CHAPTER XII

The Establishment of Civil Government

The first Philippine Commission did not complete its work until March,

1900. By this time conditions had so far improved in the archipelago

that President McKinley was prepared to initiate a movement looking

toward the establishment of civil government there. With this end in

view he appointed the following commission of five civilians; William

H. Taft of Ohio, Dean C. Worcester of Michigan, Luke E. Wright of

Tennessee, Henry C. Ide of Vermont and Bernard Moses of California. Our

appointments were dated March 16, 1900. Our instructions which were

full, are given in the appendix. [457] I was the only member of the

first commission to be reappointed. Neither General Otis nor Admiral

Dewey cared to serve, and indeed the professional duties of each

of them rendered his appointment to the new commission difficult,

if not impossible. Mr. Schurman had at one time expressed himself

as vigorously opposed to the idea of a new commission, maintaining

that the best results could be obtained by the appointment of a civil

governor with wide powers. It was therefore taken for granted that he

would not desire reappointment. Colonel Denby was keenly interested

in the work and would have been glad to continue it, but he was past

seventy and with his good wife had then spent some fifteen years

in the Far East. He doubted whether his strength would be adequate

to bear the strain of the arduous task which obviously lay before

the new commission, and Mrs. Denby desired to remain in the United

States where she could be near her children from whom she had been

long separated, so her husband felt constrained to say that he did

not wish to return to the Philippines.

I separated from him with the keenest regret. He was an amiable,

tactful man of commanding ability and unimpeachable integrity, actuated

by the best of motives and loyal to the highest ideals. He constantly

sought to avoid not only evil but the appearance of evil. I count it

one of the great privileges of my life to have been associated with

him. The one thing in the book written by James H. Blount which aroused

my ire was his characterization of Colonel Denby as a hypocrite. No

falser, meaner, more utterly contemptible statement was ever made,

and when I read it the temptation rose hot within me to make public

Blount's personal Philippine record, but after the first heat of

anger had passed I remembered what the good old Colonel would have

wished me to do in such a case, and forbore.

The second Philippine commission, hereinafter referred to as "the

commission," received its instructions on April 7, 1900.

They covered a most delicate and complicated subject, namely, the

gradual transfer of control from military to civil authority in a

country extensive regions of which were still in open rebellion.

In the opinion of President McKinley there was no reason why steps

should not be taken, from time to time, to inaugurate governments

essentially popular in their form as fast as territory came under

the permanent control of our troops, and indeed, as we have seen,

this had already been done by the army. It was provided that we

should continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing

civil governments already commenced by the military authorities. In

doing this we were to act as a board of which Mr. Taft was designated

president. It was contemplated that the transfer of authority from

military commanders to civil officers would be gradual, and full and

complete coöperation between these authorities was enjoined. Having

familiarized ourselves with the conditions then prevailing in the

islands, we were to devote our attention first to the establishment

of municipal governments, in which the natives should be given the

opportunity to manage their local affairs to the fullest extent and

with the least supervision and control found to be practicable. We were

then to consider the organization of larger administrative divisions,

and when of the opinion that the condition of affairs in the islands

was such that the central administration could safely be transferred

from military to civil control were to report this conclusion to the

secretary of war with our recommendations as to the form of central

government which should be established.

Beginning with September 1, 1900, we were authorized to exercise,

subject to the approval of the President and the secretary of war, the

legislative power, which was then to be transferred from the military

governor to us until the establishment of civil central government,

or until Congress should otherwise provide. We were authorized during

a like period to appoint to office such officers under the judicial,

educational, and civil service systems, and in the municipal and

departmental governments, as were duly provided for. Until the

complete transfer of control the military governor was to remain the

chief executive head of the government and to exercise the executive

authority previously possessed by him and not expressly assigned to

the commission by the president in his instructions. In establishing

municipal governments we were to take as the basis of our work those

established by the military governor, under the order of August 8,

1899, which I had helped to set up, as well as those established

under the report of a board constituted by the military governor by

his order of January 29, 1900, of which Señor Cayetano Arellano was

the president.

In the establishment of departmental or provincial governments we

were to give special attention to the then-existing government of the

island of Negros, established with the approval of the people of that

island under the order of the military governor of July 22, 1899.

We were instructed to investigate troubles growing out of large land

holdings, including those of the religious orders, and to promote,

extend and improve the system of education already inaugurated by

the military authorities, giving first importance to the extension

of a system of primary education free to all, which would tend to fit

the people for the duties of citizenship and the ordinary avocations

of a civilized community. Instruction was to be given at first in

the native dialects, but full opportunity for all of the people to

acquire English was to be provided as soon as possible. If necessity

demanded, we were authorized to make changes in the existing system

of taxation and in the body of the laws under which the people were

governed, although such changes were to be relegated to the civil

government which we were to establish later, so far as might be. Our

instructions contained the following important passages:--

"In all the forms of government and administrative provisions

which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should

bear in mind that the government which they are establishing

is designed not for our satisfaction, or for the expression

of our theoretical views, but for the happiness, peace and

prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the

measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs,

their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest

extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable

requisites of just and effective government.

"At the same time the commission should bear in mind, and the

people of the islands should be made plainly to understand,

that there are certain great principles of government which

have been made the basis of our governmental system which

we deem essential to the rule of law and the maintenance of

individual freedom, and of which they have, unfortunately,

been denied the experience possessed by us; that there are

also certain practical rules of government which we have

found to be essential to the preservation of these great

principles of liberty and law, and that these principles and

these rules of government must be established and maintained

in their islands for the sake of their liberty and happiness,

however much they may conflict with the customs or laws of

procedure with which they are familiar.

"It is evident that the most enlightened thought of the

Philippine Islands fully appreciates the importance of

these principles and rules, and they will inevitably within

a short time command universal assent. Upon every division

and branch of the government of the Philippines, therefore,

must be imposed these inviolable rules:--

"That no person shall be deprived of life, liberty, or

property without due process of law; that private property

shall not be taken for public use without just compensation;

that in all criminal prosecutions the accused shall enjoy the

right to a speedy and public trial, to be informed of the

nature and cause of the accusation, to be confronted with

the witnesses against him, to have compulsory process for

obtaining witnesses in his favour, and to have the assistance

of counsel for his defence; that excessive bail shall not be

required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual

punishment inflicted; that no person shall be put twice in

jeopardy for the same offence, or be compelled in any criminal

case to be a witness against himself; that the right to be

secure against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not

be violated; that neither slavery nor involuntary servitude

shall exist except as a punishment for crime; that no bill

of attainder or ex-post-facto law shall be passed; that no

law shall be passed abridging the freedom of speech or of the

press, or the rights of the people to peaceably assemble and

petition the Government for a redress of grievances; that no

law shall be made respecting the establishment of religion,

or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, and that the free

exercise and enjoyment of religious profession and worship

without discrimination or preference shall forever be allowed."

It has been the fashion in some quarters to sneer at the last of these

paragraphs, and to insinuate, if not to charge, that President McKinley

in his policy toward the Philippine Islands was actuated by unworthy

motives. Nothing could be further from the truth. From the beginning

to the end the real good of the several peoples of the archipelago

came first with him, and no one who had the privilege of knowing him

well doubts it. Thoroughly imbued with the lofty sentiments expressed

by him in our instructions, we set forth on our long pilgrimage to a

country where we were to undertake a heavy task essentially different

from that which had ever before fallen to the lot of any five citizens

of the United States.

On April 17, 1900, we sailed from San Francisco on the United

States army transport _Hancock_. We were forty-five strong. Of

this goodly company only four remain in the Philippines to-day,

[458]--Mr. and Mrs. Branagan, Mrs. Worcester and myself. Singularly

enough, with two exceptions, all of the others are still alive

and at work. Arthur W. Ferguson, prince of interpreters, who was

later appointed Executive Secretary, died in the service after more

than six years of extraordinarily faithful and efficient work. James

A. LeRoy, my faithful, able and efficient private secretary, contracted

tuberculosis, and fell a victim to it after a long and gallant fight.

At Honolulu we met with a severe disappointment. It was of course

our duty to call on Governor Dole. We were advised that silk hats

and frock coats must be donned for this visit, and it was perishing

hot. We reached the palace in a reeking perspiration and had a long

wait in a suffocating room. When Mr. Dole appeared, he was closely

followed by an attendant bearing a large and most attractive-looking

bottle carefully wrapped in a napkin, and our spirits rose. But,

alas! It contained Poland water.

At Tokio we had an audience with the Emperor and were received by the

Empress as well. In the high official who had charge of the palace

where these events took place, I discovered an old University of

Michigan graduate who made the occasion especially pleasant for me.

We finally reached Manila on the morning of June 3. Although the

thermometer was in the nineties, a certain frigidity pervaded the

atmosphere on our arrival, which General MacArthur, the military

governor, seemed to regard in the light of an intrusion.

He had been directed to provide suitable office quarters for us. To

our amazement and amusement we found desks for five commissioners

and five private secretaries placed in one little room in the

Ayuntamiento. [459] While it was possible to get through the room

without scrambling over them, it would have been equally possible

to circle it, walking on them, without stepping on the floor. In

the course of our first long official interview with the General,

he informed us that we were "an injection into an otherwise normal

situation."

He added that we had already mediatized the volume of work that flowed

over his desk. At the moment none of us were quite sure what he meant,

but we found the word in the dictionary. How often in the weary

years that were to follow I wished that some one would materially

mediatize the task which fell to my lot! It was General MacArthur's

honestly held and frankly expressed opinion that what the Filipinos

needed was "military government pinned to their backs for ten years

with bayonets." He later changed that view very radically, and when

civil provincial governments were finally established it was with

his approval, and, in many instances, upon his specific recommendation.

At the outset some effort was made to keep the public away from

us. Word was passed that we had no authority, which was true enough,

as our legislative activities were not to begin until September

1. The ninety days which intervened were very advantageously spent in

gaining familiarity with the situation, which we had no difficulty

in doing. Plenty of people were already weary of military rule and

flocked to us. None of my companions had ever before set foot in the

Philippines, and although I had spent more than four years there,

I still had plenty to learn.

In this connection I am reminded of an event which occurred somewhat

later. While the commission was en route from Iloilo to Catbalogan

when we were establishing civil provincial governments, General Hughes

and Mr. Taft became involved in a somewhat animated discussion. The

General displayed an accurate knowledge of facts which were of such

a nature that one would hardly have expected an army officer to be

familiar with them. Mr. Taft said: "General, how do you do it? You

have always been a busy man, devoted to your profession. How have you

managed to accumulate such a remarkable fund of information?" The

General smiled his rare smile and replied: "Governor, I will tell

you. I always try to go to bed at night knowing a little more than

I did when I got up in the morning." It is a wise plan to follow.

On September 1 we assumed the legislative power, our first official

act being to appropriate $2,000,000 Mexican for the construction and

repair of highways and bridges.

We were impressed with the fundamental necessity of promptly opening up

lines of land communication in a country which almost completely lacked

them, and there were many poor people in dire need of employment who

would be relieved by the opportunity to earn an honest living which

the inauguration of road construction would afford them.

Our second act appropriated $5000 Mexican for the purpose of making

a survey to ascertain the most advantageous route for a railroad into

the mountains of Benguet, where we wished to establish a much-needed

health resort for the people of the archipelago.

Seven days later we passed an act for the establishment and

maintenance of an efficient and honest civil service in the Philippine

Islands. This measure was of basic importance. We had stipulated before

leaving Washington that no political appointees should be forced upon

us under any circumstances. The members of the second commission, like

their predecessors of the first, were firm in the belief that national

politics should, if possible, be kept out of the administration of

Philippine affairs, and we endeavoured to insure this result.

