REPORT TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR BY THE CHIEF OF THE DIVISION OF INSULAR AFFAIRS OF HIS OFFICE. WAR DEPARTMENT, October 23, 1901. SIR: In obedience to your direction to prepare for you a statement showing the organization, present functions, and work accomplished by the Division of Insular Affairs, I have the honor to submit the following report: The Division of Insular Affairs is that branch of the Office of the Secretary of War to which are referred all matters pertaining to the civil affairs connected with the governments of Cuba and the Philippine Islands as distinguished from those of a purely military character. Organization. It is subdivided into the following branches: Correspondence, records, law officer, accounts and statistics, compilation and translation. Correspondence.-This branch receives and answers written communications and conducts general correspondence. It is also charged with the research of records, the preparation of memoranda, and the framing of such orders, circulars, and regulations as by direction it submits to the Secretary of War. This. branch is conducted under the direct personal supervision of the chief of the division. Records. This branch records all papers, documents, and books that pertain to the affairs of the division. It also distributes printed circulars, orders, documents, reports, and publications containing information about Cuba and the Philippines. Law officer.-The service performed by the law officer consists in investigating such propositions of law as require consideration in matters relating to the administration of civil affairs in the islands under the jurisdiction of the War Department and submitting verbal or written reports thereon. Accounts. This branch examines and checks all accounts of insular revenues and expenditures in Cuba and the Philippine Islands, makes a permanent record thereof, and exercises supervisory control over the accounting system in the islands named. In other words, it operates as a comptroller's check or review of the independent audits in those islands. Statistics. The statistical branch records, compiles, and publishes full statistics of the insular commerce, shipping, and immigration. Translations.-This branch is charged with the translation into English of Spanish laws, decrees, communications and other papers; and with rendering into Spanish such official publications and papers as may be needed for use in the islands. Compilation. This branch, recently organized, collects and compiles such data in the division as is directed to be published. Personnel. The personnel of the division now consists of 2 United States army officers, 1 civilian law officer, 42 clerks, 4 messengers, and 1 laborer. In addition, there are employed on temporary work pertaining to the island of Cuba 3 clerks and 1 messenger. The force is distributed as follows: Correspondence (7 clerks, 2 messengers). Records, documents, and mailing (9 clerks, 2 messengers, 1 laborer) Law officer (1 clerk) Compilation and translation (7 clerks, 1 messenger) ........ 1221 8 Seven of these are in the classified service under the provisions of the civil-service act. The remainder are temporary employees. The undersigned was detailed as chief of this division February 10, 1900. On account of the increase of work an assistant was assigned to the chief of division on July 30, 1901. This acquisition has materially added to the organization and efficiency of this office. PRESENT FUNCTIONS. The Division of Insular Affairs is the repository of all civil records of the governments of Cuba and the Philippines that do not remain at the island capitals. Similar records for the period in which the War Department exercised jurisdiction over Porto Rice are on file here. All communications are carefully carded and recorded, the card furnishing a complete history of each case that reaches the division. For the present these records interpret the purpose and intent of orders, laws and rulings, and furnish the data for the determination by the Secretary of War of civil questions that arise in the government of the islands. In the future they will furnish valuable data for the Government in respect of certain classes of claims that may arise in those islands, and in adjusting our relations with the governments of Cuba and the Philippines. From its records the division prepares and submits to the Secretary of War such information regarding the islands as may be required of him by Congress or otherwise desired by him. It transmits his instructions and orders to the insular governments, and handles their correspondence with him and through him to the other departments of this Government, and through the State Department when communication with foreign nations is necessary. It may be truly said that every question involved in the conduct of governmental affairs lies within the possible scope of examination by this division. Many matters referred to this division involve questions of law. These questions are of such diverse character as to require extended research, being questions of constitutional interpretation, international law and relations, military and martial law, the political and municipal laws of both Spain and the United States, as well as the general principles and established customs which ordinarily regulate and control the action of public officers and private citizens. It acts for the insular governments in the procurement and transportation of personnel, supplies, and equipment that have to be obtained in the United States a notable example being the employment and transportation of a thousand teachers and the purchase and shipment of a complete Government printing plant for the Philippine Islands. It is the bureau of information regarding the islands, and compiles information and data to supply the increasing demand for knowledge of them. Perhaps its most burdensome duty is meeting this demand for information. This involves the distribution of thousands of printed documents and an immense correspondence covering all manner of inquiries ranging from applications for positions, which form the subject of hundreds of letters each month, to questions on land titles, Chinese immigration, Spanish baptismal certificates, customs regulations, etc. In the branch of accounts and statistics are kept the accounts of all receipts and disbursements of insular revenues, based on auditors' certificates, segregated, classified, and tabulated in such form that complete accounting of the Government's financial stewardship may be had at any time. The record of imports into the islands is kept by ports, by months, years, and country of origin, thus affording at a moment's notice a comparison of the export of any article from the United States to the most obscure port in Cuba or the Philippines, with that of any other civilized country in any month and year of our possession, to such port. The division is charged with the preparation of tariffs for Cuba and the Philippines, as well as editing customs regulations, and with the preparation of accounting regulations. It is the medium through which the vast commercial interests of the United States are furnished with trade statistics, tariffs, duties, and laws of the islands and are made acquainted with their present and prospective commercial needs and desires, and conserves the interests of American trade in said islands in as far as is permitted by our international obligations. The above is an epitome of the duties with which this division is to-day charged. The performance of these routine duties indicates the regular work accomplished, but in compliance with your direction to make the presentation complete, your attention is invited to more important and special work brought to a conclusion within the past year, or now nearing completion, among which may be mentioned: IN CUBA. Bacon resolution.