
 
 .^^^ 
 
 'bt? 
 
 
 
 0° .15^>^^ °o 
 
 
 
 ^4 Q^ 
 
 ^-^^ 
 
 •*" " » * ^v 
 
 *■ * * * '^ , O M O 
 
 
 
 /\. 
 
 
 
 
 ■»-,•«• 
 
 
 ■•CpV 
 
 
 *>t. 
 
 o V 
 
 %0^ 
 
 
 
 
 •rffv«J^.v' o 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 <^<=i^ 
 
 "h^ 
 
 ■\ ' , o 
 
 a5*^^ 
 
 
 &°^ 
 
 
 
 \ ^v^^^ 
 
 
 ^^^^ 
 
 
 
 .<^^ 
 
 
 •■''^ ''■*^.6 aO^ oO^V./^O 
 
HE PHILIPPINES 
 
 THE FIRST CIYIL GOYERNOR 
 
 BY THEODORE ROOSEVELT 
 
 CIYIL GOYERNMENT IN THE 
 PHILIPPINES 
 
 BY WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 CIVIL GOVEKNOB OF THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 NEW YORK 
 
 THE OUTLOOK COMPANY 
 
 1902 
 
TKrxiBRARY or 
 
 CONGRESS, 
 
 Two CoWEe REOEiveo 
 
 AUG. !2 1902 
 
 » CorvntOHT EPiniv 
 CLASS ^ XXa No. 
 COFV B. ' 
 
 Copyright, 1902, by 
 The Outlook Company 
 
 THE DEVINNE PRESS 
 
 
PUBLISHERS' NOTE 
 
 Governor Taft's survey of what 
 has been already accomplished in the 
 Philippines in establishing civil govern- 
 ment is the best possible indication of 
 what may be done in the future in ex- 
 tending and completing the work. The 
 importance of a full knowledge of ac- 
 tual conditions is apparent; and no- 
 where have the facts been stated so 
 fully and so authoritatively as they are 
 here by Governor Taft. When this 
 review of the situation was published 
 in The Outlook (May 31, 1902) the 
 
 [5] 
 
PUBLISHERS' NOTE 
 
 editors of that journal pointed out that 
 it was because they regarded General 
 Taft as the first expert in the service 
 of the country in the affairs of the 
 Philippines that they had asked him to 
 prepare for their readers a full survey 
 of what had been accomplished, and an 
 outhne of the pohcy which he wishes 
 to have pursued in dealing with the 
 islands. It is for the same reason 
 that it has seemed well worth while 
 to give permanent form to this history 
 of the laying of the foundations of 
 American civiHzation in the Philip- 
 pines. 
 
 The qualities of Judge Taft's char- 
 acter and the nature of his experience 
 which made him the choice of President 
 McKinley are admirably brought out in 
 [6] 
 
PUBLISHERS' NOTE 
 
 President Eoosevelt's personal sketch 
 of '' The First Civil Governor." This 
 characteristically direct and vigorous 
 appreciation was written a very few 
 weeks before the assassination of Pres- 
 ident McKinley, and was first pubhshed 
 in The Outlook of September 21, 1901. 
 
 [7] 
 
THE FIRST CIVIL GOYEENOR: 
 WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 BY THEODOEE EOOSEVELT 
 
 President of the United States 
 
THE FIRST CIVIL GOVEENOR 
 
 A YEAR^ ago a man of wide ac- 
 quaintance both with American 
 public life and American public 
 men remarked that the first Gov- 
 ernor of the Philippines ought to 
 combine the qualities which would 
 make a first-class President of the 
 United States with the qualities 
 which would make a first-class 
 Chief Justice of the United States, 
 and that the only man he knew 
 who possessed all these qualities 
 
 ^ This article was written for The Outlook in 
 the summer of 1901 by President Roosevelt, then 
 Vice-President. 
 
 [11] 
 
THE FIEST CIVIL GOVERNOR 
 
 was Judge William H. Taft, of Ohio. 
 The statement was entirely cor- 
 rect. Few more difficult tasks have 
 devolved upon any man of our na- 
 tionality during our century and a 
 quarter of puhlic life than the han- 
 dling of the Philippine Islands just 
 at this time ; and it may be doubted 
 whether among men now living an- 
 other could be found as well fitted 
 as Judge Taft to do this incredibly 
 difficult work. Judge Taft belongs 
 to a family which has always done 
 valuable public service. He grad- 
 uated fi'om Yale in 1878; and a 
 few years later, when Yale gave 
 him the honorary degree of LL.D., 
 he was the youngest of her grad- 
 uates upon whom she had ever con- 
 
 [12] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 ferred this honor. On graduation 
 he took up the study of the law, and 
 also entered actively into puhlic 
 life. In both careers he rose stead- 
 ily and rapidly. Under President 
 Harrison he was made Solicitor- 
 General of the United States, and 
 he left this place to become a Judge 
 of the United States District Court. 
 But his weight in public life was 
 something entirely apart from the 
 office he at any time happened to 
 hold. I dislike speaking in hyper- 
 bole; but I think that almost all 
 men who have been brought in close 
 contact, personally and officially, 
 with Judge Taft are agreed that he 
 combines as very, very few men 
 ever can combine, a standard of 
 
 [13] 
 
THE FIEST CIVIL GOVERNOR 
 
 absolutely unflinching rectitude on 
 every point of public duty, and a 
 literally dauntless courage and 
 willingness to bear responsibility, 
 with a knowledge of men, and a 
 far-reaching tact and kindliness, 
 which enable his great abilities and 
 high principles to be of use in a 
 way that would be impossible were 
 he not thus gifted with the capacity 
 to work hand in hand with his 
 fellows. President McKinley has 
 rendered many great services to 
 his country ; and not the least has 
 been the clear-sightedness with 
 which he has chosen the best pos-, 
 sible public servants to perform the 
 very difficult tasks of acting as the 
 first administrators in the islands 
 
 [14] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 which came into our hands as a 
 result of the Spanish war. Such 
 was the service he rendered when 
 he chose Assistant Secretary of the 
 Navy Allen and afterwards Judge 
 Hunt as Governors of Porto Rico ; 
 when he chose General Leonard 
 Wood as Governor- General of Cuba; 
 and finally when he made Judge 
 Taffc the first Governor of the 
 Philippines. 
 
 When Judge Taft was sent out 
 as the head of the Commission ap- 
 pointed by the President to inaugu- 
 rate civil rule in the Philippines, 
 he was in a position not only of 
 great difficulty, but of great deli- 
 cacy. He had to show inflexible 
 strength, and yet capacity to work 
 
 [15] 
 
THE FIEST CIVIL GOVEENOR 
 
 heartily with other men and get 
 the best results out of conflicting 
 ideas and interests. The Tagalog 
 insurrection was still under full 
 headway, being kept alive largely 
 by the moral aid it received from 
 certain sources in this country. 
 Any action of the Commission, no 
 matter how wise and just, was 
 certain to be misrepresented and 
 bitterly attacked here at home by 
 those who, from whatever reasons, 
 desired the success of the insur- 
 gents. On the other hand, the 
 regular army, which had done and 
 was doing its work admirably — 
 and which is entitled to the hearti- 
 est regard and respect from every 
 true American, alive, as he should 
 
 [16] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 be, to its literally inestimable ser- 
 vices — was yet, from its very 
 nature, not an instrument fitted for 
 tbe frirtber development of civil 
 liberty in the islands. Under ordi- 
 nary circumstances there would 
 have been imminent danger of fric- 
 tion between the military and civil 
 authorities. Fortunately, we had 
 at the head of the War Department 
 in Secretary Elihu Root a man as 
 thoroughly fit for his post as Gov- 
 ernor Taft was for his. Secretary 
 Root was administering his depart- 
 ment with an eye single to the 
 public interests, his sole desire 
 being to get the best possible re- 
 sults for the country. Where these 
 results could be obtained by the 
 
 [17] 
 
THE FIRST CIVIL GOVEKNOR 
 
 use of the army, lie used it in the 
 most efficient possible manner — 
 and month by month, almost day 
 by day, its efficiency increased 
 under his hands. Where he thought 
 the best results could be obtained 
 by the gradual elimination of the 
 army and the substitution of civil 
 government, his sole concern was 
 to see that the substitution was 
 made in the most advantageous 
 manner possible. Neither the Sec- 
 retary nor the Governor was capa- 
 ble of so much as understanding 
 the pettiness which makes a cer- 
 tain type of official, even in high 
 office, desire to keep official control 
 of some province of public work, not 
 for the sake of the public work, but 
 
 [18] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 for the sake of the office. No better 
 object-lesson could be given than 
 has thus been given by Secretary 
 Root and Governor Taft of the im- 
 mense public benefit resulting, un- 
 der circumstances of great difficulty 
 and delicacy, from the cordial co- 
 operation of two public servants, 
 who combine entire disinterested- 
 ness with the highest standard of 
 capacity. 
 
 Governor Taft thus set to work 
 with the two great advantages of 
 the hearty and generous support of 
 his superior, the President, and the 
 ungrudging cooperation of the War 
 Department. The difficulties he 
 had to combat were infinite. In 
 the Philippines we were heirs to all 
 
 [19] 
 
THE FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR 
 
 the troubles of Spain, and above all 
 to the inveterate distrust and sus- 
 picion which Spanish rule had left 
 in the native mind. The army 
 alone could put down the insurrec- 
 tion, and yet, once the insurrection 
 had been put down, every consider- 
 ation of humanity and policy re- 
 quired that the function of the army 
 should be minimized as much as 
 possible. Until after the Presiden- 
 tial election in November last peace 
 could not come, because both the 
 insurgent leaders and their sup- 
 porters on this side of the water 
 were under the mistaken impression 
 that a continuance of the bloodshed 
 and struggle in the Philippines 
 would be politically disadvanta- 
 
 [20] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 geous to the party in power in the 
 United States. Soon after the re- 
 sults of the election became known 
 in the Philippines, however, armed 
 resistance collapsed. The small 
 bands now in the field are not, 
 properly speaking, insurgents at 
 all, but " ladrones," robbers whose 
 operations are no more political 
 than those of bandits in Calabria 
 or Greece. 
 
 The way has thus been cleared 
 for civil rule ; and astonishing prog- 
 ress has been made. Wherever 
 possible. Governor Taft has been 
 employing natives in the public ser- 
 vice. Being a man of the soundest 
 common sense, however, he has 
 not hesitated to refuse to employ 
 
 [21 ] 
 
THE FIRST CIVIL GOVEENOR 
 
 natives where, after careful investi- 
 gation, his deliberate judgment is 
 that, for the time being, it is to the 
 advantage of the natives themselves 
 that Americans should administer 
 the position, notably in certain of 
 the judgeships and high offices. 
 For the last few months the Fili- 
 pinos have known a degree of peace, 
 justice, and prosperity to which 
 they have never attained in their 
 whole previous history, and to which 
 they could not have approximated 
 in the remotest degree had it not 
 been for the American stay in the 
 islands. Under Judge Taffc they are 
 gradually learning what it means 
 to keep faith, what it means to have 
 public officials of unbending recti- 
 
 [22] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 tude. Under him the islands have 
 seen the beginnings of a system of 
 good roads, good schools, upright 
 judges, and honest public servants. 
 His administration throughout has 
 been designed primarily for the 
 benefit of the islanders themselves, 
 and has therefore in the truest and 
 most effective way been in the in- 
 terest also of the American Repub- 
 lic. Under him the islanders are 
 now taking the first steps along the 
 hard path which ultimately leads 
 to self-respect and self-government. 
 That they will travel this road with 
 success to the ultimate goal there 
 can be but little doubt, if only our 
 people will make it absolutely certain 
 that the policies inaugurated under 
 
 [23] 
 
THE FIEST CIVIL GOVERNOR 
 
 President McKinley by Governor 
 Taft shall be continued in the fature 
 by just such men as Governor Taft. 
 There will be occasional failures, oc- 
 casional shortcomings ; and then we 
 shall hear the familiar wail of the 
 men of little faith, of little courage. 
 Here and there the smoldering 
 embers of insurrection will burst 
 again into brief flame; here and 
 there the measure of self-govern- 
 ment granted to a given locality 
 will have to be withdrawn or dimin- 
 ished because on trial the people do 
 not show themselves fit for it ; and 
 now and then we shall meet the 
 sudden and unexpected difiiculties 
 which are inevitably incident to 
 any effort to do good to peoples 
 
 [24] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 containing some savage and half- 
 civilized elements. Governor Taft 
 will have to meet crisis after crisis ; 
 he will meet each with courage, 
 coolness, strength, and judgment. 
 