Our tenth act appropriated $1500 Mexican to be paid to the widow

of Salvador Reyes, vice-president of Santa Cruz in Laguna Province,

assassinated because of his loyalty to the established government.

Our fifteenth act increased the monthly salaries of Filipino public

school teachers in Manila.

Our sixteenth and seventeenth acts reorganized the Forestry Bureau

and the Mining Bureau.

On October 15 we appropriated $1,000,000 United States currency,

for improving the port of Manila, where there was urgent need of

protection for shipping during the typhoon season.

On December 12 we passed an act authorizing the establishment of local

police in cities and towns in the Philippine Islands and appropriating

$150,000 United States currency for their maintenance.

Two days later we passed a much-needed act regulating the sale of

intoxicating liquors within the city of Manila and its attached

barrios.

On December 21, we appropriated $75,000 United States currency for

the construction of the Benguet Road, little dreaming how much time

would elapse and how many more dollars would be appropriated, before

a vehicle passed over it.

It will be sufficiently evident that I cannot here give an account

of the several acts which we passed when I say that they number four

hundred forty-nine during the first year. We created the administrative

bureaus of a well-organized government, established civil rule in

numerous municipalities and provinces, provided for the necessary

expenses of government, organized courts and reformed the judiciary. So

important were the results following the establishment of the Civil

Service Act and the act providing for the organization of courts for

the Philippine Islands that I have devoted a chapter to each.

Although there were no limits on our power to enact legislation other

than those imposed by our instructions hereinbefore referred to,

nothing was further from our desire than to exercise too arbitrarily

the authority conferred upon us.

Taylor has correctly described our method of procedure in the

following words:--

"On September 1, 1900, the Commission began its legislative

and executive duties. In performing them it adopted the policy

of passing no laws, except in cases of emergency, without

publishing them in the daily press, nor until after they

had passed a second reading and the public had been given

an opportunity to come before the Commission and suggest

objections or amendments to the bills. Before enacting

them they were submitted to the military governor for his

consideration and comment." [460]

The other especially important events of our first legislative

year were the establishment of civil rule in the municipalities

as well as in thirty-eight provinces and the substitution of the

military central government by the gradual creation of bureaus and

the ultimate appointment of a civil governor and of five heads of

executive departments.

On November 23, 1900, we passed an act providing for the establishment

of a civil government in the province of Benguet, and thus it happened

that a province practically all of whose inhabitants were members of

a non-Christian tribe was the first to enjoy the benefits of civil

rule. This action grew out of investigations by General Wright and

myself made when visiting Baguio during the latter part of July, which

led us to the conclusion that civil government could be established in

Benguet at any time and should be established as soon as possible. In

view of the rather primitive state of civilization of the people for

whom we were legislating, a special act adapted to local conditions

was passed providing for a provincial government and fixing a form

of government for the several settlements.

On January 31, 1901, we passed an act for the organization of municipal

governments in the Philippine Islands which, with various amendments,

is still in effect and has been made applicable to all municipal

corporations of the Philippines inhabited chiefly by Filipinos, except

the city of Manila, the city of Baguio and a few small settlements

in the so-called special government provinces. [461]

On February 6, 1901, we passed a general act for the organization of

provincial governments in the Philippine Islands. A special act was

required to make it applicable to any given province.

Having thus prepared for the serious work of establishing civil

government throughout the archipelago so fast and so far as conditions

might seem to justify, we determined to visit the several provinces

and to familiarize ourselves with conditions on the ground in each

case before taking action. We invariably sought the opinion of

the military authorities as to the fitness of the provinces under

consideration for civil rule, and never established it except with

their approval. Indeed, in several cases we yielded to their judgment

and organized provinces which we ourselves thought might better wait

for a time.

Our first trip was to the northward along the line of the

Manila-Dagupan railway, and in the course of it we organized the

provinces of Bulaean, Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinán.

On the 2d of March we crossed Manila Bay to Bataan and established

a civil provincial government there.

The first provincial officers were necessarily appointed, not

elected. I well remember the consternation which Mr. Taft created

on this trip, when in announcing the appointment of a man of strong

character who was much disliked by some of the people present, he

said that if the appointee did not behave well his official head

would be promptly removed. Surprise showed on almost every face in

the audience. They had become sufficiently accustomed to the idea of

being beheaded or otherwise sent out of the world by their own people,

but had been led to believe that the Americans were a humane nation,

and it took Mr. Taft at least five minutes to explain his joke.

During the second week in March the commission transferred its officers

bodily to the United States Army Transport _Sumner_ and started on

a long journey in the course of which it visited and established

provincial governments in eighteen provinces, [462] returning to

Manila on the 3d of May.

This trip was most interesting but dreadfully wearing. Everywhere

we were overwhelmed by the hospitality of our Filipino friends. We

arrived at some new place nearly every morning, and the programme in

each was much the same. After an early breakfast we hurried ashore,

drove or walked about for a short time to see what the town was like,

and then attended a popular meeting in its largest building, where

we held long and frank converse with the people on local conditions,

giving them every opportunity to air their views, with the result that

the local orators, of whom there were usually more than a sufficiency,

had an opportunity to bring their heavy guns into action. Then followed

a recess in the course of which we partook of a very elaborate lunch,

and when possible conferred privately with influential men, often

learning things which they did not care to tell us in public. Then came

another open meeting at which the actual organization of the province

was effected and the officials were appointed and sworn in. After

this there was a long formal dinner, with the endless courses which

characterize such functions in the Philippines, and then came a ball

which lasted till the wee small hours. When at last we got on board,

tired out, our steamer sailed, and often brought us to some new place

by sunrise.

In several instances we did not pass the act organizing a given

province at the time of our visit, but for one reason or another

postponed action until a later date. We visited a number of places

like Joló, Basilan, Zamboanga, Cotabato, Davao and Samar, where we

had no intention of establishing civil government, in order to observe

local conditions.

We touched at Marinduque on our trip south, and found that nothing

could then be done there, but the better element were anxious for a

change, and we promised them that if they would bring about certain

specified results before our return we would give them a provincial

government. They undertook to do so, and kept their word. Needless

to say we also kept ours.

We had grave doubts as to the advisability of establishing civil

governments in Cebú, Bohol and Batangas. In the first of these

places the people were sullen and ugly. In the second there was

a marked disinclination on the part of leading citizens to accept

public office. There had been a little scattering rifle fire on the

outskirts of the capital of the third very shortly before our arrival

there, but the organization of all these provinces was recommended by

the military authorities, and we decided to try an experiment which

could do little harm, as we could return any one of them to military

control in short order should such a course seem necessary.

An effort has been made to make it appear that in organizing Cebú,

Bohol and Batangas, we acted prematurely and upon our own initiative,

thus complicating the situation for the military authorities. I will

let Blount voice this complaint. He says in part:--

"In his report for 1901 Governor Taft says that the four

principal provinces, including Batangas, which gave trouble

shortly after the civil government was set up in that year,

and had to be returned to military control, were organized

under civil rule 'on the recommendation' of the then commanding

general (MacArthur). It certainly seems unlikely that the haste

to change from military rule to civil rule came on the motion

of the military. If the Commission ever got, _in writing,_

from General MacArthur, a 'recommendation' that any provinces

be placed under civil rule while still in insurrection, the

text of the writing will show a mere soldierly acquiescence in

the will of Mr. McKinley, the commander-in-chief. Parol [463]

contemporaneous evidence will show that General MacArthur

told them, substantially, that they were 'riding for a

fall.' In fact, whenever an insurrection would break out in

a province after Governor Taft's inauguration as governor,

the whole attitude of the army in the Philippines, from the

commanding general down was 'I told you so.' They did not

say this where Governor Taft could hear it, but it was common

knowledge that they were much addicted to damning 'politics'

as the cause of all the trouble." [464]

Prophecy is always dangerous and when unnecessary seems rather

inexcusable. I submit the essential portions of the record to

show exactly what we did get from General MacArthur, and add the

suggestion that it was really hardly essential that he should make

his recommendations in writing, as he did, for the reason that he

was a gentleman and would not have repudiated a verbal recommendation

once made.

On February 5, 1901, Governor Taft wrote General MacArthur a letter

closing with the following paragraph:--

"As already communicated to you the purpose of the Commission

is to make a Southern trip on the 23rd of February, or as

soon thereafter as practicable, with the idea of arranging

for provincial governments there, and I am directed by the

Commission to request your opinion as to the provinces in

which provincial governments may be safely established. It is

understood that Panay, Romblon, Tayabas, and possibly one or

two of the Camarines are ready for this. What has been said

with reference to the Northern provinces applies to these,

but we shall communicate with you further as to the Southern

provinces when we have been advised as to the possibility of

securing a steamer."

On February 9, General MacArthur gave the following instructions to

the Commanding General, Department of the Visayas:--

"The Military Governor desires that you report to this

office at the earliest date practicable the provinces in your

department that may be considered ready for the establishment

of civil governments therein and in this connection directs

me to say that it should not be considered as necessary that

complete pacification has been brought about in a province

before reporting it as ready for such government; that the

provincial civil governments to be established will doubtless

prove useful agents in the further work of pacification."

On February 27, that officer reported that in his opinion Iloilo,

Capiz, Oriental Negros and Occidental Negros were ready; that Antique

might be in a few days, and that Cebú, Bohol and Leyte were not. These

facts were reported to Governor Taft by General MacArthur on March 4,

and on the same day Lieutenant-Colonel Crowder wrote to the commanding

general of the Visayas:--

"The Military Governor directs me to say that he regards

the initiation of provincial civil government as an aid in

the work of pacification, in which view it is not necessary

that a province should be completely pacified as a condition

to the initiation of such government. He has expressed to the

Commission the opinion that you may be able, upon their arrival

at Iloilo, to submit a supplementary list of provinces in which

it would be advisable to establish at once these governments."

Meanwhile General MacArthur wrote on February 13, to Governor Taft:--

"In partial reply to your letter of the 5th instant I have the

honor to inform you that the Commanding General, Department of

Southern Luzon, reports but one province, Tayabas, as ready at

the present time for civil government. I add the provinces of

Laguna, Batangas and Cavite, believing that the institution of

civil government in all these provinces will be in assistance

of the military authorities in the work of pacification."

General MacArthur's communications seem to me to show something more

than "a mere soldierly acquiescence in the will of Mr. McKinley,"

especially as the President had no knowledge of these provinces, and

never made any recommendation whatsoever relative to the establishment

of civil government there.

Similarly, in establishing civil government in Cebu and Bohol, the

commission acted on the specific recommendation of the military, and

rather against its own judgment. There seemed no very good reason for

refusing to try civil government, if the commanding general wanted

it tried, and when it failed, as it promptly did, in Cebu, Bohol and

Batangas, these provinces were immediately returned to the full control

of the military, and left there until conditions became satisfactory.

Having escaped the perils of the deep, and the much graver perils of

the dinner table, during our southern trip, we returned to Manila,

wearier, wiser and sadder men than when we started, for we had learned

much of the superstitions, the ignorance and the obsessions which

prevailed among the Filipinos, and we knew that many of the men who

from love of country had accepted office under us had done so at the

peril of their lives. We had all had an excellent opportunity to come

to know the Filipinos. Their dignity of bearing, their courtesy,

their friendly hospitality, their love of imposing functions, and

of _fiestas_ and display, their childishness and irresponsibility

in many matters, their passion for gambling, for litigation and for

political intrigue, even the loves and the hatreds of some of them,

had been spread before us like an open book. It is a fact that except

for the inhabitants of Cebu, Bohol and Batangas, the people wanted

what we had to give them and were grateful for it. Never before had

they had their day in court, and they appreciated it.

