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WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PHILIPPINES.

The administrative affairs of the government are apportioned among the several departments as follows:

The department of the interior has under its executive control a bureau of health, the quarantine service of the marine-hospital corps, a bureau of forestry, à bureau of mining, a bureau of agriculture, a bureau of fisheries, a weather bureau, a bureau of ethnology (Pagan and Mohammedan tribes), a bureau of public lands, a bureau of government laboratories, a bureau of patents and copyrights.

The department of commerce and police has under its executive control a bureau of island and interisland transportation, a bureau of post-offices, a bureau of telegraphs, a bureau of coast and geodetic survey, a bureau of engineering and construction of public works other than public buildings, a bureau of insular constabulary, a bureau of prisons, à bureau of light-houses, a bureau of commercial and streetrailroad corporations, and all corporations except banking.

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The department of finance and justice embraces the bureau of the insular treasury, the bureau of the insular auditor, a bureau of customs and immigration, a bureau of internal revenue, the insular cold-storage and ice plant, a bureau of banks, banking, coinage, and currency, and the bureau of justice.

The department of public instruction embraces a bureau of publie instruction, a bureau of public charities, public libraries and museums, a bureau of statistics, a bureau of public records, a bureau of public printing, and a bureau of architecture and construction of public buildings.

At the same time, by appointment by the President, three distinguished Filipinos. Señor Trinidad H. Pardo de Tavera, of Manila, Señor Benito Legarda, of Manila, and Señor José Luzuriaga, of Negros, were added to the Commission.

On the 29th of October, 1901, in order to relieve somewhat the great pressure of official duties devolving upon Governor Taft, the President created the office of vice-governor, and appointed Hon. Luke E. Wright to that position.

Pursuant to the instructions of the President, the Commission, by appropriate legislation, made provision for municipal governments to be established throughout the islands as rapidly as conditions permitted. They also passed a general act for the organization of provincial governments in the Philippine Islands. A judicial system was created under which civil courts assumed the exercise of judicial powers. An insular constabulary and municipal police were created and installed, a civil-service law was enacted and put into successful and satisfactory operation. A system of account and audit was adopted and rigorously enforced. A system of education was adopted and installed. Forestry laws providing for the preservation and utilization of the public forests were adopted and enforced, and an extensive system of public improvements and repairs adopted and entered upon. Adequate means of securing revenue by the levy of duties and taxes were devised and put in force.

When the Fifty-seventh Congress of the United States assembled in its first session on December 2, 1901, that body entered upon the work of formulating legislation to provide for the administration of the affairs of civil government in the Philippine Islands. Upon investigation Congress found that there existed in said islands à government formulated with fidelity to the principles of liberty, equality, and jus

tice prevailing in the United States, and administered with due regard for the welfare of the interests involved; whereupon Congress, by appropriate legislation, continued the existence of that government and placed the seal of legislative approval upon the governmental organization and ratified, approved, and confirmed each and everyone of the acts theretofore done and performed in connection therewith, and in addition conferred upon said government additional authority and rights which the President had not authority to bestow.

Through the exercise of authority vested in Congress, the government of the Philippine Islands was authorized to exercise certain powers of sovereignty which heretofore in our history had been exercised by the Federal Government exclusively; and valuable rights and privileges were conferred upon the Philippines, which never before had been given to any portion of the territory subject to our sovereignty, for the exclusive use and benefit of that territory. For instance, Congress authorized the government of the Philippine Islands, in time of peace, to impose tariff duties upon goods coming from ports of the States of the Union into ports of the Philippine Islands. No other portion of our territory has been permitted to exercise such authority in time of peace since the establishment of the Federal Government of the United States. Congress also conveyed to the government of the Philippine Islands all the public property in the archipelago which, by reason of the conquest of the islands and the treaty of Paris, had passed from the Crown of Spain to the United States of America. This included public buildings and improvements, streets, parks, highways, the beds of streams, the submerged soil of the coast, and also the mineral wealth and the great tropical forests of valuable woods throughout the islands.

Congress likewise authorized the government of the Philippine Islands to issue its own currency and assume direction and control of its postal service, an authority which is denied to even the sovereign States of the Union.

No integral or segregated portion of the territory subject to the sovereignty of the United States is to-day exercising by itself and for itself so many of the powers of sovereignty as is the Philippine Archipelago.

