to each of the several chambers of commerce in Manila. The bill was also published in full in the American and Spanish newspapers. The first editions of the proposed act were soon exhausted, and another edition in English and three more in Spanish were printed and distributed. On April 6, the date announced for the first public hearing upon the bill, as the forest act was under discussion in public session, the consideration of the internal-revenue law really began on the morning of April 7, and during the next three days the Commission sat in both morning and afternoon sessions listening to the expressions of the views of the public, their suggestions, criticisms, and recommendations. On Saturday April 11 the public sessions on the first draft of the bill were closed, and at the same time a public announcement was made by the Commission that any written arguments presented before May 1 would receive careful and deliberate consideration. Taking into consideration the views of the public as expressed during the first series of public hearings, and as further presented in the 35 written arguments and petitions submitted in accordance with the announcement at the last session, the Commission prepared a new draft of the bill while at Baguio, the proposed summer capital. A very large number of changes were made in the new draft, and the rates of taxation in many instances were reduced 50 per cent. As redrafted, the bill was again translated into Spanish, reprinted, and redistributed as before, and another series of public hearings to begin on June 23 at 10.30 a. m., duly announced through the press. Morning and afternoon sessions were held on the 23d, 24th, 25th, and a morning session on the 27th, the measure again minutely discussed, and the public sessions closed. Among those who addressed the Commission upon this law were speakers representing the following interests: The allied chambers of commerce of Manila, the American Chamber of Commerce, the Manila Chamber of Commerce, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce, the Cámara de Comercio Filipina, the Philippine Chamber of Commerce of Bulacan, La Insular cigar factory, the tobacco manufacturers of Manila and Juan Picó, the Tobacco Manufacturers Association, the Compañía General de Tabacos de Filipinas, El Oriente, La Urania, Alhambra, and La Yebana cigar and cigarette factories; the Agricultural Association of Cagayan and Isabela; the Banco Español-Filipino, Ayala and Company, distillers and liquor dealers; the San Miguel Brewery, La Clementina distillery, Francisco Ortigas, representing the distillers of Manila; the match interests of the islands, Mr. Goro Narita, consul-general for Japan, on behalf of the Japanese match manufacturers and dealers; Carloss Gesell, match manufacturer; the Mandaloyon Match Manufacturing Company, the Philippine Transportation and Construction Company, the Compañía Marítima, the Mitsui Bussan Kaisha, and the Manila Dentists Society. In addition to the oral arguments before the Commission, there were also submitted and considered written communications from the following interests: Spanish Chamber of Commerce, Filipino Chamber of Commerce of the Province of Bulacan, Chartered Bank of India, Australia, and China; Ynchausti & Co., Association of Physicians and Pharmacists of the Philippine Islands, 5 life insurance companies having branch offices in Manila, Agricultural Association of Panay and Negros, and other corporations, firms, companies, and individuals, and from provinces and municipalities. After further consideration by the Commission of all communications and of the views expressed by the people through their representatives, during the last series of public hearings, and the incorporation of numerous suggestions and the making of many minor changes, the law was enacted in its present form on July 2, 1904. The act, however, provided that the law should not be put into operation until the 1st of August following, and then only in part, the remainder to take effect January 1, 1905. All the laws discussed in public sessions have been enacted and are now in operation, with the exception of the proposed Penal Code and Code of Criminal Procedure, drafted by the present civil governor, to the consideration of which 17 public sessions were devoted. Subsequently the codes, together with the record of the public hearings, were referred to a special committee appointed by resolution of the Philippine Commission, for further consideration and adjustment, and have by the committee been recently returned to the Commission with their report. There were enacted during the period covered by this report 322 laws, or about 100 less than the previous year, of which number 58 were appropriation bills. While the number of laws passed by the Commission was not so large as in former years, yet many of them, like the new currency acts, the acts for the purchase and disposition of the friar lands, the public land act, the forest act, and the internal-revenue law of 1904, were of such farreaching effect and importance to the welfare of the islands that each required the long and careful consideration of the Commission. Among the more important acts passed during the period the following may be cited: No. 864.