The establishment of civil government throughout so large a proportion

of the provinces in the islands would have been impossible at this

time had it not been for the helpful activities of the Federal

Party organized on December 23, 1900, by many of the best and most

influential Filipinos in the archipelago for the purpose of aiding

in the establishment of peace and order. Its members were tireless in

their activities. They succeeded in persuading many Insurgent leaders

to lay down their arms, so that a normal condition could be restored in

territory which the latter had previously harried. They convinced many

of the common people of the true purposes of the American government,

and in numerous other ways rendered invaluable services.

The officers and many of the members and agents of this party were

promptly sentenced to death by Aguinaldo, and many of them were

assassinated; [465] but the party persisted in its efforts until

success was attained.

During June of 1901 Professor Moses and I made a horseback trip through

Pangasinán, La Union, Benguet, Lepanto and Ilocos Sur, accompanied by

our private secretaries. Professor Moses was in wretched health as the

result of overwork and confinement, and needed out-of-door exercise.

I had been intrusted with the drafting of legislation for the

government of the non-Christian tribes, and wanted to learn as much

about them as possible, so that I could act intelligently.

We started from Dagupan mounted on horses kindly furnished us by the

army, and escorted by four mounted infantrymen. None of us had ridden

for years, and army officers were offering wagers that we would not

get as far as Baguio. At Mangaldan a cavalry outfit replaced our

mounted infantrymen, and while the members of our new escort were

resting under the shade of a tree in the cemetery, I heard them

voicing joyful anticipations of the easy time they were to have

travelling with tenderfeet. I made up ray mind to give them some

healthful exercise on the trip.

Having first visited the work at the lower end of the Benguet Road and

then travelled across country in a driving storm over wretched trails,

we reached Bauang, our point of departure for the interior. Here I

called the sergeant in charge and asked him where were the extra shoes

for our horses. In some confusion he confessed that he had brought

none, whereupon I read him a homily on the duties of a cavalryman,

and sent the whole outfit to San Fernando to get the horses reshod

and provided with extra shoes for the trip.

We arrived at Baguio in a howling typhoon. When we emerged from the

hills into the open, and our horses got the full sweep of the storm,

they at first refused to face it. We forced them into it, however,

and a few moments later had found refuge in the house of Mr. Otto

Scheerer, a hospitable German. The cavalrymen and the horses got in

under the building. It gave me great joy to hear through the floor

the voice of the sergeant remarking, with much emphasis of the sort

best represented in print by dashes, that if he had known the sort

of a trip he was starting on he would have been on sick report the

morning of his departure.

We waited in vain three days for the storm to end and then rode

on. Mr. Scheerer, who accompanied us, had sent ahead to arrange for

lunch at the house of a rich Igorot named Acop, but when we arrived at

this man's place, soaked, cold, and hungry, we found it shut up. He

had not received the message and was away from home. Investigation

showed that our only resource in the commissary line were some

wads of sticky, unsalted, boiled rice which our Igorot carriers had

inside their hats, in contact with their frowsy hair. We bolted as

much of this as the Igorots could spare, killing its rather high

flavour with cayenne peppers picked beside the trail, and continued

our journey. In descending a steep hill my horse stumbled and while

attempting to recover himself drove a sharp stone into his hoof and

turned a complete somersault, throwing me over his head on to the

rocks. When I got him up he was dead lame, and I walked the rest of

the way to Ambuklao, where we arrived just at sunset.

This once prosperous little Igorot hamlet had been burned by the

Spaniards, for no apparent reason, during their flight from the

province in 1906, and we found only two houses standing. They were

naturally crowded. I was so dead with fatigue that I threw my saddle on

the ground, and using it as a pillow, lay down in a couple of inches

of water and fell sound asleep. Later the Igorots vacated one of the

houses, and placed it at our disposal. I spent the greater part of the

night in a contest with an old Igorot woman, who for the commendable

purpose of keeping us warm tended a smoky pitch-pine fire, and shut

the door, which afforded our only means of ventilation, every time I

dropped asleep. Awakened by the stifling smoke I would open it again,

but as soon as I dozed she would shut it. I finally solved the problem

by lying down with my head sticking out of the door.

The next day was bright and clear. We rested until noon, drying

out our belongings meanwhile, and then continued our journey,

visiting the Igorot settlements on the Agno River and those in

southern Lepanto and finally reaching Cervantes, the capital of that

sub-province. The Igorots of Benguet and Lepanto received us with

the utmost friendliness, and when not in danger of breaking our necks

by falling over the edges of the wretched trails, we greatly enjoyed

our trip.

At Cervantes we were met by a delegation of Bontoc Igorots, who begged

us to visit their country, and we were just preparing to do so when

we received a telegram recalling us to Manila to be present at the

inauguration of Mr. Taft as civil governor. During our absence the

commission had established provincial governments in Rizal, Cavite and

Nueva Ecija. Mr. Taft was inaugurated on July 4, 1901. Thenceforth

he exercised control over the provinces where civil government had

been established, while the military governor continued in charge

of each of the remaining provinces until it was duly organized and

transferred to civil control.

In August, 1901, the commission sailed on a tour of the remaining

northern provinces, visiting La Union, Ilocos Sur, Abra, Ilocos Norte,

Cagayan, Isabela and Zambales in the order named, and establishing

a government in each. On the trip to Abra those members of the

commission not previously accustomed to roughing it in the islands

were given a novel experience, for we went up the Abra River on

bamboo rafts. However, a veritable ship of state had been prepared

for Governor Taft, and no one suffered any great discomfort.

At Vigan, the capital of Ilocos, we narrowly escaped drowning in the

surf when returning to our steamer. For a time our good _viray_ [466]

with some twenty oarsmen was unable to make headway through the rolling

waves. It broached to, nearly filled with water, and struck the bottom

heavily several times. Some of the men quit rowing and began to pray,

whereupon General J. F. Bell, who was sitting in the stern, rose to his

feet, and shouted at them until they became more afraid of him than of

the sea, and pulled for dear life until we were out of danger. Upon

arrival at the ship we watched with interest the progress of other

boats through the surf, and were alarmed to see the men in one madly

divesting themselves of their clothing. When it finally came alongside

its occupants made flying leaps for the gangway, and we discovered

that a great hole had been knocked in its bottom, and that raincoats,

ordinary coats, and trousers had been jammed into this opening in

order to keep the rapidly sinking craft afloat for a few moments.

In the Cagayan valley we had a taste of real tropical heat. Never

have I seen a man suffer more than did Mr. Taft at Ilagan on the day

when we established a provincial government for Isabela, and the night

that followed still lingers in my memory. The air was suffocating. My

bed was in a corner. I dragged it out between a window and a door

and threw both wide open. Still I could not sleep. Slipping off

my pajamas, I seated myself on the broad window sill. The heat was

intolerable. I poured water over myself and resumed my seat in the

window. The water would not evaporate. I sat there until morning,

as I could not endure the heat lying down.

Such conditions are unknown throughout the greater part of the

archipelago, where cool sea breezes temper the heat at all times. In

the Cagayan valley an immense plain is bordered by ranges of high

mountains to the east and the west. They seem to shut off both

monsoons to a considerable extent, and there very trying heat is by

no means unusual.

On September 1, 1901, the first day of the second year of actual

service of the commission, a complete central civil government was

established. Commissioner Wright was appointed secretary of commerce

and police; Commissioner Ide, secretary of finance and justice;

Commissioner Moses, secretary of public instruction, and I myself

secretary of the interior. The commission was strengthened by the

addition of three Filipino members: Señor Benito Legarda, Señor José

R. de Luzuriaga, and Dr. T. H. Pardo de Tavera, all of whom were men

of exceptional ability and had rendered distinguished service in the

establishment of peace and order.

Except for the addition of one more Filipino on July 6, 1908, the

organization of the commission has remained unchanged up to the present

time, although there have been numerous changes in its personnel. The

task which lay before it was to enact a code of laws adapted to the

peculiar conditions existing in the Philippines, and this was indeed

a herculean undertaking. Its members laboured unremittingly. Governor

Taft and General Wright were towers of strength in the early days. The

rest of us did what we could, and I, for one, am very proud of the

result. Certainly no one can ever claim that the commission was not

industrious. Before it finally ceased to be the legislative body of

the islands it had passed some eighteen hundred acts. Obviously,

as it is not my purpose to write an encyclopedia of law, I cannot

discuss them in detail, and must content myself with here barely

mentioning a few of the more important results obtained, leaving the

more detailed discussion of some of them for later chapters.

In general, it may be said that the additional bureaus necessary

for the work of the Insular government were created, and given

proper powers. Civil government was gradually extended to the entire

archipelago. [467] The criminal code was amended and supplemented

by the passage of new laws. The administration of justice was

reorganized and reformed. [468] An efficient native insular police

force was organized, and an admirable state of public order brought

about. [469] The health service was extended to the provinces, and

health conditions were greatly improved throughout the islands. [470]

Baguio was made accessible and became both the summer capital and

a health resort for the people of the islands. [471] The scientific

work of the government was cordinated, and efficiency and economy in

its performance were insured. [472]

Primary and secondary schools were established throughout the islands,

supplemented by trade schools, and a normal school at Manila. [473]

Legislation was enacted, and submitted to the President and to

Congress, covering the disposition of public lands. [474] The purchase

of extensive estates belonging to certain religious orders, and the

sale of their holdings therein to tenants, was provided for. [475]

Fairly adequate legislation for the protection and development

of the forest resources of the islands was enacted. [476] Means

of communication by land and sea were greatly improved, and the

development of commerce was thus stimulated. [477]

It is a noteworthy fact that all of these things were done with a

per capita taxation of about $2.24!

Another fundamentally important aid to the commercial development of

the islands was afforded by a radical reformation of the currency.

The islands under the sovereignty of Spain had their own distinct

silver coinage in peso, media peso, peseta and media peseta pieces.

In 1878 the Spanish government, hoping to check the heavy exportation

of gold currency from the Philippines, passed a law prohibiting the

importation of Mexican dollars, but allowed the Mexican dollars then

in the islands to continue to circulate as legal tender.

When the American troops arrived, there were in circulation the

Spanish-Philippine peso and subsidiary silver coins; Spanish pesos

of different mintings; Mexican pesos of different mintings; Hongkong

dollars, fractional silver coins from different Chinese countries,

and copper coins from nearly every country in the Orient. Although a

law had been passed prohibiting the introduction of Mexican dollars

into the islands, they were being constantly smuggled in. Fluctuations

in the price of silver affected the value of the silver coins, and the

money in common use was in reality a commodity, worth on any given day

what one could get for it. These conditions affected most disastrously

the business interests of the islands. Merchants were forced to allow

very wide margins in commercial transactions, because they did not

know what their goods would actually cost them in local currency upon

arrival. The most important business of the local banks was in reality

that of exchange brokers and note shavers. They hammered the exchange

rate down and bought silver, then boosted the rate skyward and sold.

The American army brought in a large amount of gold, but this did

not remain in circulation long, as it was exported by the different

business concerns, or hoarded.

United States silver money had a limited circulation during the

early days of American occupation, but it passed at less than its

true value. An effort was made under the military administration to

keep the ratio of exchange at two to one by the purchase from the

public of all United States currency offered at that rate to the banks.

