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PROVINCE OF SORSOGON.

I personally have just returned from an overland trip, visiting all of the towns south of Sorsogon and passing through the wildest and roughest part of the country. The trip was made without a guard, and in all the towns and barrios the spirit of the people seemed to be the best. * I can now begin to see some results of our work and instruction in this direction, and the municipal officers and some of the more intelligent of the people are beginning to realize that they have a further responsibility to their country and the Government than remaining passively inactive and watching the Americans put down uprisings.

J. G. LIVINGSTON, Governor.

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PROVINCE OF BATAN, December 16, 1901.

In my opinion this province is free from any taint of insurrection and will always remain so. It has been without the aid of military for many months. * English is being taught in the towns in the province. The public schools are encouraged and aided by the people and the officials with one exception, the attendance being larger than the limited number of teachers can instruct with best results.

J. H. GOLDMAN, Governor.

PROVINCE OF NUEVA ECIJA.

The people of the pueblos display considerable interest in their local governments, but the ignorance of the first principles of selfgovernment is surprising. Much time and patience will be necessary, with constant instruction before at all satisfactory results are obtained.

J. F. KREPS, Governor.

PROVINCE OF LEYTE.

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I have the honor to report that the peace conditions of this province are fairly satisfactory. Out of 50 towns in the province 44 have been organized under the municipal code and are exhibiting gratifying results in the management of their municipal affairs. That the great majority of the people are happy and contented with their present condition is evidenced by the renewed activity displayed in all branches of industry. There are 36 American teachers on duty in the province, all of whom are doing excellent work.

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J. H. GRANT, Governor.

PROVINCE OF CAPIZ, PANAY ISLANDS.

By the month of September the pueblos began to recover their normal condition, and now all evidence of their misfortune has disappeared. * Trade is little by little returning to what it was during its best times.

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S. JUGO VIDAL, Governor.

PROVINCE OF ABRA. Civil government was established September 1, since which time we have been busy reorganizing the several pueblos. All men are hard at work planting and building. No ladrones; very slight breaches of the peace. Safe for all to travel anywhere. Province is poor and needs assistance, money for roads being the first requirement. Industrial schools recommended; also sawmills, gristmills, etc. Schools in prosperous condition; the people seem contented and happy, and will remain so unless some hot-head for personal reasons inaugurates strife. The people of Abra are a class of themselves.

BOWEN, Provincial Governor.

Boac, MarindUQUE.

Marinduque is enjoying peace, happiness, and prosperity, so that American officers and civilians travel through the province alone and unarmed, as they would in their own country. Marinduque is engaged in peaceful avocations, and sincerely loves America and has faith and confidence in the future.

PARAS, Governor.

AGUEGARAO, CAGAYAN.

Peaceable condition of province is general and thoroughly established, which can be understood by contemplating the enthusiastic reception made to me at all towns where I hold municipal elections. People are very favorable to establishment of civil government and very obedient to the United States.

Provincial Governor.

MASBATE, ISLAND OF MASBATE, P. I. The province of Masbate is in a perfect state of peace. No crime of any character has been committed within its border for many months. The people are all hard at work trying to improve their condition. The police absolutely cover the territory and know all that is going on. Their reports are most encouraging.

GEORGE LANDER, Supervisor.

Captain W. A. Holbrook, civil governor of the province of Antique, reports: "Everywhere the people expressed themselves as satisfied with the present rule. Schools are generally established and marked progress is being made."

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Sentiment

William F. Pack, governor of Mindoro, reported December 26, 1901: "Everything peaceful in this province. * favorable to Americans."

Bonifacio Serrano, governor of Masbate, reported December 23, 1901: "Perfect peace is enjoyed in the whole province."

M. Gonzaga, governor of Cagayan, reported December 18, 1901: "A sincere proof of the affection and the good will of the people toward the constituted government is their desire to learn English.”

S. Locsin, civil governor of Occidental Negros, reported December 19, 1901: "Small bands of robbers continued to disturb the peace. These men declared themselves revolutionists, but they were only ladrones preying upon the people."

Julio Llorente, governor of Cebu, reported: "Absolute peace everywhere; nearly all pueblos organized."

Potenciano Lesaca, governor of Zambales, reported that the people “see with the greatest satisfaction that the funds which they contribute * are not diverted from their legitimate ob

ject."

Governor Taft, in his testimony before the Committee of Insular Affairs of the House, said that the Commission had organized municipal governments in about 800 towns in the island; some of them outside the provinces under civil government.

