The Philippine Commission urgently recommends the passage of this proposed act, which provides for the extension of the autonomy of the Filipino people by granting to them greater participation in their government.

It is urged that at the coming session of Congress the Jones bill or a similar act, as it passed the House of Representatives and as favorably reported by the Senate Committee on the Philippines, be enacted. In the opinion of the Philippine Commission, modification of the bill, if any is made, should be in the way of making its provisions even more liberal.

We consider it particularly important that the preamble of the bill substantially as it was passed by the House of Representatives be enacted. We consider such a definite statement of intention necessary in order that a better understanding may be established between both peoples and that stability of business may be established and assured.

The gratitude of the Filipino people for the passage of the Philippine bill through the House of Representatives is set forth in the resolution of both houses of the Philippine Legislature in joint session October 16, 1914.

The personnel of the Philippine Commission on December 31, 1914, was as follows, and no change has been made in the Commission up to the date of this report:

Francis Burton Harrison, Governor General, ex officio President.

Henderson S. Martin, Vice Governor (ex officio Acting President during absence of President) and secretary of public instruction.

Rafael Palma.

Victorino Mapa, secretary of finance and justice.

Jaime C. de Veyra.

Vicente Ilustre.

Vicente Singson Encarnacion.

Clinton L. Riggs, secretary of commerce and police.
Winfred T. Denison, secretary of the interior.

At the date of the adoption of the report Clinton L. Riggs, secretary of commerce and police, is on leave of absence in the United States owing to ill health, and Winfred T. Denison, secretary of the interior, is absent on an inspection trip in the Province of Mindoro. Very respectfully,

FRANCIS BURTON HARRISON.
HENDERSON S. MARTIN.
RAFAEL PALMA.
VICTORINO MAPA,

V. ILUSTRE.

JAIME C. DE VEYRA.

V. SINGSON ENCARNACION.

To the honorable the SECRETARY OF WAR,

Washington, D. C.

REPORT OF THE GOVERNOR GENERAL.

JULY 1, 1913, TO DECEMBER 31, 1914.

MANILA, June 20, 1915. GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to present to the Philippine Commission the following report of the Governor General for the semifiscal year 1914 (July 1 to Dec. 31, 1913) and for the calendar year

1914.

Following the inauguration of Woodrow Wilson as President of the United States and the selection of Lindley M. Garrison as Secretary of War an almost complete change was made in the membership of the Philippine Commission, Commissioner Rafael Palma being the only member of the former Philippine Commission to remain in office. The present Philippine Commission is composed as follows: Francis Burton Harrison, of New York, appointed Governor General and President of the Commission September 2, 1913 (arrived in the Philippines Oct. 6, 1913). Henderson S. Martin, of Kansas, appointed Vice Governor, secretary of public instruction, and member of the Philippine Commission December 1, 1913 (arrived in the Philippines Jan. 26, 1914). Rafael Palma, of Cavite, appointed member of the Philippine Commisison on July 6, 1908. Victorino Mapa, of Capiz, appointed secretary of finance and justice and member of the Philippine Commission October 30, 1913. Jaime C. de Veyra, of Leyte, appointed member of the Philippine Commission October 30, 1913. Vicente Ilustre. of Batangas, appointed member of the Philippine Commisison October 30, 1913. Vicente Singson Encarnación, of Ilocos Sur, appointed member of the Philippine Commission on October 30, 1913. Clinton L. Riggs, of Maryland, appointed secretary of commerce and police and member of the Philippine Commission December 1, 1913 (arrived in the Philippines Feb. 23, 1914). Winfred T. Denison, of New York, appointed secretary of the interior and member of the Philippine Commission January 27, 1914 (arrived in the Philippine Islands Mar. 2, 1914).