 It is highly important that we 
 have good laws for the islands. It 
 is highly important that these laws 
 permit of the great material devel- 
 opment of the islands. Governor 
 Taft has most wisely insisted that 
 it is to the immense benefit of the 
 islanders that great industrial en- 
 terprises spring up in the Philip- 
 pines, and of course such indus- 
 trial enterprises can only spring 
 up if profit comes to those who 
 undertake them. The material up- 
 lifting of the people must go to- 
 
 [25] 
 
THE FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOK 
 
 gether with their moral upHfting. 
 But though it is important to have 
 wise laws, it is more important that 
 there should be a wise and honest 
 administration of the laws. The 
 statesmen at home, in Congress and 
 out of Congress, can do their best 
 work by following the advice and 
 the lead of the man who is actually 
 on the ground. It is therefore es- 
 sential that this man should be of 
 the very highest stamp. If infe- 
 rior men are appointed, and, above 
 all, if the curse of spoils politics 
 ever fastens itself upon the admin- 
 istration of our insular dependen- 
 cies, widespread disaster is sure to 
 follow. Every American worthy 
 of the name, every American who 
 
 [26] 
 
WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 is proud of his country and jealous 
 of her honor, should uphold the 
 hands of Governor Taft, and hy the 
 heartiness of his support should 
 give an earnest of his intention to 
 insist that the high standard set 
 hy Governor Taft shall be accepted 
 for all time hereafter as the stan- 
 dard hy which we intend to judge 
 whoever, under or after Governor 
 Taft, may carry forward the work 
 he has so strikingly begun. 
 
 Governor Taft left a high office 
 of honor and of comparative ease 
 to undertake his present work. 
 As soon as he became convinced 
 where his duty lay he did not hesi- 
 tate a moment, though he clearly 
 foresaw the infinite labor, the crush- 
 
 [27] 
 
THE FIRST CIVIL GOVERNOR 
 
 ing responsibility, the certainty of 
 recurring disappointments, and all 
 the grinding wear and tear which 
 such a task implies. But he gladly 
 undertook it ; and he is to be con- 
 sidered thrice fortunate! For in 
 this world the one thing supremely 
 worth having is the opportunity, 
 coupled with the capacity, to do 
 well and worthily a piece of work 
 the doing of which is of vital con- 
 sequence to the welfare of mankind. 
 
 [28] 
 
CIVIL GOVERl^MENT IN 
 THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 BY WILLIAM H. TAFT 
 
 Civil Governor of the Philippines 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN 
 THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 4S soon as the American army 
 iV extended its lines beyond the 
 city of Manila, and brought within 
 its control the various towns of the 
 islands, steps were taken by Gen- 
 eral Otis to inaugurate a simple 
 civil municipal government under 
 what were called Orders No. 43. 
 Thereafter, in the spring of 1900, 
 a commission appointed by Gen- 
 eral Otis reported a more extended 
 form of municipal government un- 
 der General Orders No. 40. But 
 comparatively few towns were or- 
 
 [31] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 ganized under Orders No. 40 before 
 the Oommission began to exercise 
 its legislative jurisdiction in Sep- 
 tember, 1900. The civil branch 
 of the military government under 
 the Commanding General was a 
 growth. He exercised both the 
 legislative and executive power. 
 He established civil courts in some 
 six or eight of the provinces, gen- 
 erally appointing Filipinos to the 
 bench. He appointed four judges 
 of first instance in the city of Ma- 
 nila, and created a Supreme Court, 
 following the organization of the 
 Audiencia or Supreme Court as it 
 existed under the Spaniards. This 
 court he made up of both Ameri- 
 cans and Filipinos, with Chief Jus- 
 
 [32] 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVIL RULE 
 
 tice Arellano, a Filipino, as its 
 head. The secretary to the Mili- 
 tary Governor was his chief assis- 
 tant in carrying on the civil hranch 
 of his government, and the legisla- 
 tive work was done through his 
 general orders or by the executive 
 orders of the President. It was 
 through one of the latter that the 
 tariff act was put in force and duties 
 collected under it. The customs 
 office and the offices of the Trea- 
 surer and the Auditor of the islands 
 were established. Under an exec- 
 utive order of the President and 
 the appointment of the Postmaster- 
 General, a post-office was organ- 
 ized and a Director- General of Posts 
 began his duties. A Superinten- 
 
 [33] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 dent of Schools for the city of 
 Manila was appointed and some 
 schools were opened there, first 
 under Father McKinnon as Super- 
 intendent, and then under Mr. An- 
 derson. The military government 
 called into requisition the services 
 of military officers by detailing 
 them for civil duties. So much of 
 the country was disturbed by the 
 guerrilla war at the time that the 
 operation of the civil branches of the 
 government was exceedingly lim- 
 ited, and its expenses, by reason of 
 the employment of detailed army of- 
 ficers who received no salaries from 
 the civil funds, were not large. The 
 customs receipts were considerable, 
 and though a good deal of money 
 
 [34] 
 
THE BEGINNINGS OF CIVIL RULE 
 
 was taken from the civil ftinds for 
 purely military expenses, a satisfac- 
 tory balance remained at the end of 
 the fiscal year. The Commission 
 in its problems was much aided by 
 what had been done under the mili- 
 tary government. From Septem- 
 ber, 1900, to July, 1901, the 
 Commanding General of the Army 
 was civil executive as well. This 
 was a good arrangement, because 
 it kept up the interest of the mili- 
 tary branch in the development of 
 the municipal governments until 
 many could stand alone, and it 
 enabled the Commission to secure 
 through the Executive, during the 
 transition from a military to a civil 
 regime, the assistance of the army. 
 
 [35] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 It was, however, no small task for 
 the Commission first to enact legis- 
 lation necessary to organize and 
 establish the various bureaus and 
 departments, and then to secure 
 competent and faithful civilians to 
 carry on the work of the central 
 government, and to substitute them 
 for military officers. 
 
 The fifth law which was enacted 
 by the Commission was the civil 
 service law, which is believed to 
 extend the merit system further 
 than it has ever been extended in 
 r this country. It is an indispensable 
 condition precedent to any proper 
 civil government in the islands; but 
 it necessarily imposed restrictions 
 
 [36] 
 
THE CIVIL SERVICE — PUBLIC WORKS 
 
 in the selection of employees, which 
 have, in some cases, delayed the 
 organization of offices. 
 
 The first act passed by the Com- 
 mission appropriated one million 
 dollars for the construction and im- 
 provement of roads in the Archi- 
 pelago. Another early act of the 
 Commission provided for the im- 
 provement of the harbor works of 
 Manila, and involved an expendi- 
 ture of three millions of dollars. I 
 shall not dwell upon the necessity 
 for the construction of roads in the 
 Philippines. In no other respect 
 are the islands so backward as in 
 the lack of intercommunication be- 
 tween the towns of the interior. 
 
 [37] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 The harbor of Manila at present is 
 not at all satisfactory. A popular 
 impression exists that Manila Bay 
 is small enough to form a harbor in 
 itself, but this is a great mistake. 
 The bay is thirty-five miles long by 
 twenty-five miles wide, and opposite 
 to Manila is the opening between 
 the China Sea and the bay, suffi- 
 ciently wide to give free sweep to 
 the southwest monsoon, so that dur- 
 ing the wet season, when that mon- 
 soon prevails, vessels anchored in 
 the Bay of Manila find it very dif- 
 ficult to load or unload. The Span- 
 iards bailt part of a breakwater, but 
 very little protection was thus given 
 to shipping. The Pasig River offers 
 a harbor for vessels of sixteen feet 
 
 [38] 
 
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 draft, but it is so crowded that the 
 demand for more harbor room is 
 imperative. It is hoped that the 
 harbor work will be completed in 
 two years, and, with a good harbor 
 and a reduction of landing charges, 
 the port of Manila will undoubtedly 
 become one of the most important 
 in the Orient. 
 
 Between September, 1900, and 
 January, 1901, the Commission 
 enacted other legislation looking 
 toward the better organization of 
 the central government bureaus 
 and departments. It had also in 
 preparation the acts providing for 
 the creation of municipal and pro- 
 vincial governments; but until the 
 
 [39] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 election of President McKinley gave 
 the people of the islands to under- 
 stand what the policy of the United 
 States was to be, the Commission 
 did not deem it wise to attempt to 
 carry out its plans for partial self- 
 government of the islands. In De- 
 cember, 1900, and January and 
 February of 1901, full discussion 
 was held at the public sessions of 
 the Commission in respect to the 
 provisions of these important or- 
 ganizing acts, and they were made 
 into law in February of that year. 
 The municipal law is drawn on the 
 same general plan as the municipal 
 codes of this country, and the gov- 
 ernment is practically autonomous. 
 The electorate is limited to those 
 
 [40] 
 
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 who speak and write either Spanish 
 or English, those who pay a tax of 
 fifteen dollars a year, or to those 
 who have filled municipal offices. 
 The provincial government is par- 
 tially autonomous. The office of 
 Governor is elective. The Governor 
 is a member of the provincial legis- 
 lative hoard. His colleagues on this 
 board are the Treasurer and Super- 
 visor, who are appointed under the 
 civil service law. The Governor 
 and Treasurer exercise supervision 
 over the municipal officers of their 
 province. Thus far they have been 
 Americans. The other provincial 
 officers are the Prosecuting Attor- 
 ney or Fiscal, and the Secretary. 
 They have been Filipinos. The 
 
 [41] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 Secretary is now selected under the 
 civil service law. The Commission, 
 which is the legislative body of the 
 central government since the first 
 of September, 1901, has five Amer- 
 ican members and three Filipino 
 members, appointed by the Presi- 
 dent. 
 
 Conditions improved so rapidly 
 after the beginning of 1901 that 
 the Commission felt justified in vis- 
 iting various provinces to organize 
 provincial governments. Four 
 months of the time between Febru- 
 ary, 1901, and September, 1901, 
 was taken up in establishing thirty- 
 four provincial governments. Of 
 these, thirty- three were in provinces 
 
 [42] 
 
PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS 
 
 in which there were none but Chris- 
 tian FiHpinos. One, the province 
 of Benguet, in the mountains^ con- 
 tained only Igorrotes or hill tribes. 
 The government of Benguet was, 
 therefore, of the most paternal char- 
 acter and left most of the power, 
 either by direct intervention or su- 
 pervision, with the Governor. To 
 the other provinces — the Christian 
 Filipino provinces — the general 
 provincial law was made applicable 
 by special acts which were passed 
 after a conference with the leading 
 men of the province, and contained 
 provisions varying the general pro- 
 vincial act to suit differing local 
 conditions. 
 