Under the governmental organization provided pursuant to the instructions of the President and ratified by Congress, the powers of the legislative branch of the Philippine government are exercised by the Philippine Commission, composed of five Americans and three Filipinos, appointed by the President. By the existing law of Congress provision is made whereby two years after the completion and publication of the census now being compiled, the legislative power is to be vested in a legislature, consisting of two houses- the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly, the latter house to be elected by the inhabitants of the islands.

The powers of the judicial branch are exercised by a supreme court composed of seven members, appointed by the President, three of whom are natives of the islands. The courts of first instance and courts inferior thereto are presided over by judges appointed by the Commission. Of the present judges of the courts of first instance, 15 are Americans and 6 are natives. Of the minor courts nearly all the judges are natives.

The powers of the administrative branch of the government are

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WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PHILIPPINES.

exercised by the governor and four executive departments heretofore referred to, namely, interior, commerce and police, finance and justice, and public instruction, resembling in character the administrative departments at Washington.

The municipal governments and the provincial governments are administered by officials selected by the popular votes of the inhabitants.

MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS.

The instructions of the President to the Philippine Commission stated:

Without hampering them by too specific instructions, they should in general be enjoined, after making themselves familiar with the conditions and needs of the country, to devote their attention in the first instance to the establishment of municipal governments, in which the natives of the islands, both in the cities and the rural communities, shall be afforded the opportunity to manage their own local affairs to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and subject to the least degree of supervision and control which a careful study of their capacities and observation of the workings of native control show to be consistent with the maintenance of law, order, and loyalty.

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In the establishment of municipal governments the Commission will take as the basis of their work the governments established by the military governor under his order of August 8, 1899, and under the report of the board constituted by the military governor by his order of January 29, 1900, to formulate and report a plan of municipal government, of which his honor, Cayetano Arellano, president of the audiencia, was chairman, and they will give to the conclusions of that board the weight and consideration which the high character and distinguished abilities of its members justify.

In accordance with these instructions, with the information secured from the report of the board above referred to, and after investigation and deliberation, there was enacted by the Philippine Commission a general act for the organization of municipal government in the Philippine Islands, which act was carried into effect throughout the islands as rapidly as conditions warranted.

The municipality was made the political unit, and the entire territory of the islands is divided into such units. In other words, the municipal subdivisions in the Philippines are the same as the towns of New England and the townships in other portions of the United States, and taken together include all the territory of the islands. At the present time this municipal code or charter has been applied to all the municipalities in the thirty-four Christian provinces hereinafter mentioned, except that the city of Manila has been incorporated under a special charter.

This general law of municipalities provides that the powers of the municipality are to be exercised by a president, a vice-president, and a municipal council, to be chosen by the qualified electors of the municipality, to serve for two years and until their successors are chosen and qualified. The law provides that the electors charged with the duty of choosing elective municipal officers shall be male persons above the age of 23, and to have had à legal residence in the municipality in which they exercise the suffrage for a period of six months immediately preceding the election, and who are not citizens or subjects of any foreign power, and who are comprised within one of the following three cases:

(a) Those who, prior to the thirteenth of August, eighteen hundred and ninetyeight, held the office of municipal captain, gobernadorcillo, alcalde, lieutenant, cabeza de barangay, or member of any ayuntamiento.

(b) Those who own real property to the value of five hundred pesos, or who annually pay thirty pesos or more of the established taxes.

(c) Those who speak, read, and write English or Spanish.

The law further provides that the following persons shall be disqualified from voting:

(a) Any person who is delinquent in payment of public taxes, assessed since August thirteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

(b) Any person who has been deprived of the right to vote by the sentence of a court of competent jurisdiction since August thirteenth, eighteen hundred and ninety-eight.

(c) Any person who has taken and violated the oath of allegiance to the United States.

(d) Any person who, on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and one, or thereafter, shall be in arms in the Philippine Islands against the authority or sovereignty of the United States, whether such person be an officer, soldier, or civilian.

(e) Any person who, on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and one, or thereafter, shall make contribution of money or other valuable thing in aid of any person or organization against the authority or sovereignty of the United States, or who shall demand or receive such contribution from others, or who shall make any contribution to any person or organization hostile to or in arms against the authority or sovereignty of the United States, for the purpose of securing any protection, immunity, or benefit.