-An act amending the customs administrative act by changing the membership of the court of customs appeals and providing for appeals in criminal causes. No. 867.-An act amending Act No. 136, relating to the organization of the courts, rearranging the judicial districts, and adjusting the jurisdiction, etc. No. 926. The public land act, prescribing rules and regulations for the homesteading, selling, and leasing of portions of the public lands. No. 938.-An act constituting a gold-standard fund for the purpose of maintaining the parity of the silver Philippine peso and organizing a division of currency and providing for the issue and redemption of certificates of indebtedness. No. 1030.-An act creating an honorary board of 50 Filipinos of prominence and education to visit the Louisiana Purchase Exposition at St. Louis. No. 1032.-An act providing that taxes, all public dues, salaries, and expenses shall be payable in Philippine currency. No. 1034.-An act providing for the issue of bonds to the amount of $10,000,000 for the purpose of purchasing the "friar lands." No. 1040.-An act regulating the hours of labor, leaves of absence, and transportation of officers and employees, and repealing prior acts. No. 1042.-An act prohibiting the importation of Mexican, Spanish-Filipino, and any other metallic currency which is not upon a gold basis. No. 1045.-An act to provide revenue and maintain the parity of the Philippine currency, providing for the purchase of Mexican dollars, and imposing a tax upon the use of Mexican and other currencies. Nos. 1050 and 1195.-Authorizing the issuance of additional certificates of indebtedness, under section 6 of the act of Congress of March 2, 1903, and making appropriations out of the gold-standard fund for the payment of interest upon and for the redemption of prior issues. No. 1112.--An act authorizing the sale and transfer of the assets of the Compañía de Tranvías de Filipinas to the Manila Electric Railroad and Light Company, etc. No. 1120.--The friar lands act, providing for the administration, temporary leasing, and sale of certain haciendas and parcels of land. No. 1128.-An act prescribing the procedure for acquiring titles to the public coal lands. No. 1147.-An act regulating the registration, branding, conveyance, and slaughter of large cattle, etc. No. 1149.-The forest act, regulating the use of the forests and forest reserves. In adjusting prior legislation to the new conditions the Commission has found it necessary to repeal a number of acts, nearly all of which have been replaced by other provisions of law, among which may be enumerated the following: No. 53.--An act to prevent discrimination against money of the United States by banking institutions, repealed by Act No. 825. No. 80 and amendments.-Regulating the hours of labor, leaves of absence, and transportation of officers and employees in the Philippine civil service, replaced by Act No. 1040. No. 140 and amendments.-Dividing the islands into judicial districts, regulating the sessions of courts, and adjusting the jurisdiction, replaced by new judiciary act No. 867. No. 274.-General Orders, No. 92, series of 1900, and other acts or parts of acts affecting the public forests and forest reserves, replaced by the forest act No. 1148. No. 611. The passport act, the issuance of passports in the islands now being regulated by executive order No. 32, series of 1904, which will be found in the appendix to Volume II of the Annotated Public Laws. No. 637.-Regulating the registration, branding, conveyance, and slaughter of large cattle, and amendments, replaced by Act No. 1147. The Spanish industrial tax laws, all internal-revenue taxes being now provided for and regulated by Act No. 1189, the internal-revenue law of 1904. Continuing the policy of reducing the number of municipalities in cases where the local income was insufficient to meet the expenses of separate municipal governments, and with a view to securing a more efficient and economical administration of local affairs, the municipalities in the following provinces have been reduced in number by the various consolidation acts: Abra, Ambos Camarines, Antique, Bataan, Batangas, Bohol, Bulacan, Cagayan, Cavite, Cebú, Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur, Iloilo, Isabela, La Laguna, La Union, Leyte, Masbate, Misamis, Nueva Ecija, Nueva Vizcaya, Pampanga, Pangasinan, Rizal, Romblon, Samar, Sorsogon, Surigao, Tarlac, Tayabas, and Zambales. Once every three months copy is made up of all laws enacted by the Commission during the quarter, in English and Spanish, and of such public resolution as by law are required to be published, and are forwarded to the bureau of public printing, where they are made up in galley form and returned to this division for proof reading, after which they are compiled and issued in what are known as the quarterly volumes for distribution to the departments, bureaus, and offices of the insular, provincial, and municipal governments, and to the courts, and for sale to the public. The work of compiling and publishing the annotated edition of the Public Laws has continued, and, since the last annual report, Volume II in English and Volumes I and II in Spanish have been