 [43] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 Between the first of January and 
 the first of September, 1901, the 
 Commission passed a general school 
 law, and under this the Superinten- 
 dent of Public Instruction, Mr. At- 
 kinson, brought to the islands about 
 one thousand American school- 
 teachers. The teachers did not 
 reach the islands before August, and 
 were not assigned and transported 
 to their posts much before the first 
 of October. There are about nine 
 hundred towns in the Archipelago, 
 and these teachers were sent to 
 about five hundred of them. In 
 addition to the thousand American 
 school-teachers there are about 
 twenty-five hundred Filipino school- 
 teachers. The chief function of 
 
 [44] 
 
SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS 
 
 the American school-teacher is to 
 teach the FiHpino teacher Eng- 
 hsh, and proper methods of teach- 
 ing. The American school-teach- 
 ers do, of course, teach in the 
 primary schools, hut the plan is 
 that the teaching of the Fili- 
 pino children shall chiefly he done 
 by Filipino teachers. Normal 
 schools have been organized in 
 the islands, and manual training 
 schools. The immense amount of 
 detail required, not only for the es- 
 tablishment of schools, but for the 
 furnishing of a commissary for the 
 school-teachers, will be understood 
 only by those who know the diffi- 
 culties of transportation and com- 
 munication between Manila and the 
 
 [45] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 towns of the islands. Among the 
 thousand school-teachers it is not 
 surprising that some should be 
 found disposed to complain of the 
 system which is being inaugurated. 
 The school system as a system has 
 really been in operation for not 
 more than six months. It would 
 be entirely unjust and foolish, after 
 so short a time, to render a final 
 judgment as to the wisdom of the 
 system, were it being inaugurated 
 in a country as well adapted to re- 
 ceive a school system as the United 
 States. Still more unwise and un- 
 just is it to attempt to reach a final 
 conclusion as to its successful oper- 
 ation or otherwise when a system 
 of this kind is applied to a country 
 
 [46] 
 
SCHOOLS AND TEACHERS 
 
 with such unusual conditions as 
 those prevailing in the Philippine 
 Islands. Not for five years will it 
 be fair to speak with confidence of 
 the effect and the efficiency of the 
 school system in the Philippines. 
 Certainly, neither the Commission 
 nor the Superintendent is likely to 
 be driven from a policy inaugu- 
 rated after as full an investigation 
 as could be made, by the grum- 
 blings and criticisms of employees 
 assigned to provinces not so impor- 
 tant as they think their abilities 
 and capacities require. 
 
 The exact attitude of the- Cath- 
 olic Church to the schools has not 
 been clearly defined. It is quite 
 probable that this wiU not be the 
 
 [47] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 same in some provinces as in others. 
 It is known to vary in this country, 
 according to the views of the priest- 
 hood in the particular locality, and 
 the same thing will be true in the 
 Philippines. The Commission has 
 not the slightest objection to the 
 spread of church schools, if only a 
 proper standard of education is 
 maintained in them ; on the con- 
 trary, it welcomes any aid in edu- 
 cation. It may be necessary to 
 pass a compulsory education law 
 when the school system shall be 
 sufficiently enlarged to offer to all 
 children of school age an opportu- 
 nity for education. At present the 
 difficulty of providing schools for 
 those who are willing to attend is 
 
 [48] 
 
SCHOOLS AND TEACHEES 
 
 SO great that compulsory atten- 
 dance would seem to be unreason- 
 able. However, it should be said 
 that the Commission is constantly 
 in receipt of petitions from the va- 
 rious towns of the Archipelago ask- 
 ing that a compulsory education 
 law be passed. In such a case, of 
 course, attendance at church schools 
 would satisfy the law, provided a 
 curriculum was maintained cover- 
 ing certain required subjects. It is 
 very important that English be 
 taught in all the schools, in order 
 that the next generation shall have 
 a common medium of communica- 
 tion. The Filipinos have very con- 
 siderable facility in learning lan- 
 guages, and are very anxious to 
 
 [49] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 learn English. A knowledge of 
 English, and a consequent familiar- 
 ity with American literatm^e and 
 American newspapers, will furnish 
 to the people a means of under- 
 standing American civilization and 
 American institutions, and will 
 greatly assist in teaching them self- 
 government on Anglo-Saxon lines. 
 One necessary addition to the school 
 system is the establishment of 
 schools of secondary instruction, 
 and probably a university. The 
 primary schools teach English. 
 There are some Filipinos in each 
 town, however, who will desire their 
 children to have an academic edu- 
 cation, and unless we furnish sec- 
 ondary schools, in which English 
 
 [50] 
 
THE JUDICIAEY 
 
 shall be the language taught, we 
 shall disappoint the legitimate am- 
 bition and aspiration of such pa- 
 rents. In other words, a primary 
 system in English requires a secon- 
 dary and probably university in- 
 struction in the same language. 
 
 The step next most important to 
 the beginning of a school system 
 in the islands has been the organi- 
 zation of a judiciary. An impar- 
 tial administration of justice is what 
 has been most lacking in Philippine 
 civilization, and the Commission 
 has thought it wise that a judiciary 
 should be established in which 
 American judges should be in the 
 majority. The whole Archipelago 
 
 [51] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 has been divided into fifteen judicial 
 districts, in each of which there is 
 a court of first instance with a gen- 
 eral civil and criminal jurisdiction 
 like that of the ordinary common 
 pleas court in this country. A jus- 
 tice of the peace with jurisdiction 
 like that of our justices of the peace 
 is appointed in each town, and appeal 
 from his decision to the courts of 
 first instance is provided. A Su- 
 preme Court of seven members, 
 with appellate jurisdiction over the 
 judgments of the courts of first in- 
 stance, has been created to sit at 
 Manila, Iloilo, and Oebu. In the 
 Supreme Court four Americans and 
 three Filipinos sit, and about one 
 third of the judges of first instance 
 
 [52] 
 
THE JUDICIARY 
 
 are Filipinos. In the large cities, 
 in which there is likely to be liti- 
 gation between foreigners or Amer- 
 icans and Filipinos, American 
 judges have usually been selected. 
 This is done in order to avoid the 
 necessity for a so-called United 
 States Court to which Americans 
 and foreigners may carry their 
 cases. As much care as possible 
 has been used in the selection of 
 the judges, and I feel confident that 
 we have inaugurated a system in 
 which justice will be done, and the 
 inestimable benefit will be con- 
 ferred upon the people of showing 
 them what justice is. We have 
 certainly succeeded in securing the 
 " pick " of the Filipino lawyers for 
 
 [53] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 the bench, and the American judges 
 have shown themselves to be men 
 thoroughly in earnest in their work 
 and greatly interested in main- 
 taining a high standard for the 
 courts. 
 
 As an aid in the administration 
 of justice and the maintenance of 
 law and order, in addition to the 
 local police, it has been necessary 
 to establish an insular constabu- 
 lary. This consists of not more 
 than one hundred and fifty men in 
 each province, under inspectors 
 partly American and partly Fili- 
 pino. Ladronism was very widely 
 extended under the Spanish rule, 
 and there was organized under the 
 
 [54] 
 
POLICE AND CONSTABULARY 
 
 government what was called the 
 guardia civil, but the outrages 
 and abuses of the guardia civil 
 were almost equal to those com- 
 mitted by the ladrones. I am 
 glad to say that thus far the opera- 
 tion of the constabulary system 
 has been most satisfactory, and 
 ladronism is rapidly disappearing. 
 The selection of men for its ranks 
 has been very carefully made. The 
 system of selecting only residents 
 of the province for service in the 
 province avoids the danger of abuse 
 and looting by the members of the 
 constabulary themselves. In a force 
 of some five thousand men there 
 have been reported but three deser- 
 tions. The constabulary costs the 
 
 [55] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 Philippine Government 1250 a man 
 a year, on the average. 
 
 During the period between Jan- 
 uary and September of 1901 the 
 Commission adopted, with the as- 
 sistance of the War Department, a 
 new tariff which reversed the prin- 
 ciple of the Spanish tariff by impos- 
 ing a higher duty upon luxuries 
 than upon necessaries, and by re- 
 ducing the duty upon foodstuffs, 
 canned goods, and other necessaries, 
 from a prohibitory rate to an ad 
 valorem tax of about fifteen per 
 cent. The average rate of the 
 whole tariff* schedule is an ad va- 
 lorem duty of from twenty-five to 
 thirty per cent. The customs de- 
 
 [ 56 ] 
 
TARIFF-FORESTRY-POSTAL SYSTEM 
 
 partment had to be reorganized, and 
 a customs administrative bill was 
 passed in November, 1900, adopt- 
 ing largely the American system 
 of appraisement and collection. 
 
 The Bureau of Forestry, which 
 has under its protection one of the 
 largest sources of wealth in the isl- 
 ands, in the last year has been much 
 extended and more completely or- 
 ganized, so that it now has its 
 agents in every province of the isl- 
 lands to collect the timber license 
 fees and to see to it that the forests 
 are not injured by the cutting per- 
 mitted. 
 
 The Post- Office is being extended 
 gradually, but it is not by any 
 means as efficient as it ought to be. 
 
 [57] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 The difficulties of communication 
 are very great. The Commission 
 has contracted for the construction 
 of twenty small sea-going vessels 
 with which it is hoped that the 
 mails can he carried and a revenue 
 police system maintained, and that 
 the provincial officials may he trans- 
 ported between the various towns 
 of their province, and that frequent 
 communication may thus be had be- 
 tween the capitals of provinces and 
 Manila. But these vessels will not 
 all be ready for service before next 
 year. Under the present system 
 it sometimes takes more time to 
 reach the capitals of some of the 
 more remote provinces from Manila 
 than it does to go to San Francisco. 
 
 [58] 
 
HEALTH-AGEICULTURE-SUEVEYS 
 
 The Commission has organized a 
 complete health department under 
 the central government, which co- 
 operates with local health officials. 
 This is essential hoth in the protec- 
 tion of the people of the islands from 
 epidemics of smallpox, cholera, and 
 plague, and in stamping out conta- 
 gious diseases of cattle and horses. 
 A very heavy expense has been 
 thrown upon the central govern- 
 ment in its attempts to keep the 
 cholera now existing in the islands 
 from spreading. 
 
 An agricultural bureau has been 
 organized, the importance of which 
 in developing proper methods of ag- 
 riculture in these islands, and super- 
 seding the uselessly clumsy manner 
 
 [59] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 in which crops are sown and reaped, 
 cannot be overstated. Some of the 
 most expert scientists of the Agri- 
 cultural Department of Washington 
 have been brought to the islands, 
 and it is hoped that in the course 
 of three or four years marked im- 
 provement in agricultural methods 
 may be made through the instru- 
 mentality of model farms and di- 
 rect instruction in agricultural 
 schools. 
 
 Until Congress acts, the survey 
 and sale of public lands and mining 
 rights will probably be held in 
 abeyance, but as the bill for the 
 civil government of the Philippines 
 is likely to pass before the close of 
 this session of Congress, it is cer- 
 
 [60] 
 
INCOME AND EXPENDITUEE 
 
 tain that these two bureaus must 
 he very much enlarged. Of course 
 a very comprehensive and extensive 
 system of surveys is absolutely ne- 
 cessary to the proper application of 
 any public land or public mining 
 system, and this will have to be 
 begun at once. The civil govern- 
 ment is almost wholly dependent on 
 receipts from customs for its income. 
 It will be a serious question whe- 
 ther the government as planned can 
 be carried on without a deficit if 
 business and the revenues do not 
 increase. If the revenues do not 
 increase, it will be necessary for the 
 Commission to economize by delay- 
 ing the execution of some of its plans 
 and by radical retrenchment. The 
 
 [61] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 cost of the school system is heavy, 
 and in all prohability will increase. 
 The necessity for more teachers and 
 the erection of permanent school 
 buildings is immediate. 
 
