LETTER FROM THE SECRETARY OF WAR, TRANSMITTING A. COMPILATION, PREPARED IN THE BUREAU OF INSULAR AFFAIRS, SETTING FORTH A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF WHAT HAS BEEN ACCOMPLISHED IN THE ADMINISTRATION OF PRACTICAL AFFAIRS BY THE CIVIL GOVERNMENT OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS. APRIL 25, 1904.-Presented by Mr. LODGE and ordered to be printed. WAR DEPARTMENT, SIR: Permit me to bring to your attention the accompanying compilation, prepared in the Bureau of Insular Affairs, setting forth in succinct form and style a comprehensive review of what has been accomplished in the administration of practical affairs by the civil government of the Philippine Islands, and to suggest that it be printed as a public document.. Very truly, yours, Hon. HENRY CABOT LODGE, WM. H. TAFT, Secretary of War. Senate Chamber, Capitol. WAR DEPARTMENT, BUREAU OF INSULAR AFFAIRS, SIR: The Bureau of Insular Affairs is daily receiving letters of inquiry presenting variants of the question: "What has been done in the Philippines?" Numerous inquiries as to how much it costs the United States to maintain the government of the Philippine Islands show that the general public are not aware of the fact that the civil government of the islands is maintained by its own revenues and without a dollar from the Treasury of the United States; inquiries also indicate a lack of knowledge of the fact that an overwhelming number of official positions in the islands are occupied by Filipinos and that the native inhabitants participate in the exercise of the powers of all branches of government. These letters suggested the advisability of a compilation which would present the desired information in form and space adapted to the use of persons interested in the general subject or some special matter, who lacked time or opportunity to examine all the documents involved. A 5 ! 6 LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL. I have the honor to submit the accompanying compilation which, I think, accomplishes this purpose. Much of the work of preparing this document was done by Mr. W. L. Pepperman, assistant to the chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, and to his intimate acquaintance with the work of the Bureau is due, in large measure, the completeness and attention to details with which the work has been performed. Yours, respectfully. The SECRETARY OF WAR. CHARLES E. Magoon, WHAT HAS BEEN DONE IN THE PHILIPPINES. THE RESTORATION OF PEACE. The sovereignty of the United States is established in the Philippine Islands, is accepted by the inhabitants, and is acceptable to them. Tranquillity prevails throughout the islands to a greater degree and over a larger area than at any period during the centuries the archipelago was subject to the sovereignty of Spain.. Such resistance to governmental authority as exists to-day does not result from efforts to expel the sovereignty of the United States; it results from the action of turbulent violators of the civil and criminal laws-bands of landrones, highwaymen, robbers, etc., similar in character to the bands of outlaws that for a period infested the western border of population in the United States. The armed forces of the insurrection having been overcome and dispersed by the military forces of the United States, it became necessary to make provision for the government of the islands by the agencies of peace. The success of this endeavor depended upon the acceptance of these agencies by the inhabitants in the spirit in which they were tendered and the hearty cooperation of the people in such government, the abandonment of mutual distrust and enmity and the striking of hands in unity of endeavor for a common purpose. The corner stone for the governmental structure must be a belief in the minds of the Filipinos that the plans and policies of the American people were intended to benefit the islands and not to exploit them for our own profit and advantage. To create this belief it was necessary to allay the animosities engendered by the war, suspicions resulting from want of knowledge of the United States, its government, policies, and people, and the prejudices of the orientals toward all things occidental. The civil government being established, and the purposes of the United States demonstrated, the Filipinos now begin to appreciate the advantages to be derived from their new situation. Day by day this appreciation increases, as they realize that in all things and in all ways the government of the islands is being administered with fidelity to the declaration-"the Philippines for the Filipinos." THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT AND LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY. Civil government in the Philippine Islands under American sovereignty, as distinguished from military administration, dates from the appointment by President McKinley, in March, 1900, of the Taft Philippine Commission. In creating this Commission and authorizing it to assume and discharge the functions of government the President 7 exercised the way powers of the nation, and the Commission thus created was an instrumentality for the exercise of the authority of the President as Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States to administer the affairs of civil government in territory subject to military occupation. In short, the Commission was a civilian agency for the exercise of the powers of a military government. The Commission consisted of Hon. William H. Taft, of Ohio; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan: Hon. Luke E. Wright, of Tennessee; Hon. Henry C. Ide, of Vermont; and Prof. Bernard Moses, of California. The general purpose of the Commission was, as stated by the President sto continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil government already commenced by the military authorities, subject in all respects to any laws which Congress may hereafter enact. To aid them in accomplishing this purpose there was issued the document known as "Instructions of the President to the Philippine Commission." dated April 7, 1900. This state paper has been appropriately designated as the Magna Charta of the Philippines. The plan of government set forth in these instructions received