completed and issued. These volumes, by authority of the Commission, are published annually in both languages and contain, in addition to the laws enacted by the Commission, other matter of general nature and the acts of Congress relating to the islands passed during the Philippine legislative year, which begins on September 1 and closes on August 31. Volume II comprises Acts Nos. 450 to 862, inclusive, and in the appendix will be found the acts of Congress of January 30, February 9, March 2, March 3, 1903, and an extract from the sundry civil bill of March 3, 1903, appropriating $3,000,000 for the relief of distress in the Philippine Islands, executive order No. 32, series of 1904, by which the issue of passports is now regulated, and, in addition, the protocol of agreement extending the time fixed by the treaty of Paris for the registration of Spanish subjects in the islands to preserve their nationality, the proclamation of the military governor of August 14, 1898, continuing in force the Spanish municipal law, the amnesty proclamation by the President of the United States of July 4, 1902, together with other matters of general interest. In the course of the preparation and publication of the laws, first in pamphlet form, then in the quarterly volumes, and finally in the annual annotated edition, they are three or more times carefully proof read and examined by this division. This work is equivalent to the reading of about 8,000 sheets of typewritten matter, representing some 5,000 pages of print, which is equivalent to a single reading of 15,000 pages, plus the additional reading and careful examination necessary in making the indexes. During the period covered by this report there were 206 executive sessions of the Commission, or 24 more than last year; 914 resolutions were passed, as compared with 1,006 last year; 511 executive appointments, being 341 less than during the former period, and 43 public sessions, or 12 more than were held last year. The number of communications considered by the Commission averaged about 7 to each separate subject, as compared with the average of between 2 and 3 during the previous year, upon which basis it is estimated that a total of 8,000 communications have passed through this office and were submitted to the Commission, exceeding by about 2,000 the number submitted last year. The increase in the number of communications is doubtless due, in part, to the character of the questions presented, and to the increase in the amount of preliminary investigation by the Commission before taking final action. In the month of April of the current year the chief of this division, acting as recorder of the Commission, was required to accompany the Commission to Baguio, and two clerks from the division were assigned for duty with the Commission during its stay at that place from April 22 to June 11. This was probably the busiest period of the year for the Commission, and hence for this division, as during that time, a little less than two months, 74 acts were enacted and 272 resolutions passed. A more concise idea of the work done by the Commission in executive and public sessions, as set forth in this report, may be obtained by a consideration of the following table: Comment upon the manner in which the work in the office of the recorder and in the legislative division has been performed is, it seems to me, properly left to the discretion of the executive secretary. DAVID LEWIS COBB, Chief of the Legislative Division and Acting Recorder. Very respectfully, The EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, Manila, P. I. APPENDIX F. ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE DIVISION. MANILA, October 1, 1904. SIR: I have the honor to submit the following report covering the period from October 1, 1903, to September 30, 1904, for the administration and finance division of the executive bureau: The work of the administration section of this division consists principally in handling the greater portion of the correspondence between this bureau and the Bureau of Insular Affairs of the War Department, the various offices and bureaus of the government in the city of Manila, as well as with the provincial and municipal governments, commercial firms, private individuals, and the consuls of the different countries located in Manila; cablegrams sent and received, including excerpts of same furnished to interested bureaus; executive orders and proclamations of the civil governor; applications for pardon, together with the action thereon, including those of American vagrants, who are conditionally pardoned and returned to the United States at Government expense under the provisions of Act No. 899 (several indigent worthy Americans have been also furnished with transportation and subsistence en route to their homes); reports in regard to the estates of deceased employees of the government; firearm applications from the city of Manila and the provinces, under the provisions of Acts Nos. 610 and 652, Philippine Commission, and executive orders; resolutions of provincial boards and excerpts thereof furnished to interested offices; requests for transportation between Manila and the United States for employees and the families of