 I think I have outlined the plans 
 of the Commission with respect to 
 the central government bureaus suf- 
 ficiently to show that a good deal 
 of money will be needed to carry 
 them out. In addition to what I 
 have said, the Philippine Govern- 
 ment ought to make a compre- 
 hensive exhibit at the Louisiana 
 Purchase Exposition to be held at 
 St. Louis in 1904, and it was hoped 
 that half a million dollars might be 
 appropriated for this purpose ; but 
 
 [62] 
 
DIFFICULTIES OVEECOME 
 
 the Commission has decided that it 
 cannot enter into an obligation to 
 pay out that much money until fur- 
 ther time has been given to deter- 
 mine what the income-producing 
 capacity of the present tariff law is. 
 The work of the Commission has 
 been hard and exacting. The diffi- 
 culty of selecting Competent officers 
 to act as heads of bureaus and 
 departments eight thousand miles 
 away from the United States will 
 be appreciated. The difficulty of 
 selecting Filipinos for important 
 offices where faction and prejudice 
 and personal ambition play a very 
 decided part can be understood. The 
 great labor needed in the prepara- 
 tion of the laws, an examination of 
 
 [ 63] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 the acts of the Commission will 
 show. One of the heaviest labors 
 has been the preparation and en- 
 actment of a code of civil procedure. 
 The code follows generally the codes 
 of the American States. The Span- 
 ish code of procedure was so full of 
 technicalities as practically to deny 
 justice to the litigant, and the Fili- 
 pino bar were unanimous in a de- 
 mand for a change. Judge Ide has 
 drafted the code, and I believe that 
 American lawyers who consult it 
 will testify to the excellence of his 
 work. The old Spanish criminal 
 code was continued by Greneral Otis, 
 with necessary modifications, as 
 well as the criminal code of prac- 
 tice. A new code of practice and 
 
 [64] 
 
THE TREASON AND SEDITION LAWS 
 
 of crimes has now been prepared by 
 General Wright, and only awaits 
 enactment when the three lawyers 
 of the Commission can meet to- 
 gether again. The Commission, 
 under its instructions, has not at- 
 tempted to change the substantive 
 law of the islands so far as it affects 
 the correlative rights and duties of 
 individuals. It is the civil law, 
 and does not differ very materially 
 from the Code Napoleon. It is a 
 good system of law, and there is no 
 reason to change it. 
 
 When the tariff bill enacted into 
 law by Congress was before the 
 Senate, there was severe criticism 
 of the Commission for passing what 
 
 [65] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 were known as the treason and se- 
 dition laws. So far as this criti- 
 cism related to sections which were 
 taken bodily from the Revised Stat- 
 utes of the United States, and had 
 been in those statutes for one hun- 
 dred years, I hardly think it neces- 
 sary to say anything. A section 
 was taken from the Spanish laws 
 which in effect, though not in lan- 
 guage, was like a section of the 
 United States Revised Statutes 
 providing for the punishment of 
 conspiracy on the part of two or 
 more persons to deprive another 
 of rights secured to him by the 
 Constitution of the United States. 
 Another section of the act was al- 
 most a literal copy of a Tennessee 
 
 [66] 
 
THE TREASON AND SEDITION LAWS 
 
 statute denouncing sedition. An- 
 other section forbade the organiza- 
 tion of secret political societies, and 
 another forbade the advocacy of 
 independence pending the war either 
 by peaceable or by forcible means. 
 The latter section was by its terms 
 merely a war measure, and to a cer- 
 tain extent suspended free speech. 
 As peace is now likely to be offi- 
 cially declared at any time, it 
 hardly needs further comment than 
 to say that it was enacted, not to 
 prevent the sincere advocacy of 
 independence by peaceable means, 
 though it had such an effect tem- 
 porarily, but really to prevent the 
 encom^agement of men in arms 
 against the sovereignty of the 
 
 [67] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 United States, by an advocacy of 
 independence, either with no Hmi- 
 tation or with a mere pretense of 
 limiting the advocacy to peaceable 
 means. Members of the Insurgent 
 Junta began to move toward Ma- 
 nila, with the apparent impression 
 that the establishment of civil gov- 
 ernment in Manila would allow 
 them free scope for their political 
 agitation. The section denouncing 
 secret political societies was adopted 
 for the same purpose as the section 
 just discussed, and, while not ex- 
 pressly limited to the pendency of 
 war, may be regarded as war legis- 
 lation. The section against sedi- 
 tion was, as I have said, copied 
 from a Tennessee statute, and was 
 
 [68] 
 
THE TREASON AND SEDITION LAWS 
 
 intended to secure the public wel- 
 fare against articles intended to 
 disturb the peace by gross libels 
 upon the government or upon any 
 class of people. There is nothing 
 in the privilege of free speech or a 
 free press that renders immune from 
 prosecution those guilty of misrep- 
 resentation or libel. The conditions 
 prevailing in the Philippines make 
 the passage of such a law necessary. 
 There are in the city of Manila 
 American papers owned and edited 
 by Americans who have the bitter- 
 est feeling toward the Filipinos, 
 and entertain the view that legis- 
 lation for the benefit of the Fili- 
 pinos or appointment to office of 
 Filipinos is evidence of a lack of 
 
 [69] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 loyalty to the Americans who have 
 come to settle in the islands. Ac- 
 cordingly, they write the most scur- 
 rilous articles impeaching the hon- 
 esty of the Filipino officials, the 
 Filipino judges, and the whole 
 Filipino people, as a basis for at- 
 tacking the policy of the Commis- 
 sion. The editor of the "Free- 
 dom " has been prosecuted under 
 this section for publishing an arti- 
 cle which is described by General 
 Wright, the Acting Civil Governor 
 of the Philippine Islands, as follows: 
 
 The editor of the " Freedom " has 
 been proceeded against on account of 
 a lengthy editorial attacking civil gov- 
 ernment in general and Filipino people 
 in particular, charging that Commis- 
 
 [70] 
 
THE TREASON AND SEDITION LAWS 
 
 sion constitute a protectorate over set 
 of men who should be in jail or de- 
 ported, that they were all knaves and 
 hypocrites. Eeferred to Valdes libel 
 as showing Tavera coward and rascal, 
 Legarda unworthy to associate with 
 respectable people, and attacked Amer- 
 ican Commissioners for recommending 
 them and permitting them remain 
 members. Charges Filipino judiciary 
 notoriously corrupt and unwilling to 
 convict Filipinos. Denominate all 
 Filipino officials rascally natives, 
 rogues, notoriously corrupt and men 
 of no character. Manifest purpose to 
 stir up race hatred and especially make 
 odious and contemptible Filipino 
 members of Commission and Filipino 
 officials generally, and create breach 
 between Filipinos and Americans, 
 thereby disturbing the peace of the 
 community. 
 
 [71] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 In a country like the United 
 States such an article would not 
 cause any particular trouble, but 
 in the Philippines it is at once 
 translated into Spanish and into 
 Tagalog and is used for the pur- 
 pose of stirring up race hatred ; 
 and this was probably the purpose 
 for which it was written. The 
 paper in which the article appeared 
 has always advocated great severity 
 in dealing with the Filipinos, and 
 has done everything to avoid the 
 establishment of good feeling which 
 ought to exist between the Filipino 
 people and those Americans who are 
 in the islands. The editor of the 
 " Freedom " has the opportunity to 
 prove, if he can, in his defense, the 
 corruption which he charges, but 
 
 [72] 
 
THE TREASON AND SEDITION LAWS 
 
 if it turns out that his charges are 
 unfounded, I think he ought to he 
 punished, and that his punishment 
 will not he in violation of any right 
 to free speech. In a country like 
 the United States it is wiser not 
 to denounce many acts as offenses 
 against the law which might prop- 
 erly he denounced as such, because 
 their evil effect is negligible in 
 this community ; but such acts 
 in a country like the Philippines, 
 under the peculiar conditions there 
 prevailing, may be exceedingly in- 
 jurious to the public peace, and 
 may properly call for a statutory 
 denunciation of them without im- 
 pairing any of the rights described 
 in the bill of rights. 
 
 [ 73] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 The people of the Archipelago are 
 divided roughly into six and one 
 half million Christian Filipinos, 
 one million and a half Moros or 
 Mohammedans, and one million 
 other non- Christian tribes, known 
 usually as hill tribes. The insur- 
 rection has been maintained only 
 by the Christian Filipinos. Neither 
 the hill tribes nor the Moros took 
 any part in it. The Christian Fili- 
 pinos are the only people of the 
 islands who have the slightest con- 
 ception of popular government. 
 
 The present condition of the Chris- 
 tian Filipino provinces is that of 
 peace. When I left the islands in 
 December, 1901, there was insur- 
 rection only in the provinces of 
 
 [74] 
 
THE EESISTANCE OF THE FILIPINOS 
 
 Batangas, Laguna, Sainar,Tayabas, 
 and some little in Mindoro. It 
 was also claimed that there was 
 some insurrection in the province 
 of Misamis, though it seemed to 
 me that it was more of a ladrone 
 disturbance than one of the in- 
 surrectos. However that may he, 
 the fact is now that all forces 
 in arms in Batangas, Tayahas, 
 Laguna, Samar, Mindoro, and Mis- 
 amis have surrendered, and their 
 rifles have been delivered up to 
 the military authorities. These 
 provinces are ripe for the establish- 
 ment of civil government, and it is 
 probable that within two months 
 the provincial governments in those 
 provinces will have been estab- 
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 lished/ When this is done, all 
 the Christian Filipino provinces to 
 which the provincial law can he 
 practically applied will enjoy peace 
 and civil government. There are 
 two provinces on the Pacific coast 
 known as Infanta and Principe, in 
 which the population does not ex- 
 ceed ten or fifteen thousand, which 
 are so sparsely settled that a special 
 form of government must be given 
 them, and the same thing is true 
 of the Oalamianes group in the Jolo 
 Sea. There are ladrones in the 
 
 ^ On July 4, 1902, less than two months from the 
 time when this was written, President Eoosevelt 
 was able to proclaim that civil government was 
 established everywhere in the Philippines except 
 in the territory occupied by the Moros, and to 
 issue also a proclamation of general amnesty. — 
 The Publisheks. 
 
 [ 76 ] 
 
THE RESISTANCE OF THE FILIPINOS 
 
 province of Leyte who are being 
 rapidly dispersed, captured, or killed 
 by the constabulary, and the same 
 thing is true of Negros. In Negros 
 there never has been insurrection, 
 but the impassable mountains and 
 forests which form the spine of the 
 island have always offered refuge 
 to a mountain people who have 
 made a profession of cattle-lifting 
 and blackmailing. The rich haci- 
 enda-owners of the plains of eastern 
 and western Negros have always 
 suffered from this evil. It is the 
 purpose of the Commission to erad- 
 icate it, but the ladrones are so nu- 
 merous and the difficulties of cam- 
 paigning so great that it will take 
 a considerable time. 
 
 The difficulty with the Lake La- 
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 nao Moros, the wild Moros of Min- 
 danao, has no more to do with the 
 insurrection than did Indian fights 
 on the plains or in Minnesota have 
 to do with the Civil War. With 
 the establishment of civil govern- 
 ment in the near future, therefore, 
 over all the six million of Christian 
 Filipinos, the difficulties inherent in 
 the dual form of control by the mili- 
 tary and the civil authorities will 
 be eliminated. The army will be 
 concentrated in a comparatively few 
 garrisoned posts separated from the 
 towns, and stricter discipline will 
 be much easier to maintain when 
 the troops cease to be quartered on 
 the people. When the troops are 
 withdrawn to separate posts and the 
 
 [78] 
 
THE PEOPLE AND THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT 
 
 people see them but occasionally, 
 they will he much more convinced 
 of the real power of civil govern- 
 ment and much more satisfied of the 
 benevolent intentions of the Amer- 
 ican authorities. Under orders 
 which have now been issued by the 
 War Department, the American 
 troops will be reduced to a force 
 of eighteen thousand men as soon 
 as the Government transports can 
 comply with the orders. 
 