-During the sessions of the last Congress many resolutions were passed calling upon the Secretary of War for detailed information concerning money transactions in the islands. Among these resolutions was one named and passed by the Senate as the Bacon resolution, which called for a report in the most minute detail of all receipts and expenditures in Cuba from the date of the military occupation to April 30, 1900; a statement of public works of every kind, together with the cost, necessity, and propriety of the same, with copies of the contracts; a statement of the personal property purchased or procured and the disposition thereof; and the law or authority under which collections of revenues and disbursements thereof were made. The scope of this resolution necessarily entailed a vast amount of labor upon the division. The task required special forms in addition to those in use by the Department. They were at once prepared and forwarded with instructions as to their use. These reports were itemized, checked, balanced, and tabulated in this division and transmitted by the Secretary of War to the Senate, and were published by that body in five large volumes. No error has yet been found in this work, nor criticism made of it to which the attention of this division has been called. The compilation by this division occupied the time of 10 clerks for six months, and for six weeks those clerks worked overtime. Postal frauds. -In compliance with requests from the Cuban authorities the division was concerned in the collection of evidence of the alleged defalcations in the department of posts of Cuba. One of these requests contained 22 letters requisitorial. Customs regulations for Cuba.-These regulations were submitted to the Department, revised in this division, approved by the Secretary of War, promulgated, and printed. Revision of Cuban tariff-Early in the current year many protests were received and criticisms made against certain schedules of the existing Cuban tariff. The trial of one year had suggested to the insular customs authorities certain amendments, extensive enough to indicate the wisdom of complete revision. With this idea in view, and under the policy that any such revision should be made with sole reference to the interests of Cuba, the Secretary of War authorized the convening of a commission, to sit at Havana, composed of three Americans and two Cubans, the latter to be selected by the prominent commercial interests of Cuba. This commission was directed to afford full opportunity for open discussion. The commission gave public hearings and drafted a new tariff. To this commission were referred all criticisms and suggestions that were received at the War Department, and it was furnished all information called for by it. After the commission had completed its work the Secretary of War decided not to promulgate a new tariff, but to correct by order the schedules which seemed to demand it and leave to the future government such further revision as that government might deem wise. Spanish Treaty Claims Commission. On request of said Commission much assistance in securing information of a confidential nature has been rendered, for which service acknowledgments of thanks have been received from that body. Translation of Diario de Sesiones.-During the last session of Congress a Senate resolution was passed calling on the War Department to translate the "Diario de Sesiones," which purports to be an official record of the proceedings of the constitutional convention of Cuba. Two translators have been actively engaged on this work, and it will soon be ready for submission to the Secretary of War. The constitutional convention and electoral law. This most important work in Cuba is so directly under the personal supervision of the Secretary of War that mention of it seems appropriate here. IN PHILIPPINES. Philippine tariff-The Philippine tariff as at first enforced by the military government was virtually the old Spanish tariff, with its surtaxes, official values, and cumbrous methods for assessment of duties. From time to time, as military necessity required, it was amended by military order. In the latter part of 1900 many protests were received from the United States relative to duties on American products entering the islands and from the Philippines against the high tariff on the necessities of life. The Secretary of War directed that a board of army officers familiar with the customs administration in the Philippines be convened at Manila for the purpose of revising the tariff. After careful consideration and public hearings a proposed tariff was formulated which, by order of the Secretary of War, was transmitted to the Philippine Commission. The work of the board was revised by that body and transmitted to the War Department, being received last February. It was then printed and furnished to the press, especially to all the prominent trade papers of the country, and otherwise given publicity. Full criticisms and recommendations were invited and many experts were consulted. Each provision of the proposed measure was carefully investigated and considered and a number of changes made. The corrected draft of this tariff received the approval of the Secretary of War and was sent to the Philippine Commission for enactment into a law. At the request of the Commission a collector of customs for the Philippine Islands was appointed. This officer, with long and successful experience as collector in Cuba, had taken part in the final revision of the Cuban tariff. He arrived in Manila about the same time as this final draft, and at the public hearings held by the Commission was able to satisfactorily explain the changes made by the War Department. This tariff measure was adopted by the Commission September 17, 1901, to take effect November 15, 1901. The measure was translated into Spanish by this division, and both English and Spanish editions were printed by the Government Printing Office in Washington, under the supervision of this division. Philippine teachers.-Early in the year the Philippine Commission authorized the employment of 1,000 American school-teachers for service in those islands. Although the appointing power was vested in the general superintendent of public instruction there, this division was the medium of communication between that official and the colleges, schools, and educational bureaus to which he had delegated the power to appoint a designated number, and also to the teachers. The assembling of these teachers, arranging transportation for them and their families, and answering the flood of inquiries from successful and disappointed applicants put an immense extra burden on this office. Most of these teachers have been landed in Manila, some six hundred being conveyed on a special transport. Teachers who have already arrived have been assigned, and the immense work of establishing an educational system in those islands is therefore inaugurated. Provincial supervisors.-In May, 1901, a request came to send immediately twenty competent engineers to be assigned on arrival as provincial supervisors of public works in the provinces to which provincial civil government had been extended by act of the Philippine Commission. These engineers were obtained by conditionally delegating to twelve prominent schools of engineering authority to designate one or more of their graduates. These gentlemen have arrived and have entered upon the discharge of their functions in the development of those islands. Establishment of civil government.-By order of the President this government was installed on July 4, 1901, by the appointment of Hon. William H. Taft as civil governor of the Philippine Islands. On September 6, 1901, by direction of the President, through the Secretary of War, the Philippine Commission passed an act providing |