For a long time the banks refused to carry private accounts in United

States currency, but when it was offered for deposit it was changed

into Mexicans with a heavy charge for the transaction, and an account

opened in Mexican currency to the credit of the depositor. If the

depositor afterward desired to get United States currency, he gave a

check for it at the then existing rate of exchange. Such conditions

were intolerable, and the commission passed an act making it an offence

to refuse to accept for deposit the currency of the sovereign power,

but this did not remedy the fundamental difficulty. There came a

heavy slump in the price of silver. The Insular government lost a

very large sum because of the decrease in value of its silver coin.

Mr. Charles A. Conant had been brought from the United States to make

a report on the feasibility of providing an American coinage for the

islands. He recommended that the unit of value should be a peso,

equivalent to fifty cents United States currency. Congress, by an

act passed July 1, 1902, vested general authority over the coinage

in the Philippine government, but the commission decided not to take

action until more specific authority could be obtained from Congress,

as the proposed reform was radical, and it was very important that the

new currency should at the outset command the confidence so essential

to its success.

After long discussion, Congress authorized, by an act passed March

2, 1903, a new currency system based on a theoretical peso of 12.9

grains of gold 900 fine, equivalent to one-half of a United States

gold dollar. The circulating medium was to be the Philippine silver

peso, which was to be legal tender for all debts, public and private,

and its value was to be maintained on a parity with the theoretical

gold peso. For this purpose the creation of a gold standard, or gold

reserve fund, was provided for, and this fund was to be maintained

and could be used for no other purpose.

Considerable difficulty was experienced in introducing the new currency

into the islands. The banks at first failed to give any assistance to

the government. The business men of Manila, and especially the Chinese,

discounted the new Philippine peso, because it did not contain as

much silver as did the Mexican dollar. They were quickly brought to

time, and given to understand where they stood if they discredited

the currency of the country.

The Spanish Philippine coins and the Mexican coins in circulation were

collected by the treasury and exported to the San Francisco mint,

where they were reminted into new coins of the weight and fineness

prescribed by law.

The establishment of a gold standard fund to maintain the parity

between the gold and silver dollar was quickly effected by the sale of

exchange on the United States in accordance with the established law,

at a cost estimated to be the same as the transportation of the gold

coin itself.

The army, by direction of the secretary of war, ceased to pay

in United States money, and its paymasters were given credit at

the Insular Treasury, where they obtained the necessary funds in

Philippine currency.

The government also authorized, in addition to the coinage of silver,

the issuance of paper money in two, five, and ten peso notes. All of

the coins and bills were readily interchangeable with the United States

coins in common use, the dollar being worth two pesos, the half dollar

one peso, the twenty-five cent piece a half peso, the ten-cent piece

a peseta, the five-cent piece a media peseta and the cent two centavos.

Unfortunately the silver value of the new peso was such that when the

price of silver again rose, its bullion value was greater than its

money value, and in consequence coins of this denomination were hoarded

and exported. It proved necessary to prohibit their exportation,

and to issue new coins of less bullion value, but this was the only

really serious difficulty attending a fundamental reform which put

the currency on a sound basis. The original pesos were recoined and

a handsome profit made on the transaction.

No one who has not lived in a country where the circulating medium

is constantly fluctuating in value can fully appreciate the enormous

benefit conferred on the Philippine Islands by this important reform.

Another reform of far-reaching importance was the readjustment of the

burden of taxation so that it should bear lightly on the necessities

of life, and heavily on its luxuries. This was a complete reversal

of the scheme which we found in force, under which wheat flour and

kerosene oil paid very heavy import duties while cigars and champagne

were lightly taxed.

We imposed export taxes on certain products of the country. Such taxes

are objected to by many political economists, but were approved of by

the Filipinos, who strongly opposed the imposition of a logical and

very necessary personal tax to provide funds for the construction

and maintenance of highways and bridges. It is usually wise, when

practicable, to obtain funds for necessary governmental purposes by

the imposition of taxes which are willingly paid.

Mr. Taft resigned the governorship of the Philippines to become

secretary of war, his resignation taking effect January 31, 1904. He

had performed a monumental work for the Filipinos, and for humanity at

large, during his years of service in the islands, and carried with

him the good will of most of the people whom he had so faithfully,

efficiently and self-sacrificingly served. He had at one time very

gravely impaired his health by hard work, and when the opportunity

came to satisfy a lifelong ambition by accepting appointment as a

Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States, he had passed

it by, in order to perform his duty to the people of the Philippine

Islands. As secretary of war, and as President of the United States,

he availed himself of every opportunity which these high offices

afforded to help the Filipinos, and to increase the prosperity of

their country. They have had no better friend, and no other friend

whom they have ever had has been so useful to them. One more proof

of his real greatness is afforded by the fact that to-day, after

being reviled by many Filipino politicians whom he befriended, who

have succeeded to a large degree in making the common people of the

Philippines consider him their enemy, his interest in the people of

the Islands is as keen, and his eagerness to help them is as great,

as in the early days when they acclaimed him their deliverer.

General Luke E. Wright, a democrat of Memphis, Tennessee, was

appointed by President Roosevelt civil governor in Mr. Taft's

place. He rendered his country and the Filipinos most distinguished

service. It is one thing to build up a great government, with numerous

political appointments at one's disposal, and another to stand by and

keep it running smoothly and efficiently, when a lot of disappointed

politicians, who have seen their last hope of political preferment go

a-glimmering, are throwing sand into the bearings of the machine. This

latter class had begun to plot against Governor Taft before his

resignation took effect, but their machinations were rendered fruitless

by the wave of regret raised by his coming departure.

They now devoted themselves, with a good deal of success, to injuring

Governor Wright, who declined to be dictated to, in the matter of

appointments, by the Federal Party, and aroused the ire of many

politicians by occasionally telling the Filipinos unpalatable but

wholesome and necessary truths relative to their fitness for immediate

independence.

General Wright, whose title had been changed from governor to

governor-general on February 6, 1905, went on leave during the latter

part of that year, fully expecting to return and resume his work

in the Philippines, but the islands were not to see him again. He

resigned, effective April 1, 1906, to become United States Ambassador

to Japan. In my opinion, the acceptance of his resignation at this time

was one of the gravest mistakes ever made in the Philippine policy of

the United States. The islands were deprived of the services of a very

able and distinguished man, thoroughly conversant with their needs,

who had the courage of his convictions, and whose convictions were

thoroughly sound.

Certain Filipino politicians openly boasted that they had secured his

removal, and they and their ilk were encouraged to put forth new and

pernicious efforts. Had General Wright returned to the islands much of

the political unrest from which they have since suffered would have

been avoided. He was beloved by his associates, who felt a sense of

personal loss when they learned that the places which had known him

in The Philippines would know him no more.

He was succeeded for the brief period of five and a half months by

Judge Henry C. Ide, vice-governor and secretary of finance and justice,

who had performed his duties while he was on leave. Judge Ide was a

republican, from Vermont. He resigned on September 19, 1906.

He was succeeded by General James F. Smith, a democrat from California,

who had come to the islands as a colonel of volunteers, and had won

promotion because of his valuable services in the Visayas, and more

especially in the island of Negros, where he had earned the good

will of the Filipinos by his tact and kindness. Later he had served,

unwillingly, as head of the Manila custom house.

He was subsequently made a justice of the supreme court of the

Philippines. A lawyer by profession, he had resigned this position

with regret to accept appointment, on January 1, 1903, as secretary

of public instruction. He did not desire the governor-generalship and

made a strong but unsuccessful effort to avoid accepting the position,

which he finally took from a sense of duty. He was a good lawyer,

with a big heart, and a keen insight into human nature. He thoroughly

understood the Filipinos, and he made an excellent governor-general. It

was during his term of office that the Philippine Legislature,

composed of an upper appointive house, the Philippine Commission,

and a lower elective house, the Philippine Assembly, met for the

first time on October 16, 1907.

I devote a separate chapter [478] to the Philippine Legislature and

its work, so need not discuss it here. Suffice it to say that such

success as attended the work of this body during its inaugural, first

and special sessions, was very largely due to the tactful influence

of Governor-General Smith, who gave the speaker of the assembly

much valuable, friendly counsel, and kept the two houses working in

comparative harmony. Having struggled through one session of the

legislature, Governor-General Smith felt at liberty to resign. He

greatly desired to leave the Philippine government service and return

to the practice of his profession. His resignation was reluctantly

accepted, about a year after he had tendered it, and he left the

service on November 10, 1909.

He was succeeded by Vice-Governor W. Cameron Forbes, a republican

from Massachusetts, who had accepted appointment as secretary of

commerce and police on June 15, 1904. A man of independent means,

Mr. Forbes entered the public service only because of the opportunity

for greater usefulness which was thus afforded him. He brought to

bear on the problems which confronted him as secretary of commerce

and police intelligence and ability of a very high order. Wide

practical experience in the management of large business interests

had admirably fitted him to improve the organization and increase the

efficiency of the insular police force, and to mature and carry out

plans for bettering means of communication and otherwise facilitating

and stimulating the normal, healthful commercial development of the

islands. I have devoted several chapters to the discussion of the

results accomplished along these lines, [479] and will not attempt

here to enumerate them.

Like all of his predecessors, he brought to the office of

governor-general mature experience gained on the ground, having been

in the service more than five years at the time of his promotion.

As governor-general, he not only retained his keen interest in the

large problems which had previously engaged his attention, and laboured

unceasingly and most successfully in the performance of the duties of

his new office, but took an especial interest in the development of

the summer capital, and in the work for the non-Christian peoples of

the islands, devoting a much greater amount of time and attention to

familiarizing himself with the needs of this portion of the population

than had ever previously been given to it by any governor-general. He

visited the Moros and the Bukidnons in the south, and the Negritos,

the Benguet Igorots, the Lepanto Igorots, the Bontoc Igorots,

the Ilongots, the Ifugaos, the Kalingas, and both the wild and the

civilized Tingians, in the north, repeatedly inspecting the several

sub-provinces of the Mountain Province.

Through his generosity in making proper grounds available, public

interest in outdoor sports was greatly stimulated at Manila and

at Baguio, while his own participation in polo, baseball and golf

was a good example to Americans and Filipinos alike, in a country

where vigorous outdoor exercise is very necessary to the physical

development of the young and the preservation of the health of the

mature. He was a true friend of the Filipinos, whom he genuinely liked

and was always ready to assist. His personal influence was a powerful

factor in the success of the very important work carried on at the

Philippine Normal School and the Philippine Training School for Nurses.

During his term of office the prosperity of the islands increased

by leaps and bounds, public order became better than ever before

in their history, and the efficiency of the civil service reached

its maximum. No other governor-general ever drew so heavily on his

private means in promoting the public good, and it was the irony

of fate that he should have been accused, by certain irresponsible

anti-imperialists, of using his public office to promote his private

interests. Near the end of his administration grossly and absurdly

false charges were made against him on the floor of the House by

Representative William A. Jones. As their falsity has been conclusively

and finally shown, [480] I will not here lend importance to them

by repeating them. No official has ever given any country a cleaner

administration than Governor-General Forbes gave the Philippines.

It was his fortune to be in office at the time of the change in the

national administration of the United States. After continuing to serve

for months with no sign from Washington as to whether his resignation

was desired, he was advised by the Chief of the bureau of insular

affairs that the appointment of Mr. Francis Burton Harrison, who is a

Tammany Hall democrat, as his successor had been sent to the Senate,

[481] and three days after its confirmation received a curt request

for his resignation to be effected in a week and a day. He was also

requested to employ servants for Mr. Harrison. Spaniards who read

on the public streets newspapers which printed this message were

seen to tear them up and stamp on the pieces! Our Spanish friends

are accustomed to expect courtesy in connection with the removal of

faithful and efficient public servants.