employees; communications from persons in the United States requesting information as to the whereabouts and condition of health of relatives and friends supposed to be in the Philippine Islands, and numerous other matters of a more or less routine character, all of which are handled promptly and dispatched with practically no delay. In the finance section are prepared all estimates of appropriations; general and special appropriation bills drafted under the supervision of the assistant executive secretary for submission to the Commission; the new general appropriation bill (Act No. 1225) covering the entire fiscal year, instead of only six months as heretofore and consequently necessitating an increased amount of work in connection therewith, typewritten extracts of the rough draft of the bill being furnished to the bureaus and offices interested during the course of preparation in order that any needful corrections or omissions might be taken care of before the final passage of the act; all requisitions for accountable warrants and certificates for settlement warrants handled, also all accountable and settlement warrants drawn and letters of transmittal prepared; committees and inspectors appointed for inspection of damaged and lost public civil property, and the necessary reports prepared for approval and transmission, and all papers regarding purchases, leases, contracts, etc., in connection with the several bureaus and offices of the government are carefully examined and the required action prepared before submission to the chief executive for final approval, charges against officials and employees under the provisions of executive order No. 84, series of 1902, covering removals, reductions and reinstatements, applications for leaves of absence, requests for commutation of accrued leave under the provisions of Acts Nos. 1040, 1216, and 1225, Philippine Commission, also being handled by the finance section, together with work of a routine nature. The ordinary correspondence is disposed of by the action clerks in this division, while communications of a more important character are referred to the proper officials for any necessary information, comment, and recommendation, before being submitted to the heads of the five departments of the government for final action, in order that they may be relieved of as much unnecessary work as possible. For this reason it is necessary to have clerks of a high order of ability to properly perform the duties devolving upon them in connection therewith. All of the American clerks in the division are stenographers and typewriters, and, while not ordinarily called upon to do stenographic work, owing to the advisability of having them do original action work in order that they may be better enabled to train the Filipino employees in handling correspondence and taking the initiative on various papers, they are the more valuable to the office in that they are capable of taking dictation whenever the exigencies of the work require it. There is one Filipino clerk in this division who, while as yet unable to pass the Philippine civil service stenographic examination, is capable of taking dictation in English at a fairly rapid rate, and his work in this respect is very accurate. He is also preparing indorsements on certain classes of communications and writing letters of acknowledgment thereon. Three other Filipino clerks operate the typewriter, copying documents, reports, etc., performing the work in a neat and accurate manner. During the greater part of the year, and particularly during the last four or five months, a number of the American employees in this division have been on leave of absence or detailed for work in other offices temporarily. The chief of this division is at present acting chief clerk of the bureau, while two other Americans are acting as private secretaries to Commissioners, and therefore it has been necessary for the remaining clerks to put in a great deal of overtime in order that the current work might be kept up from day to day. However, it has been cheerfully performed by all employees. The number of hours overtime work performed by clerks in this division amounted to a total of one thousand seven hundred and ninety-nine days for the period covered by this report, representing labor which would have required the services of 5 extra clerks had the work been confined strictly to office hours. The personnel of the division consists of 40 employees, 14 of whom are Americans, and the remainder Filipinos, including 15 messengers, an increase over last year of 2 Americans and 6 Filipinos. However, it is seldom that the full force of employees is available for duty for the reasons already mentioned. Attached hereto is a statement showing certain statistical information as to the amount of work performed in this division. Very respectfully, The EXECUTIVE SECRETARY, HARRY L. BECKJORD, Acting Chief. Manila. Statement of work performed by the administration and finance division during the period October 1, 1903, to September 30, 1904. Filipinos... 268 Americans (vagrants) conditional upon leaving Philippine Islands and pro- 74 Indigent worthy Americans furnished with transportation and subsistence to the United States.. 17 |