public approval and stood the test of practical operation. From many expressions highly commending these instructions the following is quoted from a recent article in the Review of Reviews: When they were made public statesmen and jurists the world over saw in them a constitution and a code of laws almost unprecedented in history. Here is what eminent authorities have pronounced the most nearly perfect example of organic law, jurisprudence, guarding of rights, distribution of powers, administrative provisions, cheeks and balances civilization ever beheld in a single document. It was a constitution, a code judicial, a system of laws ready-made, statutes administrative covering all the activities of a nation and meeting wants and solving problems innumerable all rolled into one, It was a masterly summing up of the governing experience of the self-governing people of the world, adapted to and especially arranged for effective work in a given field. These famous instructions" became the organic law of the Philippine Archipelago. Under them the civic machinery for a nation of nine millions of people has been worked out. These instructions were prepared by Hon. Elihu Root, as Secretary of War. Upon arriving in the Philippines the Commission established the seat of government at Manila and entered upon the work of establishing civil government throughout the archipelago, utilizing in that endeavor the framework constructed by the military authorities of the United States. As the fundamental step in giving civil government to the people of the Philippines, it was determined that there should be a separation of the executive, the legislative, and judicial branches, and that the powers of these several branches should be exercised by different persons. The legislative powers were conferred upon the Commission, the judicial powers were to be exercised by the courts to be established through legislative action of the Commission, and the authority to exercise the executive powers was continued in the commander of the military forces of the United States maintaining the occupation of the islands. The scope of the legislative authority conferred upon the Commission was declared in the instructions as follows: Exercise of this legislative authority will include the making of rules and orders, having the effect of law, for the raising of revenue by taxes, customs, and duties, and imposts; the appropriation and expenditure of public funds of the islands; the establishment of an educational system throughout the islands; the establishment of a system to secure an efficient civil service; the organization and establishment of courts; the organization and establishment of municipal and departmental governments, and all other matters of a civil nature for which the military governor is now competent to provide by rules or orders of a legislative character. The sessions of the Commission, wherein they have exercised legislative power, stated_and_public. have been stated and public. Their legislative enactments have been publicly introduced and printed in the form of bills. When of general public interest they have been made the subject of public hearings before committees, which the people of the island have freely attended, and at which their views have been freely expressed. Ordinary legislative opportunities for amendment have been afforded and bills and amendments have been publicly debated and voted upon, and when passed have had the force and effect of statutes. In transmitting to Congress the legislation enacted by the Commission Secretary Root said: I invite the attention of Congress to the 263 statutes now set before them, with the hope that the work of the Commission will receive the approval which, I believe, it merits for its high quality of constructive ability, its wise adaptation to the ends desirable to be accomplished, and its faithful adherence to the principles controlling our own Government. It should be observed that these statutes are not mere expressions of theoretical views as to how the Philippines ought to be governed, but are the practical treatment of carefully studied conditions. Many of the most important are not the beginnings, but the results of patient experiments-the outcome and improvement of successive military orders dealing with the same subjects. Not one of the legislative acts of the Commission has failed to receive the approval of Congress. The policy contemplated in the instructions of April 7, 1900, was, as stated by Secretary Root in his annual report for 1901: To steadily press forward, as rapidly as it could be done safely and thoroughly, the gradual substitution of government, through civil agents for government through military agents, so that the administration of the military officer shall be continually narrowed, and that of the civil officer continually enlarged, until the time comes when the Army can, without imperiling the peace and order of the country, be relegated to the same relation toward government which it occupies in the United States. In June, 1901, affairs in the islands were in a condition to justify a further step in the extension of civil government, and on the 21st of that month the President issued an order transferring from the military governor to the president of the Philippine Commission the authority to exercise the powers of the executive branch of government in all the pacified provinces of the islands, but continuing the authority of the military governor to exercise executive authority in those districts in which the insurrection continued to exist. The order also appointed the Hon. William H. Taft civil governor of the Philippine Islands. On the 4th of July, 1901, the present Secretary of War, Hon. William H. Taft, was inaugurated, at Manila, as civil governor of the Philippine Islands and entered upon the performance of his duties. On the 1st of September, 1901, a further step toward civil executive organization was made by the establishment of separate executive departments, to which members of the Commission were assigned as follows: Department of the interior, Dean C. Worcester; department of commerce and police, Luke E. Wright; department of finance and justice, Henry C. Ide; department of public instruction, Bernard Moses. |