Thus, in pursuance of his theretofore announced policy, President Wilson nominated and the Senate confirmed a majority of Filipinos upon the Commission. Since the membership of the lower house, the Philippine Assembly, was already composed entirely of elected Filipinos, this placed the majority vote of the Philippine Legislature in the hands of the Filipino people. To anyone familiar with recent legislative history in the Philippines such a course was not only just and merited, but wise. No appropriation bill had been passed for the three fiscal years 1911, 1912, and 1913, owing to the failure of the two houses of the Legislature to agree upon an appropriation for the current expenses of the government. For these three years disbursements were made by the Governor General, act

ing under the provision of law which authorizes him, whenever the Legislature fails to pass the supply bill, to advise the treasurer to disburse the same amounts appropriated in the last annual appropriation bill. For these three years the appropriation bill which formed a basis for the disbursements made by the advice of the Governor General was that enacted in Baguio at the session of the Philippine Legislature held there in 1910. The provision of the law above mentioned was construed by the then administration to permit the Governor General in his discretion to direct the treasurer of the Philippine Islands to vary the items and amounts of the "last annual appropriation bill," and thus the Governor General exercised the most important function of the Legislature by edict or "letter of advice." It had been the contention of the Philippine Assembly and certain of the officers of the executive branch if the government that the provision of law above referred to restricted the Governor General to an allotment of funds to each of the bureaus and offices of the government, not in excess of the amounts last appropriated for such bureaus and offices by acts of the Legislature. The administration, however, held that the Governor General was only restricted in his letter of advice to allot a total not in excess of the total amount last appropriated for all the bureaus and branches of the government, and that in his discretion the Governor General could, as was done, allot a lesser sum to one office and a greater amount to another. The appointment of a Filipino majority on the Commission at once brought together the two houses of the Legislature and broke the deadlock which had existed. Several of the points at issue in immediately preceding years were speedily adjusted by the lower and upper houses. One of the most notable of these points of disagreement had been the insistence of the Assembly upon the right of the Legislature to exercise more complete control over the expenditures of the government, particularly with reference to the socalled reimbursable funds. Those bureaus of the government which were income-producing had been permitted to expend, in the discretion of the executive officers, the funds thus accruing. One result of this was great and increasing extravagance; another was a tendency of bureaus which received income from other departments of the government to charge as much as possible, in order to make a favorable showing and increase the amounts they could expend. The Assembly had in vain insisted that these abuses should be corrected. This was not done until January, 1914, when the new Philippine Legislature passed by unanimous vote the first general appropriation bill since 1910. By this law the income-receiving bureaus of the government were obliged to deposit in the insular treasury, to the credit of the general funds, such income, and, at the end of the new fiscal year, December 31, 1914, to revert into the treasury all unexpended balances, thus giving the Legislature control of the purse strings of the government.

Under the appropriation and other legislation of this new Legisiature about five and a half million pesos, or about 19 per cent of the total expenditures of 1913, were saved during the calendar year 1914. That this economy was vitally necessary and put into effect just in time appears from the fact that in the calendar year 1913 the government spent more than 7,000,000 in excess of its income. This

had followed on three years, when from two to two and a half millions had yearly been expended in excess of ordinary income. The surplus was depleted and bankruptcy would have followed unless a check had been called. Not alone in this particular was the increased efficiency of the newly constituted Legislature apparent.

For example, a campaign had been directed against the Filipino people in certain quarters of the United States based upon the alleged refusal of the Filipinos to legislate against slavery which, it was alleged, existed in the islands. There was in fact a legal doubt whether existing law in the Philippines did prohibit slavery and penalize it and, consequently, one of the first acts of the new Legislature was to pass, by unanimous vote, a drastic antislavery law, applying to the islands, as supplementary to existing law, the provisions of the United States statute against slavery and peonage. It thus appears that the failure to pass such a law until that time was due rather to some inherent defect in the methods of those demanding its passage than to any lack of desire on the part of the Philippine Legislature to prevent such abuses. As a matter of fact, official investigations showed that slavery as it is understood in the United States and in the Philippines did not generally exist, as was asserted by interested persons who apparently exploited the cases of peonage which came under their notice for political

reasons.