 There has been a general tendency 
 among the military ofiicers to re- 
 gard civil government as a failure, 
 and this view has been reflected 
 by those correspondents who have 
 been with the army and have im- 
 
 [79] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 bibed tbe opinion of tbe army 
 messes and tbe Army and Navy 
 Club in Manila; but a better ac- 
 quaintance witb tbe actual govern- 
 ments sbows tbese criticisms to be 
 unfounded. Tbe civil provincial 
 governments and tbe municipal gov- 
 ernments are going concerns, baving 
 defects in tbeir operation it is true, 
 but nevertbeless furnisbing to tbe 
 people wbo are subject to tbeir re- 
 spective jurisdictions a protection 
 to life, liberty, and property, an op- 
 portunity to obtain justice tbrougb 
 tbe courts, education for tbeir cbil- 
 dren in tbe scbools, and tbe rigbt 
 to pursue tbeir usual vocations. 
 Tbe suggestion tbat in tbe so-called 
 pacified provinces insurrection is 
 
 [80] 
 
THE PEOPLE AND THE CIVIL GOVEENMENT 
 
 still seething is wholly unfounded. 
 The people are engaged in their or- 
 dinary occupations, and while they 
 have been much injured by the loss 
 of their cattle through the rinder- 
 pest, they are struggling with this 
 difficulty and are raising rice in suf- 
 ficient quantities to avoid a famine. 
 An examination of the annual re- 
 ports of the governors of the dif- 
 ferent provinces contained in the 
 printed evidence before the Senate 
 Committee will support this state- 
 ment. Taxes are being collected 
 in the provinces, the processes of 
 the court run without obstruction, 
 and the February elections of gov- 
 ernors were held without disturb- 
 ance, and, on the whole, satisfac- 
 
 [81] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 tory candidates were selected. The 
 Christian FiHpino people are now 
 enjoying greater individual liberty 
 and a greater voice in their gov- 
 ernment than ever before in their 
 history, and with the official dec- 
 laration of peace now near at hand, 
 both will be increased. Much has 
 been said in the heat of debate and 
 of partisan journalism concerning 
 the feeling of hatred of the Filipinos 
 toward the Americans. So far as 
 the civil government is concerned, 
 no such feeling exists. The Com- 
 mission visited forty provinces and 
 districts of the islands in the period 
 between the first of February and 
 the first of September, 1901, and 
 occupied in all about four months 
 
 [82] 
 
THE PEOPLE AND THE ARMY 
 
 in its trip. The receptions given 
 it by the educated and ignorant 
 people alike, and the enthusiastic 
 welcome which it received, all con- 
 vinced the Commission that the 
 people were friendly to civil gov- 
 ernment and earnestly desired its 
 establishment. They have taken 
 great interest in the civil gov- 
 ernment since, and nothing has 
 occurred to change the deep impres- 
 sion made upon the Commission by 
 the good feeling manifested and ex- 
 pressions of gratitude received on 
 this trip. 
 
 The feeling of the people toward 
 the army is different. In some 
 places it is friendly and in others 
 
 [83] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 it is hostile, and it is found chiefly 
 to vary with the disposition of the 
 commanding officer of the post in 
 the neighborhood. If he be abrupt, 
 arbitrary, and surly in his treat- 
 ment of the people, they do not like 
 him. If he is interested in their 
 welfare, is kindly and polite in deal- 
 ing with them, they do like him. 
 Toward the civil government, how- 
 ever, which has always followed the 
 policy of ''attraction," as it is called 
 in the islands, in dealing with the 
 people, their attitude is an entirely 
 friendly one. It is quite natural 
 that it should be. It was through 
 the coming of the Civil Commis- 
 sion that the rigor of military rule 
 was softened and removed. It is 
 
 [84] 
 
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION 
 
 through frequent intercession of the 
 civil authorities that military pris- 
 oners have heen released, and the 
 people are well aware that in the 
 conflicts of jurisdiction between the 
 civil government and the military 
 government, of which there have 
 heen a number, the civil govern- 
 ment was seeking to save the Fili- 
 pinos from military arrest and 
 prosecution. 
 
 It is too much to say that the 
 Commission has done all that can 
 be done under its present powers, 
 because doubtless there is much in 
 the way of perfecting the present 
 provincial and municipal govern- 
 ments that could occupy its time 
 
 [85] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 and attention profitably ; but it is 
 true that the time has now come 
 when improvement in present con- 
 ditions can be best brought about 
 by the passage of a bill by Congress 
 for the government of the Philip- 
 pine Islands/ There are two bills 
 pending — one in the Senate and 
 one in the House. Both bills em- 
 body the wise policy of not disturb- 
 ing the present system of govern- 
 ment, which has proved satisfactory. 
 The principle has been followed, so 
 
 1 Since this was written, Congress has passed, and 
 the President has signed, a Philippine Act which 
 agrees in many points with the suggestions here 
 made by Governor Taft, but differs in some par- 
 ticulars. A popular legislative assembly is to be 
 organized two years after a census provided for 
 by the act is taken ; the only restriction on the 
 suffrage in the election of members is that the 
 [86] 
 
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION 
 
 well established in Anglo-Saxon 
 government-building, of taking 
 what is in existence and improving 
 and adding to it. The Senate bill 
 differs from the House bill, how- 
 ever, in several material respects. 
 The House bill provides that after 
 peace shall be declared, and after a 
 census shall have been taken, the 
 Commission shall call a general elec- 
 tion for the selection of representa- 
 tives to form a popular assembly, 
 which shall constitute one branch 
 
 voters must be either property-owners or able to 
 speak Spanish or English. The matter of coinage 
 is left untouched by the act, so that the present 
 laws continue in force. The act provides for 
 grants of public lands to corporations, but not 
 over twenty-five hundred acres can be granted 
 to one corporation, and there are other restric- 
 tions upon the grants. — The Publishers. 
 [87] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 of tlie legislature of the islands, the 
 Commission to constitute the other 
 hranch. The House bill further 
 provides for the selection by the pop- 
 ular assembly and the Commission 
 of two delegates who shall represent 
 their constituents before the execu- 
 tive and legislative branches of the 
 Government at Washington. The 
 House bill provides for the estab- 
 lishment of a gold standard of value 
 in the islands, to wit, the American 
 gold dollar. It further provides for 
 the coinage of a Filipino peso to 
 contain silver of value in gold of 
 about forty cents or less, and a use- 
 ful and proper subsidiary coinage. 
 This coinage is to be limited to the 
 government only, and the seignior- 
 
 [88] 
 
CONGRESSIONAL ACTION 
 
 age is reserved as a fund to main- 
 tain the parity of the peso with fifty 
 cents gold. Other means are pro- 
 vided in the act by which the Phil- 
 ippine Government is authorized to 
 maintain the parity. It is hoped 
 by the Commission that recom- 
 mended this plan, and by the Com- 
 mittee of the House, that it will 
 prevent the fluctuations of value 
 due to the use of Mexican currency, 
 and will at the same time furnish 
 a coinage so near to the present 
 coinage as not to create a disturb- 
 ance in values or in wages. The 
 Senate bill does not provide for a 
 legislative assembly or the appoint- 
 ment of the two delegates, nor does 
 it make provision for a gold stan- 
 
 [89] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 dard. In place of these it directs 
 the taking of a census after peace 
 shall be declared, and the recom- 
 mendation by the Commission of 
 the form of government to be per- 
 manently established. It provides 
 also for the free coinage of a Filipino 
 dollar of the size and weight of the 
 Mexican dollar, which it is hoped 
 will become a well-known coin in 
 the commerce of the Bast. 
 
 We of the Commission are very 
 earnest and sincere in our hope that 
 at least the provision for the elec- 
 tion of the legislative assembly and 
 of the two delegates contained in 
 the House bill shall be embodied in 
 legislation. We think that the 
 
 [90] 
 
FILIPINO REPRESENTATION 
 
 Filipino people would accept this 
 provision as the most indubitable 
 evidence of the desire of the United 
 States that self-government should 
 be given to the people in as large a 
 measure as they are capable of car- 
 rying it on. Danger from obstruc- 
 tion of the government by with- 
 holding supplies is avoided in a 
 section of the House bill by a pro- 
 vision that, should the appropria- 
 tion bill not be passed, appropria- 
 tions equal to those of the year 
 before shall become available with- 
 out legislation. There are members 
 of the Senate Committee on the 
 Philippines who believe that the 
 step involved in the organization of 
 a legislative assembly is too pro- 
 
 [91] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 gressive and too radical. In this 
 I think they are mistaken. It is 
 quite possible that on the floor of 
 the legislative assembly will he pro- 
 claimed doctrines at variance with 
 the policy of the United States, and 
 that possibly, by some members, 
 seditious and treasonable speeches 
 may be made ; but, on the whole, 
 I feel sure that the people will re- 
 gard the legislative assembly as a 
 welcome method by which they can 
 take part in the government, and 
 that there will be every disposition 
 on the part of most of the members 
 to work harmoniously with the 
 other branch of the legislative de- 
 partment and with the Executive. 
 It has been suggested that possibly 
 
 [92] 
 
FILIPINO REPRESENTATION 
 
 the legislative assembly would se- 
 lect Aguinaldo or Mabini or some 
 other prominent insurrecto leader 
 or organizer to represent it at 
 Washington. I do not think this 
 is likely ; but even if it were to 
 happen, I should not regard it as a 
 dangerous result. I think it would 
 be found that the popular assembly 
 would include many conservative 
 men who would be in favor of sup- 
 porting American sovereignty in 
 the islands and making the gov- 
 ernment it has established firm and 
 stable. A provision of this kind 
 would destroy at once the suspi- 
 cions of American good faith, and 
 would largely satisfy the desire for 
 self-government of all but the com- 
 
 [93] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 paratively few irreconcilables. A 
 popular assembly would be a great 
 educational school for the better 
 class of Filipinos in actual govern- 
 ment. The weakness of the edu- 
 cated Filipinos to-day is in their 
 lack of practical knowledge as to 
 how a popular government ought 
 to be run. They always resort to 
 absolutism in practical problems of 
 government. The restrictions upon 
 the suffrage contained in the mu- 
 nicipal code, which are by refer- 
 ence made part of the House bill, 
 would secure a fairly intelligent 
 body of representatives in the 
 popular assembly. 
 
 The result of the popular assem- 
 bly in the Hawaiian Islands has 
 
 [94] 
 
FILIPINO REPRESENTATION 
 
 been referred to as a warning against 
 the extension of such privileges in 
 the Philippines ; but it must be 
 noted that the difficulty in the Ha- 
 waiian Islands resulted not so much 
 fi'om the establishment of a popular 
 assembly as fi'om the undue exten- 
 sion of the electoral fi^anchise. In 
 the Philippines the franchise has 
 been restricted and duly guarded. 
 I am not blind to the troubles 
 that the legislative assembly would 
 doubtless bring to the Executive 
 and to the Commission in rousing 
 public discussion over unimportant 
 matters which now perhaps pass 
 without notice ; but I am not at all 
 sure that such public discussion 
 would not, on the whole, work for 
 
 [95] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 the public welfare. The fact that 
 a vote of the Commission would be 
 
 I 
 
 necessary to the enactment of any 
 law is quite a sufficient veto for 
 practical purposes. Should the 
 legislative assembly feature, which 
 the Federal party has petitioned 
 for, which the Commission has rec- 
 ommended, and which the Com- 
 mittee of the House has recom- 
 mended, be eliminated, it will cause 
 very serious disappointment to the 
 Filipino people. 
 