Our flag is there, not as the symbol of oppression, not as the token of tyranny, not as the emblem of enslavement, but representing there, as it does here, liberty, humanity, and civilization.-President McKinley, at Youngstown, Ohio, October 18,

1899.

The Philippines are ours, and American authority must be supreme throughout the archipelago. There will be amnesty broad and liberal, but no abatement of our rights; no abandonment of our duty.-President McKinley to Notification Committee, July 12, 1900.

That the Army is not at all a mere instrument of destruction has been shown during the last three years. In the Philippines, Cuba, and Porto Rico it has proved itself a great constructive force, a most potent implement for the upbuilding of a peaceful civilization.—President Roosevelt, in message to Congress, December 3, 1901.

CONDUCT OF THE ARMY.

OUR SOLDIERS TREATED FILIPINOS WITH KINDNESS AND WON THEIR CONFIDENCE.

The Democrats in the Senate insisted on an investigation into the conduct of the war in the Philippines, and the resolution for such an investigation was adopted by the Senate in January. The Democrats sought to so direct that investigation as to make it anattack upon the troops in the Philippines. That investigation continued for several months, and the testimony taken fills 3,000 pages of printed report. This testimony shows that the American officers and troops treated insurgent prisoners with kindness, gave them the same food as they had themselves, shared their hospitals with the sick Filipinos, who were treated by the same

surgeons.

army

President Schurman Praised the Army. The first Philippine Commission offered voluntary testimony as to the conduct of the Army in the Philippines. President Schurman, of Cornell University, wrote that report:

"The Commission is not willing to close this statement without paying just tribute to our sailors and soldiers. The presence of Admiral Dewey as a member of this body makes it unfitting to dwell on his personal achievements, but he joins with us in eulogy of his comrades. We were fortunate in witnessing some of the many brave deeds of our soldiers. All that skill, courage, and pa-` tient endurance can do has been done in the Philippines.

"We are aware that there are those who have seen fit to accuse our troops of desecrating churches, murdering prisoners, and committing unmentionable crimes. To those who derive satisfaction from seizing on isolated occurrences-regrettable, indeed, but incident to every war-and making them the basis of sweeping accusations, this Commission has nothing to say. Still less do we feel called upon to answer idle tales without foundation in fact. But for the satisfaction of those who have found it difficult to understand why the transporting of American citizens across the Pacific Ocean should change their nature, we are glad to express the belief that a war was never more humanely conducted. Insurgents wounded were repeatedly succored on the field by our men at the risk of their lives.

"Those who had a chance for life were taken to Manila and tenderly cared for in our hospitals. If churches were occupied it was

only as a military necessity, and frequently after their use as forts by the insurgents had made it necessary to train our artillery upon them. Prisoners were taken whenever opportunity offered, often only to be set at liberty after being disarmed and fed."

Governor Taft's Judgment.-Governor Taft, who left the United States Circuit Court bench to accept the position as head of the second Philippine Commission, and who has been two years in the Philippines, testified before the committee as to the conduct of the Army. He said:

"After a good deal of study about the matter—and, although I have never been prejudiced in favor of the military branch, for when the civil and military branches are exercising concurrent jurisdiction there is some inevitable friction-I desire to say that it is my deliberate judgment that there never was a war conducted, whether against inferior races or not, in which there were more compassion and more restraint and more generosity, assuming that there was a war at all, than there has been in the Philippine Islands. Now, I say that without having been in the war at all, having only been at Manila, where reports were constantly coming in and where I was talking with officers of the Army, and knew what the general orders were and what the general policy was."

General Arthur MacArthur, one of the first general officers to go to the Philippines, who afterwards succeeded General Otis as commander-in-chief and governor-general of the Philippines, also testified on this point before the committee.

General MacArthur's Praise.-General MACARTHUR. "I would like to say this-I thought I had made a note of it: That in my judgment, from an intimate knowledge of military operations of the islands, from the operations against the Spanish in Manila, until I left the islands on the 4th of July, 1901, I doubt if any war—either international or civil-any war on earth has been conducted with as much humanity, with as much careful consideration, with as much self-restraint, in view of the character of our adversary, as have been the American operations in the Philippine archipelago.

"There have been in the neighborhood, I think, of 125,000 men and soldiers in the islands. Some of those men have committed excesses under the provocation of hardship. That is not mentioned as an excuse, but as a cause. Wherever any violations of the laws of war have been detected the remedy has been instantly applied. It was my own purpose to promulgate views in orders, by personal admonition, and by punitive action; but of course in conducting war all of the ferocity of humanity is brought to the surface, and in individual instances excesses have been committed.

"But to say that the Army commits excesses, or that excesses were