Many of the reforms effected by the new Legislature are touched upon in the immediately preceding report of the Philippine Commission. A well-founded apprehension about the condition of the treasury above alluded to made it imperative that retrenchments should be undertaken, and of a drastic nature. Qne of the most effective of these economies lay in the abolition of the bureau of ravigation, which had outlived its usefulness and was increasingly extravagant, and the distribution of such of its property and fund tions as it was desirable to preserve to the bureaus of customs and public works. In the bureau of customs alone work formerly performed by the bureau of navigation was done at a saving of mor than 400,000 during the year 1914, without loss of efficiency.

Another feature of the appropriation bill passed by the new Legi lature was the reduction of certain salaries of the government, point mooted for several years previously. It was evident that the size of some of the salaries was out of all proportion to the size of the treasury and the value of the work performed; and in a time of economy, in the financial crisis which had fallen upon them as an inheritance from the system of expenditures uncontrolled by legislative action, the legislators determined to effect some salary cuts. A rule was adopted by which salaries of 10,000 or over were cut 10 per cent, salaries below P10,000 and amounting to $6,000 or over, were cut 5 per cent, but salaries less than $6,000 were not reduced, in order not to infringe upon incomes providing only necessary living expenses. At the same time, another rule excluded from the operations of salary reductions the judges, and engineers, scientists, and other technical officers or en.ployees of the government. While some dissatisfaction necessarily was felt at first by many of those affected, it is believed that most of them recognized the necessity of the action of the Legislature.

In this discussion of the accomplishments of the new Legislature it is not essential to rehearse all of the legislation and point out all the reforms accomplished. It is desirable, however, to emphasize the complete success of the policy of giving the Filipinos a majority of the Commission. Legislative machinery which had refused to work, or had been working with loud jolting and jarring, suddenly began to work with speed, quietness, and efficiency. Almost all of the bills which passed the Commission did so by unanimous vote of the members present. Frequent consultations about pending legislation took place daily between members of the two houses. Of the Assembly bills considered in the Commission, 108 out of 263 were passed, while the Assembly passed 86 out of 105 Commission bills.

Now that a satisfactory basis for a budget has been established, and a new system is in working order by which the calendar year is made the fiscal year, the appropriation bill for 1915 was passed in December, 1914, for the first time so early in a session, and for the first time an extra session of the Legislature was unnecessary. In previous years, even when an appropriation bill was not passed, many days of the last weeks of the session had been devoted to discussions of the bill, thus interfering with proper consideration of other measures.

This occasion is taken to express my deep appreciation of the consideration accorded the recommendations of the Governor General by the Legislature, and as a member of the Commission to express admiration for the ability and conscientious hard work of my colleagues. One who has had opportunity for intimate observation can not doubt for a moment the ability of the Filipinos to enact their own legislation, conservatively and without extravagance, with diligent attention to the needs of the Filipino people, and with a comprehension of these needs such as it is difficult, if not impossible, for men of another race to acquire.

CHANGES IN PERSONNEL.

The action of the national administration in filipinizing the Commission was followed by increased representation of Filipinos in the executive branches of the government. Filipinization of the government service was the policy of President McKinley in his organic letter of instructions, and has been indorsed with emphasis as a principle by succeeding Presidents and by most of the Governors General of the islands. Under whichever principle the Philippine question is even now discussed, whether of eventual independence or local self-government of the islands, it is obviously necessary to give the Filipinos an opportunity to fill any offices for which they demonstrate their ability. In fact, the law requires this, as is indicated by the following excerpt from the civil-service act:

SEC. 6. In the appointment of officers and employees under the provisions of this act, the appointing officer in his selection from the list of eligibles furnished to him by the director of civil service shall, where other qualifications are equal, prefer

First. Natives of the Philippine Islands or persons who have, under and by virtue of the Treaty of Paris, acquired the political rights of natives of the islands.

Second. Persons who have served as members of the Army, Navy, or Marine Corps of the United States and have been honorably discharged therefrom. Third. Citizens of the United States.