All other governors-general had taken the oath of office at

Manila. Mr. Harrison took it at Washington on September 2, 1913. He

is the first American governor of the islands who has entered upon his

high duties without previous experience in the country which he is to

govern, and he has as yet displayed little inclination to profit by

the experience of either Filipino or American administrative insular

officials of high rank. It is too soon to discuss any feature of his

administration other than his attitude toward the civil service,

which I take up elsewhere, [482] and I can only express the hope

that when he has gained that knowledge which can come only through

personal observation on the ground, he will grow to be a wise, strong,

conservative official.

The establishment of civil government in the Philippine Islands under

American rule was a gradual evolution up to the time of the assumption

of control by Governor-General Harrison.

I will not attempt to follow in detail all of its successive stages,

but in closing this chapter will endeavour briefly to summarize the

results obtained up to that time.

The Philippines now have two delegates to the Congress of the United

States appointed by the legislature in accordance with the provision of

Section 8 of the Act of Congress of July 1, 1902. Both are Filipinos.

The ranking executive officials of the insular government are a

governor-general, a secretary of the interior, a secretary of finance

and justice, a secretary of commerce and police and a secretary

of public instruction. All of these officers are appointed by the

President, subject to confirmation by the Senate. The secretary of

finance and justice is a Filipino; the other secretaries of departments

are Americans.

There is a legislature composed of two houses known respectively as

the Philippine Commission and the Philippine Assembly. The Philippine

Commission is composed of nine members; five are the governor-general

and the four secretaries of department _ex officio_, and four are

appointed by the President subject to confirmation by the Senate. Four

of the members are Filipinos and five are Americans. [483]

The Philippine Assembly is composed of eighty-one elected members,

all of whom are Filipinos. They represent thirty-four of the

thirty-nine provinces into which the archipelago is divided. The two

houses of the legislature have equal powers. Neither has any special

privilege in the matter of initiating legislation, and affirmative

action by both is required in order to pass it. The Moro Province,

the Mountain Province and the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Agusan

are not represented in the assembly, nor are they subject to the

jurisdiction of the Philippine Legislature. The Philippine Commission

alone has legislative jurisdiction over them, their population being

largely composed of Moros, or members of other non-Christian tribes.

The provinces may be divided into regularly organized provinces

governed under the provincial government act, and specially organized

provinces, which include the Moro Province, the Mountain Province

and the provinces of Mindoro, Palawan, Agusan and Nueva Vizcaya, of

which the first is governed under a special law and the remaining four

are governed under a different one known as "The Special Provincial

Government Act."

Regularly organized provinces have a governor and a treasurer. The

governor is elected, and the treasurer is appointed by the

governor-general with the approval of the commission. These two

officials, with another known as the third member, constitute

a provincial board. The third member is elected. As the Filipinos

usually elect to office men from among their own people, practically

all of the elective provincial officers are Filipinos, as are ten

of the appointive officers, it having been the policy to appoint

Filipinos whenever possible.

Regularly organized provinces are divided into municipalities

which elect their own officers and control their own affairs for

the most part. Provincial treasurers have intervention in municipal

expenditures, which are approved in advance for each fiscal year,

and municipal officers may be removed for misconduct by the

governor-general.

All officers of the six special government provinces are appointed

by the governor-general with the approval of the commission.

There are four regularly organized municipalities in these provinces,

but the remainder of their territory is divided into townships,

which elect their own officers, except their secretary-treasurers,

who are appointed by the provincial governor; and into _rancherias_ or

settlements, with all of their officials appointed by the provincial

governor. This latter form of local government is confined to the

more primitive wild people.

The judiciary is independent. The details of its organization will

be found in Chapter XV.

Three of the seven justices of the supreme court, including the chief

justice, are Filipinos, as are approximately half of the judges of

the courts of first instance and practically all justices of the peace.

At the close of the fiscal year ending June 30, 1913, 71 per cent

of the employees in the classified civil service of the islands were

Filipinos painstakingly trained for the positions to which they had

been appointed.

Prior to the American occupation, the Filipinos had practically no

intervention in the government of their country.

The changes introduced in the twelve years since the establishment

of civil government began are of a sweeping and radical nature. For

reasons hereinafter fully set forth, I believe they have been somewhat

too sweeping, and too radical. At all events, it is now certainly the

part of wisdom carefully to analyze their results before going further.

I deem the subject of the establishment of civil governmental control

over the non-Christian tribes of the Philippines worthy of special

consideration. [484]

CHAPTER XIII

The Philippine Civil Service

Before the Philippine Commission left Washington, a clear understanding

was reached with the President and secretary of war to the effect that

no political appointee whatsoever should under any circumstances be

forced upon us. After arrival at Manila early attention was given to

the drafting of a civil service act by Mr. Taft, who was fortunate in

having the assistance of Mr. Frank M. Kiggins, chief of the examining

division of the United States Civil Service Commission. The passage

of this act and its strict enforcement led to very favourable comment

in the United States. In his first annual message President Roosevelt

said:--

"It is important to have this system obtain at home, but

it is even more important to have it rigidly applied in our

insular possessions....

"The merit system is simply one method of securing honest and

efficient administration of the government, and in the long

run the sole justification of any type of government lies in

its proving itself both honest and efficient."

Secretary Root also gave us his fullest support, calling attention to

the fact that the law which we had passed was of a very advanced type,

and that under such circumstances as confronted us, the securing of

the best men available should outweigh, and indeed practically exclude,

all other considerations.

Our action met with the unqualified approval of organizations

which especially interest themselves in the maintenance of clean

and efficient public service, such as the Cambridge (Massachusetts)

Civil Service Reform Association [485] and the National Civil Service

Reform League, whose committee on civil service in dependencies spoke

in very high terms of existing conditions in the Philippines. [486]

In its first annual report the Civil Service Board called attention

to some of the more important provisions of the Act in the following

words:--

"Competitive examinations must, whenever practicable, be

held for original entrance to the service, and promotions of

employees must also be based upon competitive examinations,

in which the previous experience and efficiency of employees

shall be given due consideration. The examinations for entrance

to the service must be held in the United States and in the

Philippine Islands, and applicants are required to be tested

in both English and Spanish.

"Disloyalty to the United States of America as the supreme

authority in the Islands is made a complete disqualification

for holding office, and every applicant for admission to the

service must, before being admitted to examination, take the

oath of loyalty. By an amendment to the Civil Service Act on

January 26, 1901, it is further declared that all persons

in arms against the authority of the United States in the

Philippine Islands, and all persons aiding or abetting them,

on the first day of April, 1901, shall be ineligible to

hold office.

"A minimum age limit of eighteen years and a maximum age

limit of forty years are fixed for those who enter the

lowest grades in the service. This avoids the difficulty

and embarrassment that would result from the admission of

men advanced in years to positions where the duties can be

better performed by younger and more energetic persons.

"The Board is given authority to investigate matters

relative to the enforcement of the act and the rules, and is

empowered to administer oaths, to summon witnesses, and to

require the production of office books and records in making

such investigations. Without such a provision it would be

very difficult, if not impossible, to conduct satisfactory

investigations, but with the authority conferred by the act,

the Board can make a rigid inquiry into the facts of every

case arising under the act and the rules.

"The act provides for the ultimate classification of all

positions in the service, from laborers to heads of bureaus and

offices, and the Board may, in its discretion, determine the

efficiency of those now in the service as well as those who may

enter hereafter through its examinations. This authority will

enable the Board to ascertain the fitness of all employees so

that only the most competent will be retained in the service.

"As a check upon the illegal payment of salaries the act

provides that whenever the Board finds that a person has been

appointed in violation of its provisions or of the rules of

the Board, and so certifies to the disbursing and auditing

officers, such payments shall be illegal, and if payment is

continued the disbursing officer shall not receive credit

for the same and the auditing officer who authorizes the

payment shall be liable on his official bond for the loss to

the government."

In its third annual report the Civil Service Board mentioned the

following among its distinctive duties:--

"All appointments to classified positions are required to

be made on a form prescribed by the Board, and the Board's

attestation is required in each case before the Civil Governor

or Secretary of Department will approve the appointment and

before the disbursing officer will pay any salary.

"The papers in all cases of reduction, removal and enforced

resignation are required to be submitted to the Board for

recommendation before transmission to the Civil Governor or

Secretary of Department for final action.

"The Board is required to keep a record of all unclassified as

well as classified employees in the Philippine civil service,

showing among other things date of appointment, original

position and salary, place of employment, all changes in

status and grade, and all accrued and sick leave granted.

"From its service records the Board is required to compile

annually, for publication on January 1, a roster of the

officers and employees under the Philippine Government.

"Applications from employees, classified and unclassified,

for accrued and sick leave for more than two days must be

made on a form prescribed by the Board and forwarded to it

for verification of service record and previous leave granted

and for recommendation before final action is taken by the

Civil Governor or Secretary of Department."

These extracts from official reports clearly show that the act was

indeed of a very advanced type, and if honestly enforced would of

necessity lead to the establishment and maintenance of "an efficient

and honest civil service," for which purpose it was enacted.

In 1905 the insular government dispensed with boards as administrative

agencies, and in accordance with this general policy, a bureau of

civil service with a director at its head was substituted for the

Civil Service Board, thus securing greater administrative efficiency

and increased economy.

At first the Civil Service Act applied to comparatively few positions,

as only a few bureaus and offices had been created, but as the

government was organized and grew, the different bureaus and offices

were placed in the classified service, the acts organizing them leaving

in the unclassified service positions to which in the judgment of

the commission the examination requirements of the act should not

apply. Ultimately these requirements were made applicable to the

treasurers of all municipalities and to all positions, including

teachers, in the executive and judicial branches of the central

government, the provincial governments, and the governments of the

cities of Manila and Baguio, except a few specifically excepted by

law, which for the most part are unclassified or exempt in almost

all governments, national, state and municipal, having civil service

laws. None of the states of the Union has such a widely extended

classification of its civil service.

With the exception of the positions specifically placed in

the unclassified service by law and of appointments made by the

Philippine Commission, all positions in the Philippine civil service

are classified and must be filled by appointees who have passed civil

service examinations. Neither the governor-general nor the Bureau of

Civil Service can, by the promulgation of civil service rules, or in

any other manner whatever, transfer any position from the classified

to the unclassified service or except from examination any position

in the classified service. Under most of the civil service laws of

the United States the President or the governor of the state has

authority to transfer positions from the non-classified or exempted

class to the competitive classified civil service or _vice versa_,

these powers sometimes leading to manipulation of the civil service

rules for political purposes.

In the Philippines, where emergencies, such as cholera epidemics,

sometimes lead to the employment of large bodies of temporary

employees without examination, when the emergency has passed the

temporary employees have always been discharged; and no employee

has ever received classification without examination on account of

temporary service. This is in marked contrast to the practice in the

United States, where large bodies of employees taken on for temporary

service due to emergencies, such as the war with Spain, are not

infrequently blanketed into the classified service without examination.

In its last annual report the board recommended that a number of

official positions in the unclassified service be placed in the

classified service, and gave as a reason therefor that such action

would "add to the attractiveness of the classified service by

increasing the opportunities therein for promotion to responsible

positions." This recommendation was adopted by providing that all

vacancies in the positions of heads and assistant heads of bureaus or

offices and of superintendents shall be filled by promotion, with or

without examination, in the discretion of the civil governor or proper

head of a department, of persons in the classified civil service,

if competent persons are found therein.

