Arizona republican., 1901-10-09
ADMIT
That They are Not Ready for
 SeIf-GOVernment
This is the View Entertained by the More Intelligent Inhabitants of the Islands Work of the Commission.

the Philippine islands. is firmly estab-
 lished in the responsible office of at
 torney general in the department Of
 justice. When he left this city, Mir.
 Wilf1ey thought he would be made
 merely a judge of court of the first
 instance. and was much surprised
 when appointed to the higher office.
 The department of justice in the
 Philippines is modelled after the same
 branch of the government in Wash
 ington city. It consists of an attorney
 general. solicitor general, assistant so-
 licitor general, chief clerk. pardon
 clerk, disbursing officer. stenographers,
 escribientes, etc. General Wilhey has
 written an interesting letter to Attor-
 ney General Robertson of Mexico, Mo.
 describing conditions in the far east
 ern possessions.
 One Gnportant point made by MT.
 Wilfiey is that the more educated Fili-
 pinos realize that the natives are not
 capable of self government. Tn con-
 versation with Gregorio Aranta. the
 solicitor general of the islands, who is
 the second Filipino in the islands from
 the standpoint of education and abI-
 ity. Judge Arellano, of the supreme
 court being tLe first" General Wilhey
 writes. he made the statement that in his opinion there were not a suff- Oathl OI tdutdltu r llIlflOS III
 the islands to maintain a stable gov ernment. Furthermore. he said the Filipinos have not enough strength to resist q foreign power in the event the
 United States withdraws it's protec-
 tiop''
 General Wilfiey and his assistants are the attorneys for the government. They furnish opini1rs for the civil governor of the islands and the commission ard conduct the trial of causes before the supreme court in which the govern ment Is interested. There are also some administrative duties in the way of appointing subordinate officials in the courts of the first instance through out the islands. Three years of war and an entirely new system Of govern ment have served to pile up the work of the department of justice During the war $50 cases were docketed in the supreme 'ourt and now the civil gov ernor is deluging the department for opinions on the provisions of the new laws passed by the Philippine commis- sion.
 one of lhe interesting cases pending before the department is that of the San Jose college. It is 2 contest be- tween the United States and the Ro- man Catholic church for the control and administration of the institution. The college property is valued at S1.- 00o.00 The church officials claim that the institution was not the property of the king of Spain. but was adminis- tered by him as agent of the holy sec. For this reason, they contend, the treaty referred to did not affect the institution's belongings. The college is 300 years old. The fate of several other educational institutions depends upon the outcome of this suit, MT. Wilhey says.
 Another case which is attracting at tention Is the claim of Andre Ponia- towski. a Polish count. who resides in California, to the island of Palawan. It is based upon a cession made by Hadji JanlaIal Kiram. reigning sultan of the Sulu archipelago The group Of islands is inhabited by Moros. of the Mohammedan faith It was never completely subjugated by Spain ana the people never went farther than to acknowledge the suzerainty of that ruler. The contract for the cession 70 whoze claims are now being investigated was signed fin 1898. |
 ''The United States Philippine com mission" writes Mir. WilHey. has | made great progress in its work in these islands. Ever since before the ! capture Of Aguinaldo the insurrection iidS btNit Ni uiiiDi4i- Ao pitNtos uilAlA IL ID ! now onfy a guerilla warfare in the | mountains of some of the provinces. We are operating under a. dual form | of government. Governor Taft is chief | executive of the twenty-seven prov inces in which civil government has | been established. and General Chaffee | has charge of the unorganized prov inces. There has always been a slight | friction between the military and the | .fx aI, sv,;s tfx,, l. count of the diplomacy of those in | charge 1t has never bean serious. The | army very naturally feels that. having | the country, it should ad | minister it for a while, at least"
 Tn the direction of the civil affairs | here the commission has been left to | operate with a free hand. Be it said to | the credit of President Mckinley that | he has not hampered the members i1 | the slightest degree by orders and rec and appointments from l 
 MT. Wilney has words of praise for | the members of the commission. Judge | IT Taft. General Luke r.. Wright. Judge Henry C. Ide. Prof. | Dean C Worcester and Prof. Moses. The writer considers the creation of | the judicial system the most important | piece of work attempted by the com mission. The system includes a su- preme court of seven judges. three of l whom are Filipinos. a department of | justice consisting of an attorney gen eral, solicitor general. assistant attor- ney general. two of whom are natives. and seventeen judges of courts of the first instance. mainly American law | yers. and seventeen "ffscals'' (prose- | cutting attorneys). all Filipinos.
 Quite q controversy arose over the. official language Of the courts. The matter was considered iong and delib- erately. and finally the commission de- cided to make Spanish the official lam guage tor a term of five years, after which English will be substituted
 The trade in the Philippine archi