COMPOSITION OF THE SPECIAL MISSION.

Maj. Gen. LEONARD WOOD, Chairman.
Hon. W. CAMERON FORBES.

ATTACHED.

Col. FRANK R. McCoy, Chief of Staff.

Mr. RAY ATHERTON, Department of State.

Lieut. Col. GORDON JOHNSTON.

Maj. EDWARD BOWDITCH, Jr.

Lieut. Commander STEWART F. BRYANT.

Maj. A. L. P. JOHNSON.

Prof. H. OTLEY BEYER, University of the Philippines.

Capt. ROBERT C. CANDEE, Aid-de-camp.

First Lieut. OSBORNE C. WOOD, Aid-de-camp

4

INTERESTING DATA ON THE PHILIPPINES.

*Population. Total population, 1903, 7,635,426; 1921, 10,956,000; Christian, 9,350,240; Mohammedan, 434,868; Pagan, 540,054; Buddhists, 25,568. Foreigners: Americans, 6,931; Spanish, 4,271; British, 1,202; Chinese, 55,212; Japanese, 12,636; all others, 2,893.

Physical. Number of islands, approximately, 3,000. Total area, 115,026 square miles. Total area under cultivation, 11,503 square miles (10 per cent), valued at $229,000,000. Total area of forest land of commercial value, 64,800 square miles, 99 per cent of which belongs to the Government. Number of Provinces, 49. Number of municipalities, 829. Estimated total wealth of islands, $5,500,000,000.

Educational.-Number of public schools, 6,493. Total enrollment of pupils, including private schools, 1,020,000. Degree of literacy (about), 37 per cent. Having received primary instruction, 35.9 per cent; having received secondary instruction, 0.89 per cent; superior instruction, 0.13 per cent. Number of teachers (of whom 501 are American), 18,134. Number of colleges and universities, 17. Enrollment of students in University of the Philippines, 4,130. Number of students attending colleges and schools in the United States, 2,700. Health.

Financial.-Income of Philippine Government, 1920, $40,500,000. Tax per capita, $3.96. Trade with United States (imports and exports), 1903, $17,907,141; 1920, $197,506,041. Persons rendering income-tax returns for 1920, 9,519 (Americans, 1,434; Chinese, 3,123; Filipinos, 3,667).

* Estimated, except for 1903.

5

Newspapers.-Daily newspapers published, 45; total circulation, 131,400. Weekly and other publications, 69; total circulation, 195,700.

Suffrage. Number of votes cast general election 1919, 672,122. Women do not have the suffrage.

Languages. Number of distinct dialects spoken, 87. Number of ethnographic groups or tribes, 43.

Roads.-Miles of railroad under operation, 755; miles of roads rated as first class, 2,920.

Historical.-About 200-1325 A. D., dependency of various HinduMalayan empires in Indo-China, Sumatra, and Borneo; 1325–1405, subject to Javanese empire of Madjapahit; 1405-1440, governed by China (under Ming emperors); 1440-1565, Northern Luzon subject to Japan; from Manila south, subject to Mohammedan Borneo; 1565– 1762, subject to Spain through Mexico (paid tribute to Japan 15921623 to avoid invasion by the Shogun Hideyoshi); 1762-1763, seized by England but restored to Spain by the treaty ending the Seven Years War; 1763-1898, subject to Spain (through Mexico until 1821 and to Spain direct after that date); 1898-1921, under American sovereignty; military government, 1898-1900; Philippine Commission, 1900-1907; Philippine Commission (American majority) and Assembly, 1907-1913; Philippine Commission (Filipino majority) and Assembly, 1913-1916; elected Assembly and Senate, under Jones bill, 1916-1921.

REPORT OF THE SPECIAL MISSION ON INVESTIGATION TO THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS.

The SECRETARY OF WAR,

Washington, D. C.

SIR: We have the honor to submit the following report of the special mission to the Philippine Islands. The purpose and instructions of the mission are set forth in the following letters:

THE WHITE HOUSE, Washington, March 20, 1921.