This provision is an important and distinguishing feature of the

Philippine Civil Service Act. The federal civil service has none

comparable with it. It is of special value in that it induces young

men of exceptional ability and training to enter the lower grades,

for they have the certainty that faithful and efficient work will in

the end earn for them the highest positions.

On February 25, 1909, the director of civil service made the following

statement with respect to the observance of the law:--

"A careful study of Act 5 and all acts amendatory thereof

will show that there has been no change in the policy adopted

by the Commission at the outset to extend the classified

service as widely as possible and to fill by promotion all

the higher positions so far as practicable. The provision

requiring the higher positions to be filled by promotion so

far as practicable has always been regarded by the Philippine

Commission, by this Bureau, and by others interested in

obtaining the best possible government service in the

Philippines as one of the most important provisions of the

Civil Service Act. It has been faithfully observed by all

Governors-General....With the exception of the positions

of Governor-General and Secretaries of Departments, the

Philippine Civil Service Act requires the highest positions

in the executive civil service, namely, chiefs and assistant

chiefs of Bureaus and Offices, to be filled by promotion from

the entire service in all cases except when in the opinion of

the appointing power there is no person competent and available

who possesses the qualifications required, and this provision

has been faithfully observed heretofore."

The enforcement of the law by the commission has received the

following commendation from the executive committee of the National

Civil Service Reform League:--

"We have further to note with satisfaction the course of

the Philippine Commission, by which, if it be persevered in,

the merit system will be established in the Islands of that

archipelago at least as thoroughly and consistently as in any

department of government, Federal, State, or Municipal, in

the Union. This must be, in any case, regarded as a gratifying

recognition of sound principles of administration on the part

of the Commission, and justifies the hope that, within the

limits of their jurisdiction at least, no repetition of the

scandals of post-bellum days will be tolerated."

Up to the time of the appointment of Governor-General Harrison the

provisions of the Civil Service Act and rules were firmly supported

by all of the governors-general and secretaries of departments,

and the annual reports of the governor-general uniformly expressed

satisfaction with their practical operation. Mr. Taft was always an

enthusiastic supporter of the merit system.

Governor-General Forbes in his inaugural address made the following

statements:--

"It is necessary that the civil service should be rigidly

maintained and its rules carefully observed. One very

distinguished Filipino has recently been appointed to

administrative control of one of the most important departments

of the Government, equal in rank to any executive position in

the Islands with the exception of the Executive head. In the

executive branch of the Government, the Filipinization of the

service must steadily continue. As vacancies occur Filipinos

will be gradually substituted for Americans as rapidly as

can be done without positive detriment to the service. At the

same time, care will be taken to provide a suitable career for

honest and capable Americans who have come out here in good

faith. They should know that during good behavior and efficient

performance of their duty they are secure in their positions,

and that when they desire to return to the United States an

effort will be made to place them in the civil service at home.

"I want no better men than the present officers and employees

of the Government, Americans and Filipinos. They compare

favorably with any set of men I have ever seen both as regards

ability and fidelity to duty."

Under the operation of the Civil Service Act the proportion of

Filipinos employed has increased from 49 per cent, in 1903, to 71

per cent in 1913, as is shown by the following table:--

Comparison of Percentages of Americans and

Filipinos in the Service

=============================================

| NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES

YEAR |-----------------------------

| Americans | Filipinos

---------------------------------------------

1903 ......... | 51% | 49%

1904 ......... | 49 | 51

1905 ......... | 45 | 55

1906 [487] ... | - | -

1907 ......... | 40 | 60

1908 ......... | 38 | 62

1909 ......... | 38 | 62

1910 ......... | 36 | 64

1911 ......... | 35 | 65

1912 ......... | 31 | 69

1913 ......... | 29 | 71

=============================================

For the first few years after the establishment of the government

large numbers of Americans were appointed, as there were

comparatively few Filipino candidates with the necessary educational

qualifications. During the last two years, 89 per cent of the persons

appointed in the islands have been Filipinos.

There has been a great increase in the number of Filipinos entering

the civil service examinations in English. Ten years ago 97 per cent

of those examined took their examinations in Spanish, while during

last year 89 per cent of those examined took examinations in English,

the total number so examined being 7755. Almost all appointees

for ordinary clerical work are now Filipinos, but the supply of

bookkeepers, stenographers, civil engineers, physicians, veterinarians,

surveyors, chemists, bacteriologists, agriculturists, horticulturists,

constabulary officers, nurses, electricians, mechanical engineers,

and other scientific employees is still insufficient to meet the

demands of the service. Only one Filipino has passed the stenographer

examination in English since the organization of the government, and it

is necessary each year to bring many American stenographers from the

United States. A few Filipinos pass each year the junior stenographer

examination [488] and are able to fill some of the positions which

would formerly have required the appointment of Americans.

The salaries paid to executive officials, chiefs of bureaus and

offices, chief clerks, and chiefs of divisions equal in many instances

those paid to officials occupying similar positions in the service

of the United States government.

In the legislative branch the speaker receives $8000 per annum. Members

of the Philippine Commission without portfolios receive $7500 per

annum. Members of the Philippine Assembly receive $15 a day for each

day in which the assembly is in session.

In the executive branch secretaries of departments receive $15,500

per annum each, including $5000 received by them as members of the

Philippine Commission. The executive secretary receives $9000 per

annum. The salaries of other bureau chiefs range from $2500 per annum

to $7500.

The justices of the Philippine Supreme Court receive $10,000 per

annum. Judges of courts of first instance receive from $4500 to $5500.

The following extracts from an article by the chairman of the

Philippine Civil Service Board give information with respect to

salaries in the Philippine Islands, as compared with salaries paid

in surrounding British and Dutch colonies:--

"The salaries paid officials in all branches of the service

of the Straits Settlements are generally lower than those paid

in the Philippine civil service. In this connection, however,

it is only just to state that the population and extent of the

territory under British control, and the expenses of living,

are less than in the Philippines, while the difficulty of

the problems to be solved is not so great. The salaries paid

to natives who fill the lower grade positions in the civil

service of the Philippine Islands are three and four times

as great as the salaries paid to natives in similar classes

of work in the civil service of the British Malay colonies.

"A study of the colonial civil service of the Dutch in

the islands of Java and Madura gives us somewhat different

results....

"The matter of salaries is peculiarly interesting. The

comparison made above of the compensations received by the high

officials in the civil service of the English colonies and by

those in the Philippines does not hold good when applied to

the Dutch in Java. In fact, the salary of the Governor-General

of Java is somewhat remarkable in contrast with that of the

Civil Governor of the Philippines. As is well known, the latter

receives $20,000, while the salary of the Governor-General of

Java amounts to 132,000 gulden or something over $53,000. The

American official is given, in addition, free transportation

on all official investigations and free use of the governor's

palace, but not the cost of maintenance. On the other hand,

the Dutch governor is granted 51,000 gulden (about $21,500)

as personal and household expenses and travel pay.

"The general secretary of the government receives 24,000

gulden ($9648), as compared with the executive secretary

of the Philippine government, whose salary is $7500. [489]

The seven heads of departments in the Javanese service each

receive a like compensation of 24000 gulden. The Raad,

or Council, of the Dutch colonial government is composed

of a vice-president and four members--the former receiving

about $14,500, the latter slightly over $11,500 each. In the

Philippine government the executive functions of heads of

departments are exercised by four members of the legislative

body, each of whom receives $10,500 for his executive services

and $5000 for his legislative duties. Without going further

into detail, the conclusion is evident that all officials of

high rank are much better paid in the Dutch service. When a

comparison is made between the chief clerks and other office

employees of middle grades--not natives--the salaries are

seen to be about the same in the two countries.

"All natives in positions of lower grades, however,

in the Philippine Islands fare better than their Malay

brethren, either in the Straits Settlements or in the East

Indies."--(Second Annual Report of the Philippine Civil

Service Board, pp. 60, 61.)

"Difference in salaries for subordinate positions in the

British and Dutch colonial services and the Philippine service

are distinctly in favour of subordinate employees in the

Philippine service; only the higher officials, after long

experience, in the British colonial service receive larger

salaries than corresponding officials in the Philippine

service; the leave of absence and other privileges for the

Philippine service are not less liberal than for other colonial

services."--(Report of the Philippine Commission for 1905,

p. 74.)

The entrance salaries of Americans brought to the islands are

considerably in excess of the entrance salaries received on appointment

to the civil service in the United States.

The following table shows the minimum entrance salaries given to

Americans appointed in the United States to the United States civil

service, as shown by the manual of examinations of the United States

Civil Service Commission for the fall of 1913, and to Americans

appointed in the United States to the Philippine Civil Service:--

====================================================================

| Philippines | United States

--------------------------------------------------------------------

| |

Aid (Surveyor) | $1400 | $ 900

Civil Engineer | 1400 | 1200

Forester, assistant | 1400 | 1200

Scientific Assistant, | |

(Agricultural Inspector) | 1400 | 600

Physician | 1600 | 1320

Printer | 2000 | .50 per hour

Stenographer | 1200 | 700

Trained Nurse | 600 Board, | 600 and laundry

| quarters and laundry |

Teacher | 1000 | 540

Veterinarian | 1600 | 1200

| |

====================================================================

The following cases taken from the official rosters show some

promotions to the higher positions in the service of employees who

entered the lower ranks of the classified service:--

A clerk who entered the service in 1899 at $1800 per annum was

appointed in 1903 an assistant chief of bureau at $3000 per annum and

in 1908 executive secretary at $9000 per annum. A teacher appointed in

1899 at $720 per annum was appointed a chief of an office at $4000 per

annum and in 1912 a judge at $4500 per annum. A teacher who entered

the service in 1901 at $1200 per annum was in 1909 appointed a chief

of a bureau at $6000 per annum. A teacher who entered the service in

1904 at $1000 per annum was appointed in 1911 an assistant chief of

a bureau at $6000 per annum. A clerk who entered the service in 1901

at $1200 per annum was appointed in 1909 an assistant chief of the

executive bureau at $3750 per annum and in 1912 a chief of a bureau

at $6000 per annum. A stenographer who entered the service in 1902

at $1400 per annum was in 1908 appointed an assistant chief of a

bureau at $5000 per annum. A transitman who entered the service in

1905 at $1400 per annum was in 1913 appointed an assistant chief of a

bureau at $4500 per annum. An accountant who entered the service in

1901 at $1800 per annum was in 1907 appointed an assistant chief of

a bureau at $3750 per annum and in 1909 a chief of a bureau at $6000

per annum. A law clerk who entered the service in 1904 at $1800 per

annum was in 1913 appointed judge at $4500 per annum. In no service

anywhere has promotion depended more directly on demonstrated ability,

and in many instances it has been rapid.

Young men living two in a room may obtain room and board in boarding

houses in Manila at a rate as low as $35 per month each. In the Young

Men's Christian Association building, a large reënforced concrete

structure with reading room, gymnasium, and a good restaurant, the

charge for two in a room is $10.25 each. Board costs $27.50, a total of

$37.75. The expenses for clothing in Manila are less than in the United

States, as white clothing is worn the whole year and white duck suits

may be obtained for about $3 each. The expenses for laundry amount

to about $5 a month. The necessity of employing a _muchacho_ [490] is

_nil_, in the case of an unmarried employee who boards. Servants are

far cheaper and better in the Philippines than in the United States.

In a discussion of the salaries paid in the Philippine civil service

the question of the leave allowed should be considered. Classified

employees who receive an annual salary of $1000 or more per annum may

be granted twenty-eight days' leave per annum to cover absences from

duty due to illness or other causes. If not taken during the calendar

year in which it is earned or in January or February of the succeeding

year, it is forfeited. Employees taking vacation leave during the

months of December, January, February and March may take fifty-six

days, corresponding to two years of service, at one time, and may thus

get time to visit Australia, Japan, China, and neighbouring countries.

