REPORT OF THE CIVIL GOVERNOR OF THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS FOR THE FISCAL YEAR 1904, AND OTHER STATED PERIODS.

MANILA, P. I., November 1, 1904.

GENTLEMEN: I have the honor to make the following report covering the operations of the several bureaus, offices, and provincial governments which report to me as civil governor. Unless otherwise stated, this report is intended to apply to the fiscal year 1904.

PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENTS.

It is not considered necessary or desirable to analyze in detail the reports of the various provincial governors for the past fiscal year, as they deal mainly with local and routine matters with which the Commission in a general way is already familiar. Moreover, these reports in detail will be found in an appendix to the report of the executive secretary attached hereto. It may be stated that although the people still feel to a considerable extent the loss of their carabaos and other animals used in agriculture from surra and rinderpest, which has caused embarrassment and difficulty in tilling their fields to the extent to which they were formerly cultivated, yet with the exception of a very few of the provinces there has been marked progress made in the cultivation of fields and the production of food crops as compared with the preceding year, and as a consequence there has been no suffering among the people for the necessaries of life. In a number of the provinces the people have suffered from visitations of locusts, which destroyed growing crops and necessitated replanting, but the energetic measures taken by the provincial and municipal authorities to exterminate this pest have proved successful. The epidemics among the carabao and other cattle have been checked by the efforts of the insular board of health and, except in a very few localities, seem no longer troublesome. In those provinces which are adapted to the growth of rice there has been a large increase in the production of that cereal, as well as in the planting of maize and other food crops. The high prices and steady demand for hemp and copra have induced the people to plant abacá and cocoanut trees in large numbers throughout nearly all the provinces of the archipelago.

The persistent efforts of the constabulary in pursuing cattle thieves and ladrones have had a marked effect in giving security to the people against the incursions of these outlaws and thereby enabling them to till their fields and to enjoy the fruits of their labor, and as a consequence nearly all of the agricultural lands of the islands are under cultivation. The great mass of the people, who are peaceable and inoffensive, appear contented and well affected toward the government and are quietly pursuing their ordinary vocations, and it may be truthfully said that life and property are now safe to a degree never before experienced by the people of these islands.

Improved agricultural prospects, together with the placing of the currency of the islands upon a sound basis, are having the effect of gradually stimulating business, so that it may be said that the outlook generally is more favorable and encouraging than for several years past.

PROVINCIAL AND MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.

The provincial and municipal elections, the latter held on the first Tuesday of December, 1903, and the former held on the first Monday of February, 1904, passed off without disorder or breach of the peace. There were, however, contests filed by unsuccessful candidates for governmentships in 13 provinces. In all these cases careful examination was made and, save in one instance, the elections were confirmed, but the evidence submitted in a number of the cases disclosed grave irregularities in the form of undue influence exercised upon the electors in one way or another, though not to the extent which in my judgment warranted the ordering of a new election, save in the one case mentioned, as it did not affirmatively appear that the irregularities complained of would have changed the result of the elections.

There were also a large number of contests filed before provincial boards by disappointed candidates in the municipal elections. In 64 cases in which the provincial boards overruled the contestants appeals were taken to the civil governor, and these cases have been examined by me. It appeared therefrom that the provincial boards have in a number of instances refused to seat contestants or to set aside elections where there were grave, not to say gross, irregularities which, under the rules of law governing such matters in the United States, would have resulted either in seating the contestants or in ordering a new election; but as, under the municipal code, the decision of the provincial board in contested-election cases is final, it did not seem to me that the Commission could properly take action, and therefore these cases were not submitted for its consideration. The general result of these investigations is to convince me that the Commission should by proper legislative action throw

around provincial and municipal elections greater safeguards than now exist.

As matters stand it is simple truth to say that in very many instances there is disclosed a lack of respect for and obedience to the ascertainment of the popular will, and that improper and dangerous influences and methods are exerted which tend to make elections far from satisfactory, and in some cases a farce. It may be stated as a general proposition that in every community, outside of the large centers of population, there are a comparatively few men of some education and wealth who, under the superior direction of Spanish lay or church officials, under the former régime were always accustomed to think for the densely ignorant masses of their communities and to direct them in all public matters, and to a very considerable extent in their private lives. Self-government through the ballot box prior to American occupation was unknown. It is this small and more prominent class among the Filipinos who, as a rule, are the candidates for office of provincial governor and for the municipal offices. There are, of course, natural rivalries among them, and it is difficult to make the candidates understand that ancient methods may not be resorted to in order to control the votes of the electors, and equally difficult to make the electors understand that such control and direction is not perfectly reasonable and in accordance with law. Neither the provincial government act nor its amendments lay down any specific rules of conduct the violation of which would operate to invalidate an election, and the same remark is true of the municipal code and its amendments. In my judgment, before the next general elections are held the Commission should remedy these defects by enacting a law which will furnish more specific guidance for the officers of election, and at the same time specifically forbid such acts of intimidation and corruption as manifestly strike at the root of our elective system, and declaring elections to be invalid under such circumstances. This would also provide a uniform guide for provincial boards in determining contests of municipal elections, and would direct them just when they should and should not seat contestants or order a new election.

CITY OF MANILA.

The report of the municipal board of Manila gives an interesting review of the operations of the various departments of the city during the past fiscal year. There has been considerable work done by the department of engineering and public works in making needed openings in the city walls, so as to permit easy ingress and egress from the Walled City. Several of the more important thoroughfares have been and are being paved in a substantial manner. The city parks have been to a considerable extent improved and beautified. The Secretary of War, at the request of the Commission, has recently