Exhibit 2.-Report of the attorney-general for the Philippine Islands. Exhibit 3.-Report of the superintendent of the insular cold-storage Exhibit 6.-Report of the chief of the division of currency. Exhibit 7.-Report of the collector of customs for the Philippine Appendix D.-Parts of internal-revenue law of 1904, with tem- porary rules for the collection of the tax on imported matches, and designating certain customs officers as internal-revenue Report of the secretary of finance and justice—Continued. Exhibit 7.-Report of the collector of customs for the Philippine Exhibit A.-Report of the general superintendent of education____ Exhibit B.--Report of the superintendent of Filipino students in the United States covering the Filipino student movement_--_-- Exhibit C.-Report of the chief of the bureau of architecture and 931 Exhibit D.-Report of the public printer____ 946 Exhibit E.-Report of the chief of the bureau of archives_. 954 Exhibit F.--Report of the trustee of the American Circulating Li- 961 Exhibit G.-Report of the editor of the Official Gazette_ 964 973 ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. MANILA, P. I., November 1, 1904. SIR: The Philippine Commission has the honor to submit its fifth annual report, accompanying which will be found the reports of the civil governor, the secretary of the interior, the secretary of finance and justice, the secretary of public instruction, and the secretary of commerce and police. This report is intended to cover the period from December 22, 1903, the date of our last annual report, to November 1, 1904. CONDITIONS AS TO PEACE AND ORDER. In our last annual report we stated that "the conditions of the islands as to tranquillity are quite equal, so far as peace and good order are concerned, to what they were at any time during the Spanish régime." While we believe this to have been a true and conservative statement, it was also true that at that time there were still a considerable number of small ladrone bands operating in some of the provinces of the archipelago. These bands seem always to have existed to some extent among the Filipinos; usually, though not always, they were recruited from inhabitants of the mountain regions and were accustomed, when opportunity offered, to steal cattle and plunder remote villages in the lowlands, retreating as a rule in safety with their booty. The great mass of the people, however, were domestic and peaceable. The insurrection against Spain, which began in 1896 and was afterwards continued against the United States, finally developing into a guerrilla warfare, caused widespread demoralization among the mass of the people, and as a result ladronism greatly increased. After the collapse of the insurrection and after all organized opposition to our authority had ceased the great mass of the people resumed their ordinary and peaceful vocations, but they continued to suffer from the depredations of numerous bands of ladrones, who not infrequently were commanded by some veteran outlaw whose career ex WAR 1904-VOL 11- -1 1 tended back to Spanish times. It was obviously necessary that these bands should be exterminated before it would be possible for the people to live in safety in their homes or to till their fields; hence, at an early day after the establishment of civil government, the Philippines Constabulary, composed of natives commanded as a rule by American officers, was organized and began operations against them with most satisfactory results. These predatory bands as a rule contented themselves with preying upon their own people, often killing or mutilating those who refused them assistance or were supposed to be unfriendly to them. Sometimes, as a measure of protection, the unfortunate people who were exposed to their depredations would compound with them by furnishing them food and information, which would enable them to elude the constabulary, but as a general rule the people lived in deadly fear of them, and with good reason. As the people came to understand that the government had both the will and the ability to protect them they began to cooperate cordially with the constabulary and other peace officers by giving information against these cutthroats, so that it became possible to kill or capture them. As a result of the persistent efforts of the constabulary thus aided by the people there is to-day in the great island of Luzon not a single organized band of ladrones to be found. Nearly all of the leaders save five or six have been killed or captured, and those still at large are in hiding and practically without followers. What has been said as to Luzon is also applicable to the Visayan Islands, with the single exception of Samar. There is no reason to suppose that the orderly and peaceful conditions which at present exist will be otherwise than permanent. However, in order to get a true picture of the situation as it actually is, it is proper to remark that the Philippine Islands are all of volcanic origin, that their centers are mountainous and covered with a heavy growth of timber and other vegetation, and are generally difficult of access. The great bulk of the civilized Filipinos live on or not remote from the coast line, but there are scattered communities living in the mountains who come little in touch with civilizing influences, who are densely ignorant and superstitious, and who, indeed, in many instances are little removed from savagery. It frequently happens that some enterprising man among them who has the elements of leadership, by exciting their cupidity or playing upon their superstitions, will obtain a considerable following and will perpetrate all sorts of outrages upon the peaceful and inoffensive inhabitants within his reach. It is hardly fair to presume that the inclinations and habits of semibarbarous marauders of this description can at once be changed. They must first be reached through their fear of consequences and made to understand that their traditional manner of life is neither safe nor profitable, and thereafter |