In addition to vacation leave an employee whose salary is $1000 or

more but less than $1800 per annum is entitled to thirty days' accrued

leave per annum, and an employee whose salary is $1800 per annum or

more is entitled to thirty-five days' accrued leave per annum. Accrued

leave may accumulate for not more than five years of service.

All classified employees are entitled to visit the United States or

foreign countries once in every three years, receiving in addition to

their accrued leave, one year's vacation leave, allowance of actual

travel time at half pay not to exceed sixty days, and return travel

expenses from place of residence in the United States, or from port

of embarkation in a foreign country to Manila, on the completion of

two years of service after date of return. An employee entitled to

thirty-five days' accrued leave per annum who visits the United States

after having rendered three years of service receives a total of two

hundred thirteen days' accrued leave, vacation leave, and half-pay

travel time. If he postpones his visit till he has completed five

years of service, he receives a total of two hundred ninety-one days'

accrued leave, vacation leave and travel time. An employee entitled to

thirty days' accrued leave per annum who visits the United States after

three years of service receives a total of one hundred ninety-four

days' leave and half-pay travel time, and if he postpones his visit

until he has rendered five years of service, he receives a total of

two hundred fifty-nine days' leave and travel time.

It will be seen that these are very liberal allowances. An employee

receiving $1200 at the end of two years of service may spend eight

weeks of vacation leave visiting Japan or other surrounding countries,

and at the end of an additional year's service he may visit his home

in the United States with six and a third months' absence on full and

half pay and with his expenses from his home to Manila payable two

years after his return, and during every three years of his service

he may have the same privileges.

The law also provides that if an employee is wounded or injured in

the performance of duty, he may have a total of six months' leave on

full pay in addition to any accrued leave to his credit.

Employees who have rendered satisfactory service and resign after

three or more years receive in a lump sum all accrued leave due and

thirty days' half salary. For example, an employee who has received

$1800 per annum and has served five years without taking any leave

in excess of the four weeks' vacation leave allowable annually would

draw $1025 were he to resign.

The school sessions amount to forty weeks per annum and the school

vacations to twelve weeks per annum. [491] Teachers receive an annual

salary and draw full pay during vacations as well as during school

sessions. Every third year they are allowed to visit the United States

or foreign countries with an allowance of sixty days' half-pay travel

time in addition to the ten weeks' long vacation, and on completing

two years of service after return to the islands they are entitled to

their travelling expenses from place of residence in the United States

to Manila or from port of embarkation in a foreign country to Manila.

It is interesting to compare these provisions with the regulations

governing leave of absence in the British colonial service:--

(1) There is no distinction between sick leave and ordinary

leave, the leave of absence on account of sickness being

charged against the ordinary leave allowable.

(2) There are two classes of leave: vacation leave on full

pay and half-pay leave.

(3) The vacation leave amounts to three months every two

years, and must be taken during the two years, as it does

not accumulate.

(4) The half-pay leave amounts to two months for each year

of service, but cannot be taken until after a period of six

years' resident service in the Colony, except in cases of

serious indisposition supported by medical certificate, or of

"urgent private affairs," the nature of which must be stated

to the governor. In either case, the governor and council

must be satisfied that the indulgence is indispensable.

Half pay in African and Asiatic colonies may accumulate for

twelve years' service--_i.e._ twenty-four months' half-pay

leave.

(5) After the exhaustion of all vacation leave and half-pay

leave, an advance of six months' half-pay leave may be made on

special grounds ("urgent private affairs" or illness supported

by a medical certificate), the advance being charged against

leave accruing subsequently.

(6) For the purpose of visiting home, an officer may be

granted the vacation leave due him (which is never more than

three months) on full pay, and his accumulated half-pay leave,

to commence at the expiration of his vacation leave.

(7) Judicial and education officers do not receive the

vacation leave described in paragraph 3 above, the vacation

of courts and schools being considered equal to this, but

they do receive the half-pay leave described in paragraph 4,

and may, when visiting home on half-pay leave, receive full

pay during any ordinary vacation of the court or school.

It will be noted that although officers in the British colonial service

are allowed much longer periods of absence, the greater part of their

absence is on half pay and the total money value of the leave allowable

in the British colonial service and in the Philippine civil service

is about the same. As officers naturally prefer to be on full pay

instead of half pay while on leave, the provision of the Philippine

law is in their interest; it is also in the interest of the service,

as the periods of the absence from duty are not so prolonged.

The Philippine Civil Service Law is now about to be put to its

first really severe test as a result of the change in the national

administration. Heretofore those whose duty and privilege it has been

to enforce it have been in the most full and hearty sympathy with its

purposes. President McKinley was from the outset definitely committed

to the widest application of the merit system to appointments in the

Philippines. Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Taft firmly supported that system,

as has each succeeding governor-general up to, but not including,

Mr. Harrison, who is as yet an unknown quantity.

It is interesting, however, to note that on the day following his

arrival there was a demand for the instant resignation of Mr. Thomas

Cary Welch, a faithful and efficient employee of the government,

who had been for nearly ten years in the service, whose position

was desired for, and immediately given to, Mr. Stephen Bonsal. That

gentleman had been appointed at Washington a member of the Municipal

Board of Manila immediately after Mr. Harrison's confirmation as

governor-general. It is not recorded that Mr. Bonsal rendered any

valuable service to the city on the voyage, or during the twenty-four

hours of his occupancy of his municipal post subsequent to his

arrival! Nor does it appear that he passed any examination before

his early promotion.

Following closely upon the removal of Mr. Welch came a demand for

the resignation of Captain Charles H. Sleeper, Director of Lands,

who was unquestionably one of the ablest and most efficient of the

bureau chiefs.

He had earned the ill-will of the _politicos_ by insisting that persons

authorized to make public land surveys, or other surveys on which

claims of title as against the government were to be based, should

know enough about surveying to make one correct survey when given

an opportunity practically to demonstrate their abilities under very

favourable conditions. He had also incurred the dislike of influential

_caciques_ by defending the occupants of small holdings on friar

estates from the rapacity of their rich neighbours, and by protecting

free-patent applicants and homesteaders when large landowners opposed

their applications in order to prevent their securing land, so that

they might the more easily be held as peon labourers.

He had started in his bureau a practical school for Filipino surveyors

which was training really well-qualified candidates for positions

desired by the politicians for themselves or their incompetent friends.

Last, but not least, he had helped to upset the plans of the men

primarily responsible for the so-called "friar lands investigation"

conducted by the House Committee on Insular Affairs, which cost

the United States government a very large sum, and resulted in

demonstrating his uprightness and the efficiency of his administration.

Mr. John R. Wilson, the assistant director of lands, was absent at the

moment, but his resignation was demanded on the day of his return. He

too was an active, efficient, upright man.

Both of these removals were political acts, pure and simple. Sr. Manuel

Tinio was appointed Director of Lands. He is a bright young Ilocano

of good character, who had become a "general" in the Insurgent army

at twenty-one years of age. He is unfit to hold the place, because,

as he has himself frankly said, he knows nothing about the work. He

is charged with the duty of administering $7,000,000 worth of friar

lands, and the whole public domain of the Philippine Islands, and with

such minor duties as the checkmating of the machinations of numerous

wealthy Filipinos who seek fraudulently to acquire great tracts through

fraudulent claims to unperfected titles and by other improper means.

While in Honolulu, _en route_ to Manila, Mr. Harrison gave out an

interview, which I am credibly informed he has since confirmed in

substance. It contained the following statement:--

"For years I have been of the minority in Congress and have

seen the Democrats kicked about, trampled upon, and otherwise

manhandled by Republicans, so that I must confess it now gives

me a saturnine pleasure to see the Democrats in a position

to do the same thing to the Republicans."

His early official acts after arrival at Manila confirmed the belief

that this was indeed the spirit in which he was facing the grave

responsibilities which there confronted him.

It is beyond doubt or cavil that high ideals heretofore have prevailed

in the Philippine Civil Service. Are they now to be substituted by

the methods of the ward politician?

In its report for 1901 the Philippine Commission said:--

"The civil service law has been in operation since our last

report, and we see no reason to change our conclusion as

to the absolute necessity for its existence, and strict

enforcement. Without this law American government in these

Islands is, in our opinion, foredoomed to humiliating failure."

I signed that report. I have not since seen any reason to change

my mind.

CHAPTER XIV

The Philippine Constabulary and Public Order

During the last thirty years of Spanish rule in the Philippines

evil-doers were pursued and apprehended and public order was maintained

chiefly by the _guardia civil_. At the time of its organization in

1868 this body had a single division. By 1880 the number had been

increased to three, two for Luzón and one for the Visayan Islands.

The _guardia civil_ was organized upon a military basis, its officers

and soldiers being drawn from the regular army of Spain by selection

or upon recommendation. Detachments were distributed throughout the

provinces and were commanded according to their size by commissioned

or non-commissioned officers. Central offices were located in district

capitals; company headquarters were stationed in provincial capitals,

and detachments were sent to places where they were deemed to be

necessary.

Under ordinary conditions they rendered service as patrols of two men

each, but for the purpose of attacking large bands of outlaws one or

several companies were employed as occasion required.

The _guardia civil_ had jurisdiction over all sorts of violations of

laws and municipal ordinances. They made reports upon which were based

the appointments of municipal officers, the granting of licenses to

carry firearms, and the determination of the loyalty or the disloyalty

of individuals.

They were vested with extraordinary powers. Offences against them

were tried by courts-martial, and were construed as offences against

sentinels on duty. Penalties were therefore extremely severe.

Officers of the _guardia civil_ on leave could by their own initiative

assume a status of duty with the full powers and responsibilities

that go with command. This is contrary to American practice, under

which only dire emergency justifies an officer in assuming an official

status unless he is duly assigned thereto by competent authority.

The _guardia civil_ could arrest on suspicion, and while the Spanish

Government did not directly authorize or sanction the use of force to

extort confessions, it was not scrupulous in the matter of accepting

confessions so obtained as evidence of crime, nor was it quick to

punish members of the _guardia civil_ charged with mistreatment

of prisoners.

Reports made by the _guardia civil_ were not questioned, but were

accepted without support even in cases of the killing of prisoners

alleged to have attempted to escape, or of men evading arrest.

This method of eliminating without trial citizens deemed to be

undesirable was applied with especial frequency in the suppression

of active brigandage, and latterly during the revolution against

Spain. Prisoners in charge of the _guardia civil_ were always tied

elbow to elbow. They knew full well that resistance or flight was

an invitation to their guards to kill them, and that this invitation

was likely to be promptly accepted.

In the investigation of crime the members of this organization arrested

persons on suspicion and compelled them to make revelations, true or

false. Eye-witnesses to the commission of crime were not needed in

the Spanish courts of that day. The confession of an accused person

secured his conviction, even though not made in the presence of a

judge. Indirect and hearsay evidence were accepted, and such things

as writs of habeas corpus and the plea of double jeopardy were unknown

in Spanish procedure.

The _guardia civil_ could rearrest individuals and again charge them

with crimes of which they had already been acquitted. I have been

assured by reliable Filipino witnesses that it was common during the

latter days of Spanish sovereignty for persons who had made themselves

obnoxious to the government to be invited by non-commissioned

officers to take a walk, which was followed either by their complete

disappearance or by the subsequent discovery of their dead bodies.