 The agricultural and commercial 
 communities in the Philippines are 
 anxious that the Dingley tariff rates 
 against products of the islands 
 should be reduced. The rates are 
 now reduced in favor of Philippine 
 
 [96] 
 
TAEIFF REDUCTION DESIEABLE 
 
 importations twenty-five per cent., 
 but the Commission is convinced 
 that the reduction should be sev- 
 enty-five per cent., and that with 
 such a reduction the commerce 
 between the Philippines and the 
 United States will gradually in- 
 crease to a very large volume. I 
 think it is recognized by mem- 
 bers of Congress, both in the 
 Senate and in the House, that this 
 reduction of twenty-five per cent, 
 is only the beginning, and that 
 the tendency must necessarily be 
 toward free trade. We do not 
 seek absolute free trade, because 
 tariffs should be reciprocal, and an 
 ad valorem duty of twenty-five per 
 cent, on imports from the United 
 
 [97] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 States to the Philippines seems 
 necessary to furnish the needed 
 revenues to the islands. We sin- 
 cerely hope that next session will 
 see a further material reduction, 
 and that within a measurably short 
 time at least a seventy-five per 
 cent, reduction will he made. What 
 the Filipino people long for is ex- 
 pressions of good will from the 
 Americans, and nothing would be 
 more welcome than this invitation 
 to come into the American mar- 
 kets. 
 
 The House bill differs from the 
 Senate bill also in containing a 
 declaration or bill of rights in favor 
 of the Filipino people under the 
 
 [98] 
 
A BILL OF RIGHTS 
 
 government by the bill established. 
 It secures all the rights declared 
 in the bill of rights and the Con- 
 stitution of the United States, ex- 
 cept the right to bear arms and 
 the right of trial by jury. Any one 
 familiar with Filipino civilization 
 will understand the wisdom of with- 
 holding from the Filipino people 
 the enjoyment of these two privi- 
 leges. If arms could be purchased 
 without restriction, ladronism in 
 the islands would be widely ex- 
 tended, and the maintenance of law 
 and order most difficult. The bear- 
 ing of arms may not be safely en- 
 joyed by the Filipino people until 
 the great mass of them shall have 
 acquired more self-restraint than 
 
 [99] 
 LoTC. 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 can now be found among them ; 
 nor can the jury system be safely 
 put in practice now, even among 
 those who are qualified to vote. 
 The Commission has provided for 
 the selection of two assessors of 
 fact to assist the judges in reaching 
 conclusions on issues of fact ; but 
 the great majority of the electorate, 
 even limited as it is, are not now 
 fitted to take part in the adminis- 
 tration of justice and reach conclu- 
 sions free from prejudice and bias 
 or danger of corruption. The House 
 bill further declares that a resident 
 of the Philippine Islands owing al- 
 legiance to the United States shall 
 enjoy the same protection from 
 injury by foreign governments or 
 
 [ 100] 
 
FEANCHISES AND LAND GRANTS 
 
 in foreign countries as citizens of 
 the United States. It is wise to 
 spread these declarations of rights 
 in favor of the Filipinos upon the 
 face of the statute which gives 
 them a voice in their own govern- 
 ment, and I am sure it will have a 
 good effect in making them under- 
 stand the intention of the Govern- 
 ment of the United States. 
 
 Both hills empower the legislature 
 of the islands to grant franchises 
 for the building of commercial and 
 street railroads and for the forma- 
 tion of corporations for other pur- 
 poses. Both hills limit the power 
 of acquisition of land by a corpora- 
 tion, foreign or domestic, to five 
 
 [101 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 thousand acres. It seems to me 
 that this limitation is too low, and 
 that it ought to be raised to twenty 
 thousand acres, for the reason that, 
 in order to attract capital and to 
 induce agricultural development on 
 the best lines, especially in the pro- 
 duction of sugar and tobacco, the 
 cultivation must be of estates at 
 least as large as fifteen or twenty 
 thousand acres. This is the size 
 of estates in Cuba and in the Sand- 
 wich Islands. There are only five 
 millions of acres held by individuals 
 in the islands, while the public 
 lands probably exceed sixty-five 
 millions of acres in extent. I have 
 no desire to promote such an ex- 
 ploitation of the islands as will 
 
 [102] 
 
FRANCHISES AND LAND GRANTS 
 
 center ownership of the interests 
 there in a few individuals, but it 
 seems to me that it is most unwise 
 to impose such restrictions as are 
 likely either to prevent the coming 
 of capital at all or to lead to unlaw- 
 ful and fraudulent evasions of the 
 restrictions. The cost of a modern 
 sugar-plant is very heavy, and cap- 
 italists cannot be induced to make 
 the investment unless the extent of 
 the land to be cultivated by them 
 and the probable production are suf- 
 ficient to warrant the necessarily 
 large outlay. The investment of 
 American capital in the islands is 
 necessary to their proper develop- 
 ment, and is necessary to the ma- 
 terial, and therefore the spiritual, 
 
 [103] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 uplifting of the Filipino people. It 
 means the construction of railroads, 
 the needed intercommunication be- 
 tween the people and the provinces, 
 and a change from a comparatively 
 poor and ignorant people to one of 
 comparative intelligence and wealth. 
 
 The question is frequently asked 
 why it would not be well to prom- 
 ise the Filipino people that, when 
 they are fitted for complete self- 
 government, they shall be granted 
 independence. In the first place, 
 the Federal party, which furnishes 
 the only organized expression of 
 public opinion in the islands, does 
 not ask independence, but seeks 
 rather annexation to the United 
 
 [104] 
 
SHALL WE PROMISE INDEPENDENCE? 
 
 States and prospective Statehood. 
 In the second place, there is not 
 the slightest prohahility that the 
 Christian Filipinos will he ready 
 for self-government in any period 
 short of two generations. Not ten 
 per cent, of the people speak Span- 
 ish, and the remaining ninety per 
 cent, or more are densely ignorant, 
 superstitious, and subject to impo- 
 sition of all sorts. It is absolutely 
 necessary, in order that the people 
 be taught self-government, that 
 a firm, stable government under 
 American guidance and control, in 
 which the Filipino people shall 
 have a voice, should be established. 
 Nothing but such a government can 
 educate the people into a knowledge 
 
 [105] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 of what self-government is. Not 
 only by precept but by practice 
 must the self-restraints essential to 
 self-government and the discretion 
 and public spirit of a free people 
 be taught them. A promise to 
 give the people independence when 
 they are fitted for it would inevi- 
 tably be accepted by the agitators 
 and generally by the people as a 
 promise to give them independence 
 within the present generation, and 
 would therefore be misleading, and 
 the source of bitter criticism of the 
 American government within a few 
 years after the promise was given 
 and not performed as it was under- 
 stood by the people. A promise 
 of independence thus interpreted 
 
 [106] 
 
SHALL WE PROMISE INDEPENDENCE? 
 
 would destroy the possibility of the 
 formation of a stable government 
 in which the people should be learn- 
 ing what self-government is, be- 
 cause the conservative element, with 
 the assumed early prospect of com- 
 plete independence, would fear that 
 when the islands were abandoned 
 the violent agitators would come to 
 the front, and those assisting the 
 present government would be sub- 
 jected to the hostility of the dema- 
 gogues on the ground of their pre- 
 vious American sympathies. The 
 only policy, it seems to me, which 
 will insure the establishment of a 
 firm, stable government, and the 
 support of that government by the 
 educated, wealthy, and conservative 
 
 [ 107 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 Filipinos, is the declaration of a 
 policy in favor of the indefinite re- 
 tention of the islands under a gov- 
 ernment in which the share taken 
 hy the Filipino people shall he made 
 gradually to increase and the elec- 
 torate of the Filipino people shall 
 he gradually enlarged. After this 
 government shall he successfully 
 established, the question whether 
 the islands shall be annexed or 
 shall be granted independence, or 
 shall have such a relation to this 
 country as Australia or Canada has 
 to England, may be very well post- 
 poned until the practical education 
 of the people in self-government 
 shall have been sufficient to justify 
 the adoption of either of these three 
 
 [108 ] 
 
SHALL WE PROMISE INDEPENDENCE? 
 
 courses. The policy of establish- 
 ing a firm and stable government 
 in which the Filipino people shall 
 take part will doubtless reveal 
 much as to the wisdom of the one 
 or the other of the courses sug- 
 gested; but it seems to me to be 
 very unwise to bind ourselves and 
 the next generation by an authori- 
 tative declaration now as to what 
 we shall do fifty or a hundred years 
 hence. We cannot now know what 
 subsequent generations of our own 
 people will then deem wise, or what 
 succeeding generations of Filipinos, 
 benefited by experience in self-gov- 
 ernment and advised of the advan- 
 tage of association with the United 
 States, will desire. 
 
 [109] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 The opponents of the Adminis- 
 tration policy in the Philippines do 
 not agree with one another. If I 
 have correctly understood Senator 
 Rawlins, of the minority of the 
 Senate Committee on the Philip- 
 pines, in his questions put me when 
 before the Senate Committee, he 
 believes that the best thing for the 
 Government to do is to turn over 
 the islands to a strong man who 
 shall maintain absolute rule over 
 the people with no popular voice in 
 the government. His view is that 
 in Oriental countries no other than 
 the absolute rule of a strong man 
 is possible. If this be the true 
 view, then hope of securing indi- 
 vidual liberty to the people of the 
 
 [110] 
 
THE ADMINISTEATION'S OPPONENTS 
 
 Philippines must be abandoned, and 
 the policy of those gentlemen who, 
 like Senator Hoar, entertain the 
 idea that by leaving the islands it 
 will be possible to form a Filipino 
 Republic in which all the rights of 
 individual liberty will be secured 
 to the Filipinos must be given 
 up. President Schurman, after six 
 months' observation of the people, 
 reached the conclusion that they 
 would not be fit for self-government 
 short of a generation or longer. He 
 now has reached the opinion, based 
 on the reports of the present United 
 States Philippine Commission and 
 the observations of General Chaffee 
 in reviewing criminal cases, that 
 he was wrong in his judgment, and 
 [111] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 that the Filipino people will be 
 capable of self-government after six 
 or eight years of American tutelage, 
 and this though the gentlemen upon 
 whose statements he relies for his 
 change of view agree with his 
 former conclusion. The theory of 
 President Schurman seems to be 
 that the independence of a govern- 
 ment and the individual liberty of 
 its subjects or citizens are the same 
 thing, or at least that the one is 
 essential to the other. 
 
 This, it seems to me, involves a 
 radical error. Whether indepen- 
 dence will aid in securing individ- 
 ual liberty depends on the fitness 
 for popular self-government of the 
 people. If they are ignorant and 
 
 [112] 
 
THE ADMINISTRATION'S OPPONENTS 
 
 easily led, then independence means 
 ultimately absolutism and not lib- 
 erty. The independence under 
 present conditions of the Philippine 
 Islands will mean the subjection 
 and not the liberty of the people. 
 It will mean internecine warfare 
 and will be followed by such an ab- 
 solute government as that which 
 Senator Rawlins seems to think 
 best for them. 
 
