duly registered and must be able to read, write, and speak either the English or Hawaiian language.'

II. The second group of territories includes those that are not fully "organized," but at the same time have legislative assemblies containing representative elements, namely Porto Rico and the Philippines. The possession of Porto Rico by the United States dates from the raising of the American flag on that island in July, 1898. For almost two years the new domain was governed under military authority, but on May 1, 1900, the organic act of Congress erecting civil government in the island was approved by the President.2

This act did not confer citizenship upon the inhabitants, but merely provided that they should be deemed citizens of Porto Rico and as such entitled to the protection of the United States. In this regard the Porto Ricans occupy a peculiar position; they owe permanent allegiance to the United States, but they are not American citizens; neither are they aliens, at least in the meaning of the immigrant act of 1891.3

The chief executive officer of Porto Rico is the governor, who is appointed by the President and Senate of the United States for a term of four years. There are also six executive officers, secretary, attorney-general, treasurer, auditor, commissioner of the interior, and commissioner of education-appointed in the same manner as the governor. They have double duties to perform; on the one hand they have charge of important administrative functions and constitute a majority in the advisory council to the governor; and on the other hand they are members of the upper house of the Porto Rican legislature.

Under the organic act, the legislature consists of two houses. The upper house, or executive council, is composed, as we have seen, of the six executive officials and five other persons "of good repute" appointed by the President and Senate of the United States. Local representation in this body is secured

This provision excludes most of the Chinese and Japanese inhabitants of the island, and since there is a decline in the number of natives, the political power is passing into the hands of the English-speaking inhabitants. Willoughby, Territories and Dependencies, p. 65.

2 For an extract, Readings, p. 388.

3 Gonzales v. Williams, 192 U. S. R., 1.

4

The supreme court is composed of five judges, likewise appointed by the President and Senate, and holding office during good behavior.

by the provision that at least five members of the council must be native inhabitants of the island. The lower house of the legislature consists of thirty-five members, elected biennially under a franchise which gives the right to vote to practically every adult male who has satisfied the residence requirements.'

Owing to the practice of conferring the six executive offices and the office of the governor upon citizens of the United States, the control of legislative as well as executive matters has passed largely out of the hands of natives; and this has been the source of considerable friction between the representative and the appointive branches of the legislature. In 1908 the refusal of the executive council to approve certain legislative projects adopted by the lower house so incensed that body that it attempted to block the budget and thus force a deadlock in the government. The dispute was carried to Washington, in 1909, and made the subject of special consideration by the Cabinet. The whole matter was then referred to Congress, and a law was passed providing that in case the lower house refused to pass the budget, the financial arrangements of the preceding year should be continued.

The problem of governing the Philippine Islands is infinitely more complicated than that of governing Porto Rico. The Philippine archipelago embraces no less than 3141 islands and islets, among which Luzon, Mindanao, Samar, Negros, Panay, and Mindoro are the most important. In March, 1903, the total population amounted to 7,635,426, of which 461,740 were classified as "wild." There are representatives of about thirty different tribes, speaking as many different dialects. The civilized inhabitants of the islands are nearly all adherents of the Catholic faith, but they range in culture from educated and wealthy Spaniards to poor and wretched natives. It is small wonder, therefore, that the Congress has had great difficulty in devising a system of government that will meet the needs and aspirations of the proud and independent elements of the population, and at the same time guarantee security of life and property throughout the whole archipelago.

'It was provided by law that after July 1, 1906, no new voter should be added to the registration list unless he could read and write.

2 For American policy in the Philippines, see Readings, p. 380.

3 Census of the Philippine Islands, Vol. II, pp. 14–16.

The Philippines were acquired under the treaty with Spain. The protocol suspending hostilities with that country provided that the United States should hold Manila pending the conclusion of a treaty of peace which should determine the disposition and government of the islands. The treaty, duly signed at Paris on December 10, 1898, contained the definite transfer of the archipelago to the United States, leaving the status of the islands to be determined by Congress.

