Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-18

first ballot result In no election the eonven
ton should adjourn till convened again
by due proclamation. When this inquiry
was answered, the provincial secretary fol-
lowed the governors inquiry by PROFOUND
ing a question whether a recess could be
taken between the different ballots
These questions and others no less rudi-
mentary are not surprising when II Is con-
sidsfed that elections and their machinery
were absolutely unknown until the estab-
hshment of civil government here little
over four years ago
Twelve Governors Displaced.
During period of thirteen months twelve
provincial officers were removed or resigned
by request or under charges. OF these, how
ever, six were American treasUrers or SUI
pervisors of provinces, and only one was
Filipino-elected governor.
Charges are constantly being presented at
Manila involving the personal character
| the misconduct in office of municipal off,
cals. The major portion of these can be
| at once dismissed, because of their triviality
| or because they are upon first inquiry found
| to be false or the result of spite work. How
| ever, 1856 municipal officers We're under for
mai investigation during the period above
named, of which 116 were found guilty and
were removed, allowed to resign or let OFF
with reprlmand, while &C were found not
guilty and upon no action was taken. OF
| the officers thus under charges IS were pres
| idents of municipalities, GO were municipal
councillors and 80 were justices of the peace.
There is a great deal of complaint con-
stantly about the abuses OF the justice OF
the peace courts In the Philippines, and all
| manners of remedies are recommended. from
| the consolidation of the petty judicial dis
tricts into larger areas, to obtain bet
| ter qualified men for the office OF Justice of
| the peace, to the opposite proposal that
more, not fewer, courts be provided. Ono
Side OF the case is presented by the law Of
| hcer who examined these charges and rec
ommends the issuance of q manual of in
| structions for justices, saying:
There is good reason to believe that much
| or the mlsconstruction of the law and many
| OF the illegal acts of these officials are due
| to excusable Ignorance. They not law
| yers, and are not supposed TO be, and there
fore II Is not at all surprising that, with
conditions as at present requiring extensive
search for the law, they make serious mis-
| takes"
Another side of the case is presented by
| an American who has journeyed much about
| the archipelago in the discharge of his duty
ana always with his eyes open: Local JUS
lice as 1t Is administered by justices of the
peace is an awful farce. There are about a
| thousand of these peace officers in the tsl-
| anos, and while not all of them are bad OF
course the majority of them have no appre-
| citation Of what their office is MANY of
| them are engaged In the business of coll
| iectlng debts. man will approach them
| VINO has secured on some poor wretch an
onhgation which has multiplied several
| umes IN relatively short time; the justice
OF the peace agrees to collect It for a con-
| tingent proportion, and, like the man in
the biblical parable, the debtor is hailed
| pefore the magistrate, whence he is deliy-
| cred into jail, from which he does not go
| out TIL he has paid the uttermost farth-
ing"
Charges Made by Constabulary.
| Many of the charges against municipal Of
| ficials, and in a few cases those against
provincial officers. have had to do with
questions of public order. In such cases the
| information against them has very often
| come from the American officials of the
| constabulary. The constabuary is under a
| cloud at present, and the disclosures re-
| garding the conduct of a good many of these
subordinate officials in lording it over the
f1llplno officers of the towns. and even the
| provincial governors, may well call In oues-
| ton the action taken against some of the
| Filipino officials upon constabulary testi-
mony. But the completely of local officials In
olsorderiy movements has been proved In
| court In few cases. Some presumption OF
| quit, with every evidence at least of in
| efficiency In the preservation of public or
der, has been raised in other cases
| cases of downright completely have oc-
CURED in certain provinces and at certain
times where the outlaw movements have
| had very considerable support among the
| people and have to that extent been political
| IN character. The commoner circumstances
| OF inertia and inefficency in the behalf Of
| order have in most cases had no political
signihcance. And IN almost all instances the
1
| faVorably because of these instances must
| be checked before the realization of the
| fact that the American constabulary, which
| mas gradually absorbed to itself fun suDer-
| vision of public order down even into the
parrios, has too often aIienated Filipino
sympathy and cooperation from itself and
mas sometimes been itself woefully ineffi-
clenl. moreover, these unfavorable cases
| IN local government are, after all rela-
livery small under the present conditions
More Reliance on the Natives.
| On the whole, the writer is inclined to
| think that the remedy OF some of the faults
| in the present working OF local government
| in the Philippines lies in the direction of re-
| lying even more rather than less. upon
| Filipino cooperation and participation.
Very certainly the chief failure Of the con-
| stabulary has been its failure in many
provinces to secure Filipino cooperation
| Quite certainly the problem of securing
| public order In the Philippines will never
| be solved until the cooperation of the ma
| tives is obtained. Until the provincial
| governors are given more real power ii is
| illogical to expect great results from them;
when they cease to be figureheads then
| they ought TO be removed instanter for
| failure to maintain good order.
In the same way. public economy In the
| Philippines demands, and the writer Is in
| clined to think the showing made by Fill
| pino subordinates justifies, considerably
| more rapid substitution of Filipinos for
| Americans in the civil service. The effort
| is already being made to realize such a SUBJ
stitution in some degree.
| In both these proposals for reform 1t may
be that efficiency would be sacrificed In some
| directions Though TO gain it more satisfac- +
| torily in the other important directions in
| dicated). Smooth efficiency in local govern !
rnent in accounting and clerical work and
| finally in the higher affairs of government
will be attained only with the slow progress
| of society in the Philippines. The idea of
! Fastening that end by the employment of q
| considerable number of Americans to do
| things which Filipinos might do passably
| we'll would be more practicable than IL is
but for two things: First, the Philippine
government cannot afford II; second, too
large a proportion of these American SUBJ
ordinates are of the wrong sort, fail TO
work sympathetically with the Filipinos
and are a source of friction and an obstacle
to the realization of the avowed aims OF
the American government.
Big Steel Plant Sold.
The Railway Steel Spring Company of
New York annOfineas that has closed 4