 The minority in the Philippines 
 Committee in the Senate propose a 
 constitutional convention within a 
 year from the passage of the act, 
 the delegates to which are to be 
 selected by the votes of all the 
 adult males of the Archipelago who 
 can read and write. There are the 
 
 [113] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 million and a half Moros in Minda- 
 nao and the Jolo group, and the 
 million or more of the hill tribes- 
 men. Why, under the theories of 
 the minority, should the Moros or 
 hill tribes be subjected to the rule 
 of the Christian Filipinos, whom 
 they dislike, and whose govern- 
 ment they would certainly resist? 
 The Democratic minority of the 
 House Committee, with what seems 
 to me greater judgment, proposes 
 the establishment of a government 
 in which there shall be some Ameri- 
 can supervision and guidance for 
 six or eight years. They expressly 
 recognize the fact that three hun- 
 dred years of Spanish rule have not 
 been calculated to fit the people of 
 
 [114] 
 
THE ADMINISTRATION'S OPPONENTS 
 
 the Philippine Islands for self- 
 government; but the assumption 
 that six years of a government 
 under American guidance will ac- 
 complish such a result seems to me 
 only less reasonable than the pro- 
 posal of the Democratic minority 
 in the Senate. No account is taken 
 in these plans of the peculiar traits 
 of the Moro population, of the den- 
 sity of ignorance of ninety per cent, 
 of the Christian Filipino population, 
 or of the utterly uncivilized condi- 
 tion of the hill tribes. The diffi- 
 culty that the opponents of the 
 Administration have in finding a 
 common affirmative policy to up- 
 hold is an indication of the correct- 
 ness of the Administration plan, to 
 
 [115] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 wit : that of the estahlishment of a 
 firm and stable government now 
 for the Christian PiHpinos, with as 
 much share in the government as 
 they can safely exercise, without 
 any definite declaration as to what 
 may he done in the far-distant fu- 
 ture ; and separate forms of pater- 
 nal government for the Moros and 
 the other non- Christian tribes. 
 
 The insurrection in the Philippines 
 is at an end, but the difficulties of 
 civil government are by no means 
 ended. The first difficulty has al- 
 ready been alluded to. It consists in 
 the possible inadequacy of the reve- 
 nues of the islands to meet the expen- 
 ses of much-needed works of reform 
 
 [116] 
 
SALAEIES AND EFFICIENCY 
 
 and improvement in the Archipel- 
 ago. The expenses of the govern- 
 ment are increased by the neces- 
 sity for the employment of many 
 Americans and for paying them 
 adequate compensation. To secure 
 good work in the Philippines from 
 Americans higher salaries must be 
 paid than in the United States. 
 The grave mistake in the Spanish 
 administration of the Archipelago 
 was in the payment of very low 
 salaries to their officials, who took 
 this as a justification for illegal ex- 
 actions from the people. It is 
 hoped, however, that with the ex- 
 pected increase in business and 
 commerce due to the investment of 
 capital in the islands, revenues may 
 
 [117] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 increase and permit a proper ex- 
 pansion of government agencies in 
 the development of the Archi- 
 pelago. 
 
 The second difficulty which con- 
 fronts the civil government is to 
 be found in the questions which 
 grow out of the former relation of 
 the Roman Catholic Church to the 
 Spanish government in the islands. 
 Under the Spanish rule the property 
 and political interests of the gov- 
 ernment were so inextricably con- 
 fused with those of the Church 
 that now, when, under the Treaty 
 of Paris, the interests of the Span- 
 ish government have been trans- 
 ferred to the United States, which 
 
 [ 118 ] _ 
 
CHUECH AND STATE 
 
 by a law of its being cannot 
 continue the partnership between 
 Church and State, it is extremely 
 difficult justly to separate the in- 
 terests of the Church and the State. 
 For instance, there are a number 
 of charitable and educational trusts 
 which, under the Spanish govern- 
 ment, were generally administered 
 by clerical agents. Some of these 
 trusts were probably purely civil 
 trusts, others were probably reli- 
 gious trusts, and an issue of the 
 utmost nicety is presented when 
 decision must be given as to which 
 are civil and which are religious 
 trusts, so that the one may be ad- 
 ministered under the Government 
 of the United States and the other 
 
 [ 119 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 by the Roman Catholic Church. 
 Again, under the agreement be- 
 tween the Spanish Crown and the 
 Church, the government furnished 
 compensation for the priests, and 
 also agreed to aid in the construc- 
 tion of churches and so-called con- 
 ventos or priests' rectories. So 
 close was the relation between the 
 Church and the State that it was 
 not thought necessary to obtain a 
 patent from the government to the 
 bishop of the diocese for the public 
 land upon which the church and 
 rectory were built, so that probably 
 a majority of the churches and rec- 
 tories of the island (and there are 
 a church and a rectory in nearly 
 every pueblo in the island) stand 
 
 [120] 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 upon what the records show to be 
 public land, and which, as such, 
 passed to the Government of the 
 United States under the Treaty of 
 Paris. In such a case, however, 
 it may very well be urged that 
 while the legal title is in the Gov- 
 ernment, the equitable title is in 
 the Catholics of the parish, and 
 that, in accordance with the canon- 
 ical law, releases should be made 
 by the Government of the United 
 States to the bishop of the diocese 
 for the benefit of the Catholics of 
 the parish. In some pueblos, how- 
 ever, the municipalities claim an 
 interest in the conventos, and indeed 
 in the churches, on the ground that 
 they furnished the labor or mate- 
 
 [121] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 rial with which the churches and 
 rectories were constructed, and in 
 some instances they have attempted 
 to assert an ownership in these 
 buildings. Indeed, it is very hard 
 for the common people to under- 
 stand the principle of the separa- 
 tion of Church and State, and much 
 time of the Civil Governor is taken 
 up in explaining to the municipal 
 authorities that they have no right 
 as such to regulate the conduct of 
 the priests in their churches or the 
 fees which they charge. Again, 
 the conventos or rectories have fur- 
 nished the most convenient houses 
 for occupation by the American sol- 
 diers during the guerrilla warfare, 
 and in some instances, too, churches 
 
 [122] 
 
CHURCH AND STATE 
 
 have been occupied as barracks. 
 The question naturally arises whe- 
 ther rental is not due from the 
 United States for such occupation 
 of church property, and what the 
 reasonable rental shall be. This 
 question is complicated with an- 
 other, and that is whether the fact 
 that the priests may have aided 
 and abetted the insurgents, and 
 may have had many insurgents 
 among their parishioners, may not 
 disentitle the parishes to a recovery 
 of reasonable rental. If a rental 
 is due, it is important that it should 
 be promptly paid, because the war 
 has, of course, much reduced the 
 source of income for the Church and 
 impaired its usefulness in affording 
 
 [123] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 Opportunities for religious worship 
 to the people. 
 
 The four orders of friars, the Do- 
 minicans, the Augustinians, the 
 Eeeoletos, and the Franciscans, all 
 of them Spaniards (for natives are 
 not admitted to the orders), were 
 the parish priests among the Chris- 
 tian Filipino people, and these or- 
 ders, except the Franciscans, be- 
 came the owners, through purchase 
 and otherwise, of four hundred 
 thousand acres of agricultural land, 
 two hundred and fifty thousand of 
 which are situated near the city of 
 Manila, and include some of the 
 richest land in the islands. The 
 better lands lie in the populous 
 
 [124] 
 
THE FEIARS AND THEIR LANDS 
 
 provinces of Oavite, Laguna, Bula- 
 can, old Manila (now Rizal), and 
 Gebu. One hundred and twenty- 
 five thousand acres lie in the prov- 
 ince of Oavite, and it is significant 
 that of the three revolutions against 
 Spain (if that of 1870 can be called 
 a revolution), all began in this prov- 
 ince, showing that the agrarian 
 question of the ownership of these 
 lands by the friars, while it was 
 not the only issue, had much to do 
 with the dissatisfaction which led 
 to the armed resistance to Spanish 
 authority. Civil government has 
 now been completely established in 
 Bulacan, old Manila or Rizal, Oa- 
 vite, and Oebu, and soon will be 
 established in Laguna. The title 
 
 [125] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 of the friars to these lands is, from 
 a legal standpoint, good. Indeed, 
 there is probably no better title in 
 the islands. Since 1896 no rents 
 have been collected, and the former 
 tenants have enjoyed the lands 
 without price, so far as the condi- 
 tions of war permitted. When 
 now the friars shall call upon the 
 ordinary courts of justice, as they 
 have the right to do, either to col- 
 lect the rents from their tenants or 
 to restore them to the possession of 
 their lands, the process of the court 
 and the power of the government 
 must be exerted to enforce the judg- 
 ment which the proof of such facts 
 will require. To an ignorant peo- 
 ple, hostile to the friars, this will 
 
 [126] 
 
THE FRIARS AND THEIR LANDS 
 
 put the Government of the United 
 States in the attitude of supporting 
 the friars, and of siding with them 
 in the controversy out of which 
 grew the revolution against Spain, 
 and there is every indication that 
 riot and disturbance will follow any 
 effort by the Government to aid the 
 friars in the assertion of their prop- 
 erty rights. It has been thought 
 by the Commission to be the wisest 
 policy, and one just to all interests, 
 for the Government to purchase 
 these lands from the friars, paying 
 them a reasonable price therefor. 
 Both the House and the Senate 
 bills make provision for such pur- 
 chase. 
 
 A somewhat perplexing compli- 
 
 [ 127 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 cation has arisen by the transfer of 
 the title of the lands by the friars 
 to promoting companies or individ- 
 uals for the purpose of their sale 
 or cultivation, but it is understood 
 that the friars have thus far re- 
 tained a controlling interest in each 
 corporation taking the lands, and 
 that they may, if they desire, sell 
 the lands to the Government. 
 
 Again, under the Spanish rule in 
 the Philippines the friars discharged 
 most important civil functions. 
 Great credit is due to the religious 
 orders for the work which they did 
 in Christianizing the Archipelago 
 and in bringing about the civiliza- 
 tion which to-day exists in the isl- 
 
 [ 128] 
 
THE FRIARS AND THE PEOPLE 
 
 ands, but in the last Jialf-century the 
 Spanish government, apparently 
 without objection by the friars, im- 
 posed upon them extensive civil 
 duties in connection with municipal 
 and provincial governments, until 
 substantially all the political power 
 exercised in municipal governments 
 became absorbed by the friars. The 
 friar priest in each parish became 
 the chief of police and the chief 
 of detectives in government work. 
 Every man who was punished, es- 
 pecially if he were punished for a 
 political offense, charged it to the 
 agency of the friar, and the depor- 
 tations and executions which went 
 on under Spanish rule were all laid 
 at the door of the religious orders. 
 
 [129] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 To the people of the pueblos the 
 friar was the crown of Spain, and 
 every oppression by the Spanish 
 government was traced by them to 
 the men whose political power had 
 far outgrown that exercised by them 
 as priests. When the revolution 
 came, therefore, deep hostility was 
 manifested by the insurgents against 
 the friars. They had to flee for 
 their lives. Fifty of them were 
 killed and three hundred of them 
 were imprisoned, and during their 
 imprisonment were subjected to the 
 most humiliating indignities and to 
 the greatest suffering. The feeling 
 of the people against the friars was 
 wholly political. The people were 
 generally good Catholics and en- 
 
 [130] 
 
THE FRIARS AND THE PEOPLE 
 
 joyed and wished for the sacraments 
 of their Church. With a popula- 
 tion such as that of the Christian 
 Filipinos, with ninety per cent, so 
 densely ignorant, speaking eight or 
 ten different languages, it is hardly 
 possible to say that there is any pub- 
 lic opinion such as we understand it ; 
 but to this general remark must be 
 made the exception that there is a 
 universal popular hatred of the four 
 religious orders which have been 
 under discussion. It is entirely 
 aside from the point to question the 
 justice of this feeling. It exists and 
 must be reckoned with by those 
 who are charged with the responsi- 
 bility of carrying on civil govern- 
 ment in the islands. The friars 
 
 [131] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 were driven out of all the parishes 
 in the Archipelago except those of 
 the city of Manila, where the Amer- 
 ican forces have always been. A 
 few of their number have returned 
 to Oebii, to Vigan, and to Tugue- 
 garao in the province of Oagayan, 
 but the great body of them still 
 remain in Manila and are unable 
 to return to the parishes because 
 of the expressed hatred of the peo- 
 ple. If they should attempt to re- 
 turn in any numbers, it is quite 
 likely that the result would be dis- 
 turbance and riot. 
 