The development of American government in the Philippines falls into three stages. (1) In the beginning, a considerable portion of the inhabitants were in revolt against American rule, and the islands were governed by the President under military authority. In January, 1899, a commission was appointed,' to act in conjunction with Admiral Dewey and General Otis in extending American authority throughout the Philippines, and to investigate the whole problem of government there.2 (2) On receiving the recommendations of this first commission, the President appointed, in March, 1900, a civil commission, with Mr. Taft at the head, to continue the work of establishing civil government which had already been begun by the military officers; and, in 1901, the President transferred from the military governor to the president of this commission all civil powers of the executive branch of the government in the provinces in which tranquillity was restored. Under this order, Mr. Taft was made civil governor of the Philippine Islands. (3) At length, in 1902, Congress passed an organic act for the Philippines, providing, among other things, that after the completion of the census and the pacification of the islands a legislative assembly should be erected. The last stage in the construction of the Philippine government was reached on October 16, 1907, when Mr. Taft, then on his celebrated tour around the world, opened at Manila the first representative assembly elected in the islands under the authority of the United States.3

Under the system now in force the executive government of the Philippine Islands is vested in a commission of nine members,

1 Composed of Dr. Jacob Gould Shurman, President of Cornell University, the Honorable Charles Denby, one time minister of the United States to China, and Professor Dean C. Worcester of the University of Michigan.

2 The two reports of this commission, November 2, 1899, and December 31, 1900, are a veritable mine of information on Philippine conditions. 3 Readings, p. 385.

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including the governor, five Americans and four Filipinos, appointed by the President and Senate of the United States. The legislature consists of the Philippine commission, which acts as an upper house, and an assembly elected by the voters of those portions of the islands not inhabited by Moros or other non-Christian tribes. The franchise for voting is limited by somewhat complicated qualifications: every voter must take an oath of allegiance, and, among other things, he must be a propertyowner, or a tax-payer, or able to read, write, and speak English or Spanish.

III. A third group of territories of the United States is composed of those which are governed directly by federal officers without the intervention of a legislative assembly in any form. It includes Alaska, purchased from Russia in 1867, (Guam, secured by the Spanish treaty in 1898, Tutuila and islets, acquired by settlement with England and Germany in 1899, and the Panama Canal Zone, obtained by a treaty with the republic of Panama in 1904.1

The chief executive of Alaska is the governor, appointed by the President and Senate for a term of four years; he is charged with supervising the interests of the United States government in the district; he sees that the laws of Congress are enforced; grants reprieves pending the action of the President; he is commanderin-chief of the militia, and reports annually to the President through the Secretary of the Interior. The governor is assisted by a surveyor-general (likewise appointed by the President for a term of four years), who acts as secretary of the territory.

Civil and penal codes and codes of procedure were adopted for Alaska by Congress in 1899-1900. The codes also provide for the organization of municipal government, the establishment of schools, and the raising of revenues. The homestead laws have been extended to that territory, giving actual settlers the right to enter 320 acres of land each. The settlement of Alaska, however, proceeds very slowly, for according to the Report of 1908 only 439 homesteads had been taken up during the preceding fiscal year, and the entire population was estimated at only 31,000 permanent white settlers, 7000 transients em

'The Wake Island, Midway or Brooks Island, Howland and Baker Island and the Guano Islands, having few or no inhabitants, are not under any organized form of government.

ployed in mines, canneries, and railway camps, and about 35,000 natives.

The government of the Panama Canal Zone is vested in the President by an Act of Congress authorizing him to legislate for that district. An executive order of 1907 gave the chief administrative authority in the Zone to the chairman of the Isthmian Canal Commission. This officer, in turn, assigned it to one of the commissioners, who now bears the title of head of the department of civil administration, and acts as governor. The legislative

authority conferred upon the President was vested by him in the commission, which now makes laws and ordinances for the district, subject to the approval of the Secretary of War. The commission consists of seven members, including the chairman and chief engineer and the secretary, all appointed by the President and Senate. It has charge of the construction of the canal from the Caribbean Sea to the Pacific Ocean, a distance of about fifty miles, and is expected to finish the gigantic undertaking about 1914. The entire civil government of the Zone, and the construction of the canal as well, are placed under the general supervision of the War Department, to which the commission makes an annual report.2

3

The District of Columbia, in area about seventy square miles, was accepted, as the seat of the federal government, from Maryland by Congress in 1790. Several experiments in the government of the municipality by mayor and council were tried, but none of them proved successful. At last, in 1874, Congress made a radical departure in the government of the city by passing an act destroying the last vestige of popular representation.* The legisla

'He has under him police, revenue, customs, fire, public works, and education departments.

2 The government of Samoa is in the hands of a naval officer stationed at Pago Pago on the island of Tutuila; this officer has full executive and legislative authority. Guam is likewise governed by a naval officer in charge of the naval station. The commandant of each of these posts reports annually to the Secretary of the Navy.

3 The district was originally ten miles square, lying on both sides of the Potomac River and including a small area granted by Virginia, but in 1846 the Virginia portion was returned to that state. The seat of the federal govern

ment was moved to Washington in 1800.

4

The problem of negro suffrage was prominent in the District politics under an elective government, and was largely responsible for the drastic action of Congress in abolishing the council altogether. As a result the entire population is now disfranchised.