A History of the Philippines

by David P. Barrows

Revenues and Expenditures.—The maintenance of these numerous activities calls for an expenditure of large sums of money, but the insular government and the Filipino people are fortunate in having had their finances managed with exceptional ability. The revenues of the Islands for the past fiscal year have amounted to about $10,638,000, gold. Public expenditures, including the purchase of equipment such as the coast-guard fleet and the forwarding of great public works such as the improving of the harbor of Manila, amounted during fiscal year of 1903 to about $9,150,000, gold. The government has at all times preserved a good balance in its treasury; but the past year has seen some diminution in the amount of revenues, owing to the great depreciation of silver money, the falling off of imports, the wide prevalence of cholera, and the poverty of many parts of the country as a result of war and the loss of livestock through pest. To assist the government of the Philippines, the Congress of the United States in February, 1903, with great and characteristic generosity appropriated the sum of $3,000,000, gold, as a free gift to the people and government of the Philippines.

The Judicial System.—Especially fortunate, also, have been the labors of the commission in establishing a judicial system and revising the Spanish law. The legal ability of the commission is unusually high. As at present constituted, the judicial system consists of a Supreme Court composed of seven justices, three of whom at the present time are Filipinos, which, besides trying cases over which it has original jurisdiction, hears cases brought on appeal from the Courts of First Instance, fifteen in number, which sit in different parts of the Islands. Each town, moreover, has its justices of the peace for the trial of small cases and for holding preliminary examinations in cases of crimes. By the new Code of Civil Procedure, the administration of justice has been so simplified that there are probably no courts in the world where justice can be more quickly secured than here.

System of Public Schools.—Probably no feature of the American government in the Islands has attracted more attention than the system of public schools. Popular education, while by no means wholly neglected under the Spanish government, was inadequate, and was continually opposed by the clerical and conservative Spanish forces, who feared that the liberalizing of the Filipino people would be the loosening of the control of both Spanish state and church. On the contrary, the success of the American government, as of any government in which the people participate, depends upon the intelligence and education of the people. Thus, the American government is as anxious to destroy ignorance and poverty as the Spanish government and the Spanish church were desirous of preserving these deeply unfortunate conditions.

Americans believe that if knowledge is generally spread among the Filipino people, if there can be a real understanding of the genius and purpose of our American institutions, there will come increasing content and satisfaction to dwell under American law. Thus, education was early encouraged by the American army, and it received the first attention of the commission. The widespread system of public schools which now exists in these islands was organized by the first General Superintendent of Public Instruction, Dr. Fred W. Atkinson, and by Professor Bernard Moses of the Philippine Commission.

Instruction in the English Language.—The basis of this public instruction is the English language. This was early decided upon in view of the great number of Filipino dialects, the absence of a common native language or literature, and the very moderate acquaintance with Spanish by any except the educated class.

It is fortunate for the Filipino people that English has been introduced here and that its knowledge is rapidly spreading. Knowledge of language is power, and the more widely spoken the tongue, the greater the possession of the individual who acquires it. Of all the languages of the world, English is to-day the most widely spoken and is most rapidly spreading. Moreover, English is preëminently the language of the Far East. From Yokohama to Australia, and from Manila to the Isthmus of Suez, English is the common medium of communication. It is the language alike of business and of diplomacy. The Filipino people, so eager to participate in all the busy life of eastern Asia, so ambitious to make their influence felt and their counsels regarded, will be debarred from all this unless they master this mighty English tongue.

The Filipino Assembly.—Thus, after four and a half years of American occupation, the sovereignty of the United States has been established in the archipelago, and a form of government, unique in the history of colonial administration, inaugurated. One other step in the contemplation of Congress, which will still further make the government a government of the Filipino people, remains to be taken. This is the formation of a Filipino assembly of delegates or representatives, chosen by popular vote from all the Christianized provinces of the archipelago. The recent census of the Philippines will form the basis for the apportionment of this representation. This assembly will share the legislative power on all matters pertaining to the Christian people of the Philippines and those parts of the Islands inhabited by them. When this step shall have been taken, the government of the Philippine Islands will be like the typical and peculiarly American form of government known as territorial.

Territorial Form of Government in the United States.—The American Union is composed of a number of states or commonwealths which, while differing vastly in wealth and population, are on absolutely equal footing in the Union. The inhabitants of these states form politically the American sovereignty. They elect the president and Congress, and through their state legislatures may change or amend the form of the American state itself.

Besides these states, there have always been large possessions of the nation called territories. These territories are extensive countries, too sparsely inhabited or too undeveloped politically to be admitted, in the judgment of the American Congress, to statehood in the Union. Their inhabitants do not have the right to vote for the president; neither have they representation in the American Congress. These territories are governed by Congress, through territorial governments, and over them Congress has full sovereign powers. That is, as the Supreme Court of the United States has decided and explained, while Congress when legislating for the states in the Union has only those powers of legislation which have been specifically granted by the Constitution, in legislating for the territories it has all the powers which the Constitution has not specifically denied. The only limitations on Congress are those which, under the American system of public law, guarantee the liberty of the individual,—his freedom of religious belief and worship; his right to just, open, and speedy trial; his right to the possession of his property; and other precious privileges, the result of centuries of development in the English-speaking race, which make up civil liberty. These priceless securities, which no power of the government can take away, abridge, or infringe, are as much the possession of the inhabitants of a territory as of a state.[1]

The government of these territories has varied greatly in form and may be changed at any time by Congress, but it usually consists of a governor and supreme court, appointed by the president of the United States, and a legislature elected by the people. Since 1783 there has always been territory so held and governed by the United States, and if we may judge from the remarkable history of these regions, this form of government of dependent possessions is the most successful and most advantageous to the territory itself that has ever been devised.