(f) Any person who, on the first day of April, nineteen hundred and one, or thereafter, shall in any manner whatsoever give aid and comfort to any person or organization in said islands in opposition to or in arms against the authority or sovereignty of the United States.

(g) Insane or feeble-minded persons.

For economy in administration, the government of the Philippines has recently, by consolidation, reduced the total number of municipalities organized under the provisions of this municipal code from 1035 to 623.

There are at this time 982 presidents or mayors of municipalities, 2,906 secretaries, treasurers, etc.. of municipalities, and 8,159 counselors of municipalities, all of whom are Filipinos, duly elected and serving under the provisions of this municipal code.

In actual practice the law has worked to the satisfaction of the people and of the Commission. There have been individual instances of misconduct on the part of municipal officers, which have been promptly punished by suspension and removal from office. Violation of the oath of allegiance has not yet been proved against a single president. City of Manila.-The charter of the city of Manila follows closely in its general lines the plan of the legislation by which the city of Washington is governed. However, instead of requiring the General Government to pay one-half of the expenses of the city (the proportion paid for Washington by the Federal Government), the proportion is reduced to three-tenths.

The city government is vested in a municipal board of three members, one of whom must be a Filipino, appointed under the charter by the civil governor with the consent of the Commission.

Provision is also made in the charter for an advisory board, to consist of one member to be appointed by the civil governor, by and with the consent of the Commission, for each of the 11 city districts as they existed under the Spanish Government. It is the duty of this advisory board to bring to the attention of the municipal board the special needs of the city and its inhabitants and to make such suggestions and recommendations relative thereto as it may from time to time deem necessary. It is charged with the consideration of petitions presented by residents or inhabitants of the city and to report its

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WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PHILIPPINES.

recommendations thereon to the municipal board. And, furthermore, the municipal board is required, before fixing license fees or involving the liability of the city, and in other matters of importance, to first submit the same to this advisory board for comment and recommendation.

PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENTS.

The instructions of the President, already referred to, directed that The next subject in order of importance should be the organization of government in the larger administrative divisions corresponding to counties, departments, or provinces, in which the common interests of many or several municipalities falling within the same tribal lines, or the same natural geographic limits, may best be subserved by a common administration.

In compliance with these instructions, the Philippine Archipelago is now divided into 40 provinces or districts, which are governed under three general laws, and may briefly be mentioned as follows: 34 Christian provinces, 5 districts, and a Moro province.

The organization of the 34 Christian provinces.-The general provincial law under which the 34 Christian provinces are governed provides for a provincial government of five officers-the governor, the treasurer, the supervisor, the secretary, and the fiscal, or prosecuting attorney. The governing board is called the provincial board, and includes as members the governor, the treasurer, and the supervisor. The prosecuting attorney is the legal advisor of the board and the secretary of the province is its secretary. The first function of the provincial government is to collect, through the provincial treasurer, all the taxes, with few exceptions, belonging to the towns or the province. Its second and most important function is the construction of highways and bridges and public buildings. Its third function is the supervision, through the governor and the provincial treasurer, of the municipal officers in the discharge of their duties. Within certain limitations the provincial board fixes the rate of levy for provincial

taxation.

The governor has the power to suspend any municipal officer found failing in his duty, and is obliged to visit the towns of the province twice in a year and hear complaints against the municipal officers. The provincial treasurer collects all the taxes, turns over those due to the town to the municipal treasurer, and examines the accounts of that officer. The supervisor must be a civil engineer, and carries on the work required to be done by the provincial board. The fiscal, or prosecuting attorney, is the legal advisor of the provincial board and of every municipality in the province.

In a number of provinces, however, it has been deemed wise to cut down the expense of government by consolidating the offices of treasurer and supervisor, usually filled by Americans, into the office of treasurer-supervisor.

The provincial governor is elected biennially, on the first Monday in February, by a convention consisting of counselors of every duly organized municipality in the province, which, after selecting a presiding officer and secretary, is to proceed by a secret ballot to choose a person to be the provincial governor, subject to confirmation by the Philippine Commission.

The positions of treasurer and supervisor are subject to the civil