MY DEAR MR. SECRETARY: In the message transmitted to the Congress on the 7th of December, 1920, President Wilson said:

"Allow me to call your attention to the fact that the people of the Philippine Islands have succeeded in maintaining a stable government since the last action of the Congress in their behalf, and have thus fulfilled the condition set by the Congress as precedent to a consideration of granting independence to the islands. I respectfully submit that this condition precedent having been fulfilled, it is now our liberty and our duty to keep our promise to the people of those islands by granting them the independence which they so honorably covet."

The suggestion made was not acted upon by that session of Congress. Undoubtedly that nonaction was due to the fact that all of the evidence available to Congress was not of this same tenor. Based, however, as it was, on official reports from the highest authority in the Philippine Islands, as well as on current reports from lesser authorities given the widest circulation in the United States, as well as in the islands, it can not, with propriety, be ignored, nor yet can it, in the face of conflicting evidence from many sources, be accepted as the final word on so important a subject.

I have, therefore, selected Gen. Leonard Wood and W. Cameron Forbes to go to the Philippine Islands and to make there a study of the situation and to report thereon, in order that I may have a judgment on which I can base my action and my recommendations with a consciousness that I am dealing justly with the Filipino people and pursuing a policy which the American people will sanction and support. I have discussed this subject with you and will ask you to give such instructions as may insure to them every convenience and assistance in their most important undertaking, and to give to them such instructions as will insure a full understanding and a frank report of the problem submitted.

Very sincerely,

The SECRETARY OF WAR.

WARREN G. HARDING.

Maj. Gen. LEONARD WOOD,

WAR DEPARTMENT, Washington, March 23, 1921.

Chairman Special Mission to the Philippine Islands.

SIR: I beg to hand you a copy of a letter from the President briefly giving the object of your mission to the Philippine Islands.

I have acquainted the Acting Governor General and the commanding general of the Philippine Department with the fact of your coming, and have directed them to place

7

at your disposal every facility and convenience that may be of assistance to you in your work.

It is asserted with positiveness by persons who have had every reasonable opportunity to know the conditions whereof they speak that the Philippine Government is now in a position to warrant its total separation from the United States Government and that the Filipino people are in a position to continue to operate the Philippine Government without aid of any kind from the United States and that the Government so conducted would be one in which the American people could take pride because of the assistance heretofore given it.

All of this is quite as positively denied by other persons having similar opportunities to study the situation and to know the exact conditions existing in the Philippine Islands.

Between these conflicting views you are to render judgment.

The decision of the question thus arising is of momentous importance, involving, as it may, the very life of the Filipino people as a people and the reputation and credit of our own country. Even if it were possible hereafter to correct an error now made, it would be difficult to measure the cost of this correction.

Every consideration, therefore, urges us, before taking a step of importance in this matter, to satisfy ourselves that we are not acting through emotions, but are acting wisely as the facts present themselves to us after a careful impartial study.

I am not unaware that your experience peculiarly fits you and Gov. Forbes for the task that you are undertaking and render detailed instructions superfluous if not embarrassing. Nevertheless, I desire to suggest briefly the doubts which I should like to have cleared up for my personal satisfaction, and these may, in a degree, indicate to you the doubts of others who are interested in the subject but whose minds have been confused by conflicting reports and rumors.

There are, naturally, many points of great importance in passing on our future policy with reference to the Philippine Islands about which there is no doubt and with reference to which, therefore, there need be no detailed study. The general characteristics of the Filipino people, their many attractive qualities, their progressive spirit, love of education, and their rapidly developing spirit of nationality are no longer questions.

The maintenance of a government, however, in a territory so situated as the Philippine Islands involves many problems not dependent entirely on these accepted qualities.

In the instructions of Mr. McKinley for the guidance of the commissioners sent to the Philippine Islands in 1900, he said:

"In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government."

There is to-day no better guide for a judgment of the adequacy of the Philippine Government as it now exists or as it would exist as an independent government. In passing now on the question of the stability of the existing government in the Philippine Islands if American support should be withdrawn therefrom and of the probability of the permanence of such a government thereafter and the likelihood that such a government would protect the people in their essential rights and privileges, the standard should not be one of perfection from our point of view, but the standard outlined in the instructions of Mr. McKinley.