 Such religious worship as is now 
 carried on in the parishes is con- 
 ducted by native priests who were 
 
 [132] 
 
SHALL THE FEIAES EETUEN? 
 
 in the Spanish times the assistants 
 or deputies of the friars. There 
 are not enough of these priests to 
 supply the needs of all the par- 
 ishes, even if they were entirely 
 satisfactory to the Church ; and the 
 necessity in the interest of the 
 Church of furnishing additional 
 priests is, I think, recognized in 
 the islands. The difficulty which 
 the Church has in finding compe- 
 tent priests that are available for 
 service in the islands must be ad- 
 mitted. Of course it would accord 
 with the views of the Americans if 
 American Catholic priests could be 
 sent to the islands, because their 
 high standard and their knowledge 
 of how a Church may thrive and 
 
 [ 133 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 gain strength under a government 
 in which Church and State are en- 
 tirely separate would assist much 
 in establishing the new order of 
 things with the people. But it is 
 said that there is no supply of 
 American Catholic priests which 
 can fill this demand. 
 
 The question which is presented 
 to the civil government of the isl- 
 ands is whether there is not some 
 means of avoiding the lawlessness 
 and riot which the friars' return to 
 their parishes is certain to involve. 
 Of course the civil government has 
 nothing to do with the ministrations 
 of religion or with the personnel of 
 the agents selected by the Church 
 to conduct its worship, so long as 
 
 [134] 
 
SHALL THE FRIAES RETURN? 
 
 they are law-abiding and do not 
 preach treasonable doctrine ; but it 
 cannot but give the greatest con- 
 cern to the civil government if a 
 Church shall adopt the policy of 
 sending among the people priests 
 whose very presence is sure to in- 
 volve disturbance of law and order. 
 With a people so ignorant and hav- 
 ing a knowledge only of Spanish 
 methods of government, the return 
 of the friars will necessarily be 
 regarded as due to an affirmative 
 policy on the part of the govern- 
 ment, and the burden of hostility 
 which the friars now bear will ne- 
 cessarily be shared by the govern- 
 ment. If the purchase of the lands 
 of the friars and the adjustment of 
 
 [ 135 ] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 all the other questions arising be- 
 tween the Church and the State 
 should include a withdrawal of the 
 friars from the islands, it would 
 greatly facilitate the harmony be- 
 tween the government and the peo- 
 ple and between the Church and the 
 State. 
 
 I have stated some of the princi- 
 pal questions arising between the 
 Church and the State for the pur- 
 pose of showing the great advan- 
 tage which will be attained should 
 these differences be settled by 
 amicable adjustment between the 
 Church and the State. In such a 
 matter, were we dealing with a 
 secular corporation, it would seem 
 
 [ 136] 
 
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE VATICAN 
 
 a wiser policy and a more American 
 and direct method of doing business 
 to deal with the chief authority in 
 the corporation rather than with 
 some agent having but limited pow- 
 ers. The Administration has con- 
 cluded that the advantage of the 
 direct method and the possibility 
 of settling the differences amicably 
 with the Church by such a method 
 warrant it in running the risk of 
 the unjust criticism that such ne- 
 gotiation involves the establishment 
 of diplomatic relations with the 
 Vatican, and a departure from the 
 traditions of our Government in this 
 regard. Instead of being a depar- 
 ture from such traditions, such a 
 negotiation seems to be an indis- 
 
 [137] 
 
CIVIL GOVEENMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 pensable condition precedent to the 
 proper separation of the interests of 
 Church and State in the Philip- 
 pines. The unusual circumstance 
 of a transfer of sovereignty from a 
 government whose interests were 
 almost indissolubly united to the 
 Church, to a government whose in- 
 terests must be kept separate from 
 the Church, is what makes the pro- 
 posed negotiation necessary. It is 
 true that some of the questions 
 might be settled by litigation, but 
 a judicial settlement of them will 
 involve long delay, consequent irri- 
 tation, and possible charges of par- 
 tiality against the courts which are 
 finally called upon to decide the 
 controversies. Is it not wiser, if 
 
 [138] 
 
NEGOTIATIONS WITH THE VATICAN 
 
 it be possible, to settle all the ques- 
 tions by a friendly arrangement, 
 and thus assist both the State and 
 the Church in the pursuit of their 
 proper aims for the benefit and up- 
 lifting of the Filipino people ? It 
 is possible that the views of the 
 Administration and the views of the 
 Church authorities may be so widely 
 different as to the proper course to 
 pursue that other methods of settle- 
 ment must be found, but it is hoped 
 that the great common interest 
 which the Church and the State 
 have in reaching a settlement will 
 lead to such concessions on each 
 side as will make it possible. The 
 wise and enlightened statesmanship 
 which has characterized the long 
 
 [ 139] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 / 
 
 ^0 
 
 and prosperous pontificate of Leo 
 XIII. furnishes just ground for this 
 hope. 
 
 A difficulty which may possibly 
 confront the Philippine Government 
 is the success of the Democratic 
 party in the next Congressional 
 elections. This will he taken in 
 the Philippines as an indication 
 that at the end of the present 
 Administration the policy of the 
 United States will he changed and 
 the islands will be abandoned by 
 j^.the United States and turned over 
 •; 'to a government to be established 
 by the people of the islands through 
 the calling of a constitutional con- 
 vention. The prospect of such a 
 
 [ 140 ] 
 
POLITICAL ASPECTS 
 
 change will have a tendency to 
 paralyze the energy of the conserva- 
 tive element of the Filipino people 
 who are now assisting us in the 
 maintenance of a civil government 
 in the islands, and all will be sus- 
 pense and agitation. This diffi- 
 culty, however, is inherent in the 
 government of dependent posses- 
 sions by a Republic like our own 
 whenever the chief political issue 
 between the parties is the policy to 
 be pursued with respect to such de- 
 pendencies. I venture to think, 
 however, that should the Republi- 
 can party be successful in the Con- 
 gressional elections next following 
 and in the next National election, 
 sufficient progress will be made in 
 
 [141] 
 
CIVIL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES 
 
 the solution of the problem of the 
 Philippine Government to insure the 
 removal of the main issue from prac- 
 tical politics thereafter. 
 
 [142 J 
 
 H 383 85 
 
'V'S* °> 
 
 i°'*. 
 
 
 
 
 :^ - . . s - <G^ ^ 'o , » - A <, *^ 
 
 o 
 
 ■ay A » «a c -• 
 
 aV O^ * o n o ' «C Deaciditied using the Bookkeeper prpces 
 
 «^ /\^ s • • ^ '^;\ Q^ Nteutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide'i 
 
 •^ . V . *^xO)R^ ♦^ J^ A,-' Treatment Date: April 2003 i 
 
 ' r ^c,*^ ,' PreservationTechnoiogiej 
 
 !y * -\ ^'^jk -* A MrrtDi n 1 cahpd im dappc prp<%PRVATIO 
 
 A v O^ " o H o"* «C Deaciditied using tlie Bookkeeper prpces 
 
 \y^ s • • ^ '^;\ Q^ Nteutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxide'i 
 
 A ^ «'^<1^?<» -^f^j. x"^ Treatment Date: April 2003 
 
 * •* « o ■'t> <!/■ s • • ^ ^ Q~ Nteutralizing agent: Magnesium Oxidei 
 
 *''''^f^'*e. «?> "^ ^.^^Ifefe" "^ 4^ Treatment Date: April 2003 i 
 
 '"^^^^^ '^•^'^ i^^^k'''- '^"'*' '' PreservationTechnoiogiej 
 
 "' ^^iffl^^ ° C^ '^ ° W//^^\V^ * A "^ "^ A WORLD LEADER IN PAPER PRESERVATIO 
 
 ' ^^^/SW5i^ * "^ *?*• "* ^/i^<k\J'^ (^ <4> ' '' '' ^ Thomson Park Drive 
 
 '»r«^^^'» AX <#<• '^^^rt* A ^ " CranberoTTownship, PA 16065 
 
 X *'T.O* &^ O 'o.K* A tf ..• (724, 770^2111 - ^ 
 
•% , 
 
xijvyjT Ajxuo \jr X xixu jrraiuj.ir jr±iN XL/O 
 
 because their minds worked identically, and auto- 
 matically produced the same reaction, but because both 
 were subjected to common historical influences — both 
 of them subjected, although at far-removed times and 
 places, to the same movement of civilization. With 
 two or three instances of such common origin estab- 
 lished, it is certain that there must have been a strong 
 tendency for many other elements of culture to be 
 transmitted, and little doubt that time and again the 
 tendency became realized. 
 
 From this broader point of view, then, Filipino civili- 
 zation, in fact all East Indian civilization, is far from 
 being an entity in itself. It constitutes only one phase 
 of the infinitely more ancient and complex civilization 
 that has for ages prevailed from Europe to the middle 
 of the Pacific Ocean, and which can be fully understood 
 only as an interrelated composite. The underlying 
 problem of Philippine culture is not what is distinctly 
 native about it or how it came to be so, but what is 
 Chinese and Indian, Polynesian and Arab and Greek 
 and Roman in it; just as the cultures of all these groups 
 cannot be fully comprehended as detached units, but if 
 insight is desired, must be looked upon as mere frag- 
 ments of a vast whole that immeasurably transcends 
 any one of them. 
 
 Mythology. Filipino myths and tales are a strange 
 composite of Indian and primitive Malaysian constitu- 
 ents. The Javanese and peninsular Malay have taken 
 over Hindu epics and romances. The Filipino has not; 
 but the ultimate Indian origin of much of the content of 
 his traditions is undeniable. The permeating influence 
 of the greater civilization long ago reached him, but not 
 with its full brunt. It evidently filtered through in bits 
 and at second or third hand. Before the more luxuriant 
 products of Hindu imagination, native invention gave 
 
 g;gjjgsggfe^-SMiM^ 
 
KEL,iG10N iyd 
 
 way at point after point. Yet the continuity of native 
 life as a whole being undisturbed by any great shock, 
 the lower civilization of the islands remained the 
 recipient organism, as it were, which received and 
 assimilated and worked over the more exalted literary 
 plots and religious concepts that came into it piece- 
 meal. 
 
 Heroic Romances, The PhiUppine nationality 
 whose mythology is best known is the Tinggian, a 
 people never wholly out of contact with the coast and 
 yet maintaining their ancient paganism to the present. 
 The longest and finest of their tales can only be de- 
 scribed as romances of battle, love, magic, hidden births, 
 intrigue, and other adventure cast in the heroic mould. 
 The actors are Aponi-tolau, the great warrior, and 
 Aponi-bolinayen, whom he marries; his sister Aponi- 
 gawani and Aponi-bolinayen' s brother, Aponi-balagan, 
 between whom a second love story is spun ; their parents 
 and sons; and innumerable monsters, mythical beings, 
 and enemies. The chief personages appear under a 
 great variety of names, but are always identified as the 
 same. Each narrator recounts his tale differently, so 
 that the stories frequently overlap in incidents, and yet 
 possess a total variety sufficient to have made possible 
 their combination into a great coherent cycle. This 
 unification into one great epic the Tinggian however 
 never accomplished. This failure would be enough, 
 even if other indications were lacking, to suggest that he 
 had never come into direct contact with the Hindu; 
 since the latter at an ancient time developed the faculty 
 of combining vast numbers of episodes into a long 
 plot. On the other hand, the primary motives of these 
 Tinggian romances are love and fighting, and suggest 
 very strongly that these tales are not the uninfluenced 
 product of a naively primitive culture ; since really un- 
 
 |Br^ 
 
 ;}K:i;;!:viiH!;;;:P:;:~-h