It naturally resulted that the members of the _guardia civil_ were

regarded with detestation and terror by the people, but their power

was so absolute that protest rarely became public. The one notable

exception was furnished by Dr. Rizal's book entitled "Noli Me Tangere,"

which voiced the complaints of the Filipinos against them. There is

not a vestige of doubt that hatred of them was one of the principal

causes of the insurrection against Spain.

In 1901 the American government organized a rural police force in

the Philippines. It was called the Philippine constabulary. The

insurrection was then drawing to a close, but there were left in the

field many guerilla bands armed and uniformed. Their members sought to

excuse their lawless acts under the plea of patriotism and opposition

to the forces of the United States. In many provinces they combined

with professional bandits or with religious fanatics. Various "popes"

arose, like Papa Isio in Negros. The Filipinos had become accustomed

to a state of war which had continued for nearly six years. Habits

of peace had been abandoned. The once prosperous haciendas were in

ruins. War and pestilence had destroyed many of the work animals,

and those which remained continued to perish from disease. Asiatic

cholera was sweeping through the archipelago, and consternation and

disorder followed in its wake.

Under such circumstances the organization of a rural police force was

imperatively necessary. Unfortunately the most critical situation which

it was to be called upon to meet had to be faced at the very outset,

when both officers and men were inexperienced and before adequate

discipline could be established.

The law providing for its establishment was drawn by the Honourable

Luke E. Wright, at that time secretary of commerce and police and

later destined to become governor-general of the Philippines and

secretary of war of the United States.

It was intended that the constabulary should accomplish its ends by

force when necessary but by sympathetic supervision when possible,

suppressing brigandage and turning the people towards habits of

peace. The fact was clearly borne in mind that the abuses of the

_guardia civil_ had not been forgotten and the new force was designed

to meet existing conditions, to allay as rapidly as possible the

existing just rancour against the similar organization established

under the Spanish régime, and to avoid the evils which had contributed

so much toward causing the downfall of Spanish sovereignty. The law

was admirably framed to achieve these ends.

The officers of the constabulary were selected chiefly from American

volunteers recently mustered out and from honourably discharged

soldiers of the United States army. Some few Filipinos, whose loyalty

was above suspicion, were appointed to the lower grades. This number

has since been materially augumented, and some of the original Filipino

appointees have risen to the rank of captain.

It was inevitable that at the outset there should be abuses. The

organization was necessarily born at work; there was no time to

instruct, to formulate regulations, to wait until a satisfactory

state of discipline had been brought about. There were not barracks

for housing the soldiers; there were neither uniforms, nor arms,

nor ammunition. There was no system for rationing the men. All of

these things had to be provided, and they were provided through a

natural evolution of practical processes, crystallizing into form,

tested by the duties of the day. The organization which grew up was a

true survival of the fittest, both in personnel and in methods. The

wonder is not that some abuses occurred, but that they were so few;

not that there were occasional evidences of lack of efficiency,

but that efficiency was on the whole so high from the beginning.

The several provinces were made administrative units, the commanding

officer in each being designated as "senior inspector." The men who

were to serve in a given province were by preference recruited there,

and a departure was thus made from the usual foreign colonial practice.

In 1905 the total force was fixed at one hundred companies with a

nominal strength of two officers and fifty men each. Under special

conditions this rule may be departed from, and the size of the

companies or the number of officers increased.

Each province is divided by the senior inspector into sections, and the

responsibility for patrol work and general policing rests on the senior

company officer in each station. The provinces are grouped into five

districts, each commanded by an assistant chief who exercises therein

the authority, and performs the duties appropriate to the chief for

the entire Philippines. The higher administrative positions have always

been filled by detailing regular officers of the United States army.

The constabulary soldiers are now neatly uniformed, armed with Krag

carbines and well disciplined. They show the effect of good and regular

food and of systematic exercise, their physical condition being vastly

superior to that of the average Filipino. They are given regular

instruction in their military duties. It is conducted in English.

The Philippine constabulary may be defined as a body of armed men

with a military organization, recruited from among the people of the

islands, officered in part by Americans and in part by Filipinos, and

employed primarily for police duty in connection with the establishment

and maintenance of public order.

Blount's chapters on the administrations of Taft, Wright and Smith

embody one prolonged plaint to the effect that the organization of

the constabulary was premature, and that after the war proper ended,

the last smouldering embers of armed and organized insurrection should

have been stamped out, and the brigandage which had existed in the

Philippines for centuries should have been dealt with, by the United

States army rather than by the constabulary.

Even if it were true that the army could have rendered more effective

service to this end than could have been expected at the outset from

a newly organized body of Filipino soldiers, the argument against the

organization and use of the constabulary would in my opinion have

been by no means conclusive. It is our declared policy to prepare

the Filipinos to establish and maintain a stable government of their

own. The proper exercise of police powers is obviously necessary to

such an end.

From the outset we have sacrificed efficiency in order that our wards

might gain practical experience, and might demonstrate their ability,

or lack of ability, to perform necessary governmental functions. Does

any one cognizant of the situation doubt for a moment that provincial

and municipal affairs in the Philippine Islands would to-day be more

efficiently administered if provincial and municipal officers were

appointed instead of being elected? Is any one so foolish as to imagine

that the sanitary regeneration of the islands would not have progressed

much more rapidly had highly trained American health officers been used

in place of many of the badly educated and comparatively inexperienced

Filipino physicians whose services have been utilized?

Nevertheless, in the concrete case under discussion I dissent from

the claim that more satisfactory results could have been obtained by

the use of American troops.

The army had long been supreme in the Philippines. Every function of

government had been performed by its officers and men, if performed at

all. Our troops had been combating an elusive and cruel enemy. If they

were human it is to be presumed that they still harbored animosities,

born of these conditions, toward the people with whom they had

so recently been fighting. Had the work of pacification been then

turned over to them it would have meant that often in the localities

in which they had been fighting, and in dealing with the men to whom

they had very recently been actively opposed in armed conflict, they

would have been called upon to perform tasks and to entertain feelings

radically different from those of the preceding two or three years.

A detachment, marching through Leyte, found an American who had

disappeared a short time before crucified, head down. His abdominal

wall had been carefully opened so that his intestines might hang down

in his face.

Another American prisoner, found on the same trip, had been buried in

the ground with only his head projecting. His mouth had been propped

open with a stick, a trail of sugar laid to it through the forest,

and a handful thrown into it.

Millions of ants had done the rest.

Officers and men who saw such things were thereby fitted for war,

rather than for ordinary police duty.

The truth is that they had seen so many of them that they continued to

see them in imagination when they no longer existed. I well remember

when a general officer, directed by his superior to attend a banquet

at Manila in which Americans and Filipinos joined, came to it wearing

a big revolver!

Long after Manila was quiet I was obliged to get out of my carriage

in the rain and darkness half a dozen times while driving the length

of Calle Real, and "approach to be recognized" by raw "rookies,"

each of whom pointed a loaded rifle at me while I did it. I know

that this did not tend to make me feel peaceable or happy. In my

opinion it was wholly unnecessary, and yet I did not blame the army

for thinking otherwise.

After the war was over, when my private secretary, Mr. James H. LeRoy,

was one day approaching Malolos, he was sternly commanded by a sentry

to halt, the command being emphasized as usual by presenting to his

attention a most unattractive view down the muzzle of a Krag. He was

next ordered to "salute the flag," which he finally discovered with

difficulty in the distance, after being told where to look. The army

way is right and necessary in war, but it makes a lot of bother in

time of peace!

This was not the only reason for failing to make more extensive use

of American soldiers in police duty. A veteran colonel of United

States cavalry who had just read Judge Blount's book was asked what

he thought of the claim therein made that the army should have done

the police and pacification work of the Philippines. His reply was:--

"How long would it take a regiment of Filipinos to catch an

American outlaw in the United States? Impossible!"

Another army officer said:--

"Catching Filipino outlaws with the Army is like catching a

flea in a twenty-acre field with a traction engine."

There is perhaps nothing so demoralizing to regular troops as

employment on police duty which requires them to work singly or in

small squads. Discipline speedily goes to the dogs and instruction

becomes impossible.

Successful prosecution of the work of chasing _ladrones_ in the

Philippines requires a thorough knowledge of local topography and

of local native dialects. Spanish is of use, but only in dealing

with educated Filipinos. A knowledge of the Filipino himself; of his

habits of thought; of his attitude toward the white man; and toward

the _illustrado_, or educated man, of his own race; ability to enter a

town and speedily to determine the relative importance of its leading

citizens, finally centring on the one man, always to be found, who

runs it, whether he holds political office or not, and also to enlist

the sympathy and coöperation of its people; all of these things are

essential to the successful handling of brigandage in the Philippines,

whether such brigandage has, or lacks, political significance.

The following parallel will make clear some of the reasons why it was

determined to use constabulary instead of American soldiers in policing

the Philippines from the time the insurrection officially ended:--

United States Army Philippine Constabulary

Soldier costs per annum $1400. Soldier costs per annum $363.50.

(Authority: Adjutant General

Heistand in 1910.)

American soldiers come from Constabulary soldiers are

America. enlisted in the province

where they are to serve.

Few American soldiers speak All constabulary soldiers

the local dialects. speak local dialects.

Few American soldiers speak All educated constabulary

any Spanish. soldiers speak Spanish.

American soldiers usually have Constabulary soldiers, native to

but a slight knowledge of local the country, know the geography

geography and topography. and topography of their respective

provinces.

Few American soldiers have had The Filipino soldier certainly

enough contact with Filipinos knows his own kind better than

to understand them. the American does.

The American soldier uses a The constabulary soldier is

ration of certain fixed components rationed in cash and buys the

imported over sea. (A ration is food of the country where he

the day's allowance of food for happens to be.

one soldier.)

The American ration costs The constabulary cash ration is

24.3 cents United States currency 10.5 cents United States currency.

(exclusive of cost of (No freight or handling charges.)

transportation and handling). The constabulary soldier knows not

Fresh meat requiring ice to keep ice. His food grows in the islands.

it is a principal part of the He buys it on the ground and needs

American ration. To supply it no transportation to bring it to him.

requires a regular system of

transport from the United States

to Manila and from thence to local

ports, and wagon transportation

from ports to inland stations.

The American soldier is at no The idea of enlisting the sympathy

pains to enlist the sympathy and and coöperation of the local

coöperation of the people; and population is the strongest tenet

his methods of discipline habits in the constabulary creed.

of life, etc., make it practically

impossible for him to gain them.

Before preparing the foregoing statement relative to the reasons for

using Philippine constabulary soldiers instead of soldiers of the

United States army for police work during the period in question, I

asked Colonel J. G. Harbord, assistant director of the constabulary,

who has served with that body nine years, has been its acting director

and is an officer of the United States army, to give me a memorandum

on the subject. It is only fair to him to say that I have not only

followed very closely the line of argument embodied in the memorandum

which he was good enough to prepare for me, but have in many instances

used his very words. The parallel columns are his.

The constabulary soldier, thoroughly familiar with the topography

of the country in which he operates; speaking the local dialect and

acquainted with the persons most likely to be able and willing to

furnish accurate information; familiar with the characteristics of

his own people; able to live off the country and keep well, is under

all ordinary circumstances a more efficient and vastly less expensive

police officer than the American soldier, no matter how brave and

energetic the latter may be. Furthermore, his activities are much

less likely to arouse animosity.

Incidentally, the army is pretty consistently unwilling to take the

field unless the constitutional guarantees are temporarily suspended,

and it particularly objects to writs of habeas corpus. The suspension

of such guarantees is obviously undesirable unless really very

necessary.