prominent Filipino politicians and their favourites.

A subsequent examination of the bank, extending over almost a year, was made by Messrs. Haskins & Sells, certified public accountants of New York, who stated, among other things:

Our examination thus reveals the fact that the bank has been operated, during almost the entire period of its existence prior to the appointment of Mr. Wilson as manager, in violation of every principle which prudence, intelligence, or even honesty dictates.

Among the officers and employees of the bank who were thereafter prosecuted and convicted of embezzlement and other criminal charges were: the president and general manager; vice-president and assistant general manager; manager of the Foreign Department; assistant manager of the Foreign Department; assistant chief note teller; manager of the Iloilo branch; manager of the Aparri branch, who confessed and committed suicide, and also various subordinate employees.

To all those not wilfully prejudiced or partisan, this experiment of "Filipinizing" an institution requiring executive ability and financial capacity and responsibility should prove illuminating.

CHAPTER VIII

THE WRECKING OF A GOVERNMENT-1913-21 (Continued)

IN

THE Philippines, where the rights and liberties of the masses are regularly exploited by the ilustrado class, an able and independent judiciary is peculiarly essential. In October, 1913, the bench of the islands, excepting only Justice of the Peace Courts, would compare favourably with that existing in America and other progressive countries. A majority of the Supreme Court was American; while on the Courts of First Instance and Court of Land Registration, comprising twenty-nine judges, fourteen were American and fifteen Filipino.

In July, 1914, the Judiciary Act was amended by abolishing the Land Court and increasing the Judges of First Instance to thirty-six. As American Judges retired, their places were filled by Filipinos, there being but three Americans left on the Courts of First Instance in 1921. The resulting situation is thus described in report of the Wood-Forbes Mission to the President in 1921:

During the existence of the Philippine Commission, a most serious effort was made to secure the best available men for the bench, without regard to party affiliation, and the men appointed at that time as a rule enjoyed public confidence. In later years, the same care has not been exercised.

There are pending, in the courts of the islands to-day, approximately 50,000 cases, including some 8,000 probate and guardianship cases. Conditions are growing steadily worse, and with present personnel and methods, the dockets will never be cleared.

The condition of the Courts of First Instance is generally deplor

able. The number of cases filed from year to year has steadily increased. The number of judges has not been increased proportionately, and is insufficient to dispose of, promptly and efficiently, the great volume of business they are called upon to transact. The abolition of the Court of Land Registration imposed a heavy additional burden upon these courts. The judges in too many courts do not realize the necessity of reaching early and prompt decisions and are too ready to postpone hearings and trials.

The clerks of the Courts of First Instance are too often without necessary experience. There is no uniform system of filing records, and in many instances it is difficult for attorneys to secure records promptly.

It became a practice of the Nacionalista leaders to assign some particular judge in whom they had "confidence" to try election-fraud cases in districts where the discretion of the regular incumbent was doubtful. Finally Judge Borromeo, a Filipino of character, refused to be used in this manner and stuck to his post, his stand in the matter being sustained by the Philippine Supreme Court. The Philippine Legislature thereupon passed what is known as the "Judiciary Lottery Law," whereby at the end of every five years, judges drawing the same salary were required to exchange districts, the new assignment to be "determined by lot," but in no case to be that last occupied. This Act was held unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Public opinion, backed by these court decisions, has put an end for the present to this organized effort to undermine the Judiciary.

Commenting on the conclusions of the Wood-Forbes report as to the Court situation, La Nación, a Manila newspaper representing the Demócrata party, stated:

If we have to look at things from the right angle, Mr. Osmeña [President of the Nacionalista party] should have no motives to be surprised at the contents of the report of the Mission touching the ad

ministration of justice in these islands. It is an open secret that the standard of our Courts of Justice has declined ever since the inauguration in these islands of the Harrisonian "New Era," which may, with more propriety, be denominated the "Era of Deception and Disillusionment." And that standard has declined because the Nacionalista bosses, instead of dignifying this important administrative branch of the Government by surrounding the same with the most solid guarantees, deprived it of all inducements, and even went so far as to attempt to convert our judges into mere instruments of political expediency and partisan ends.

During the war, Governor-General Harrison was appointed Philippine Representative of the Alien Property Custodian, Washington, and in that capacity took over and administered various German-owned properties in the islands. He appointed his brother "manager" of the receivers designated for the sequestered holdings, this brother having also been appointed secretary and director of the Philippine National Bank. Sales of these properties, some thirteen in number, were carried out under circumstances which proved a scandal to the community; so much so that President Wilson, by executive order, revoked the action taken and sent a representative from the United States to take charge. The grounds specified by the President for setting aside the sales were:

(a) The short notice given of the sales and inadequate opportunity for purchasers to inform and prepare themselves to bid;

(b) The exclusion of the public from the sales which deprived it of the publicity required by the aforesaid Act of Congress as amended; (c) The advertised conditions of the sale excluded American corporations who are legally entitled to bid, and contained several objectionable details;

(d) The sales were not made under the rules and regulations prescribed by me and as required by said Act as amended, and not in accordance with the instructions and policy of the Alien Property Custodian.

No information has ever been given out as to the salaries or other compensation paid the receivers of these properties, despite insistent public demands therefor.

It was Mr. Harrison's ambition to be the last American Governor-General of the Philippines. This doubtless explains, in part, his rapid Filipinization of the service and the abdication of his executive functions in favour of an extra-legal Council of State, as also his subsequent offer to resign as Governor-General provided a Filipino was appointed in his stead.

Inasmuch as this proposed abandonment of the islands by the United States was predicated on the theory that "it would be in the interests of the Philippine people," it became necessary to minimize many of the outstanding dangers involved. Possibly the most difficult of these to camouflage, from an internal standpoint, was the existence of a million or more "non-Christians" or "wild peoples," inhabiting the great islands of Mindanao and Sulu, Palawan, Mindoro, and the mountain provinces of Luzon. This is still something which immediate independence advocates are inclined to ignore or "soft pedal," even to forbidding a sale of photographs depicting such peoples in their native state.

Prior to 1913, the matter of providing a form of government for these wild tribes was vested in the Philippine Commission, a majority of which body was American. Through sympathetic treatment a remarkable work had been done in transforming this non-Christian element into peaceful, law-abiding, and industrious communities, and in affording them protection from their Christian neighbours who had theretofore imposed upon and despoiled them as opportunity offered.

The islands of Mindanao and Sulu, with an area of