The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-06-24
( PHILIPPINE GOVERNMENT BILL

It has been intimated that the pfoDaple
action Of the house on the philippine gov
eminent matter will be the substitution
of the house bill for the senate BILL
That seems to be the attitude OF the
house insular committee and Of the sup
porters Of the house bill generally.
There are some good reasons for the
rejection of some, at least, of the tea
lures Of the senate bill. It is not as lib
eral as the house bill; Its terms are pro-
crastinating so far as Philippine auto
nomy is concerned; it deliberately pro-
vides for the planting of the single silver
standard in the archipelago and the house
committee contends that the senate bill
has not sufficiently safeguarded the
granting Of franchises.
The senate bill in its landholding
clauses provides that the land laws pre-
pared by the commission shall go into
effect at the end of the second session
of congress after their submission. pro-
vided they have been approved by the
president. Thus, If the Philippine bill
is passed at this session Of congress and
the commission proceeds to draft the
land laws and submit them to congress
early in December, and congress should
approve them with, the president, the
code could not go into effect before some
time in 1904. 1t is possible, judging by
the way congress has dealt with the Phil
ippine government measures at this ses-
sion, that body would give little heed
to call for urgency in the consideration
of the land code and the franchise pro-
visions.
| The house bill allows the Philippine
commission, pending the preparation and
| approval of its rules and regulations by
president and congress. or the disapproval
| of these powers, to permit sales of lands
| to corporations wishing to exploit the
| resources of the archipelago In quanti-
| ties not exceeding 1000 hectares "a hec-
! tare is 2,471 acres) to any one associa-
ton of individuals, the grants to be con-
ditioned on actual and continued occu-
pancy, Improvement and cultivation, for
not less than five years The house bill,
it is seen,- provides for the early invest
ment of capital. and the stimulation Of
| insular development, and this Is most
commendable, for the sooner this is
brought about, the sooner will military
operations become unnecessary. There
is abundant capital now waiting to be
utilized in the building of railroads, the
development of mineral and timber re-
sources and the establishment of factor
les, processes which will greatly increase
the opportunities for labor, Both the
bills place stringent restrictions upon the
granting of franchises, the senate meas
ure being, perhaps, the most stringent
in this respect. D i - g.. &~~
The house bill provides for the mainten-
ippines and thus comes in direct collision
with the senate bill, which provides fog
the establishments the silver standard
and free coinage (only a mint charge OF
cent on the dollar for coinage) at Ma
Mia and at the San Francisco mint, the
latter's output of the Philippine dollar
to be sent. to the archipelago. The SEN
ate's idea is that, If the silver standard
is established in the Philippines, there
will be a great rush of capital thither and
that the ruinous fluctuations of silver will
cease. This is simply absurd. The impo-
sition of the proposed Philippine dollar
to circulate at it's bullion value and re-
deemable in other dollars of the. same
kind and deprecated value cannot steady
: the exchange rate at Manila where it has
fuctuated along range OF IS per cent
during the past five or six months. The
silver standard will, instead Of promoting
the investment of capital, tend to restrict
It, 1t is to be noted that it is only since
Japan adopted the gold standard that
; American capital has been going freely
into that country for investment