Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-14

lhsEszakazN1la that body adjourned on
May %, 1909. The establishment of the
assembly was the most interesting and
the boldest political experiment made
by the United States in the effort to
educate the Filipinos in the task of
| self government. There are those who
say now that the experiment has
| proved a failure that the assembly has
not justified it's existence, and that 1t
should be abolished at once. But an
examination of the record of the as
| sembly, and of the character of COM
plants made against it by adverse
critics does not warrant -uch wholesale
condemnation.
The promise of the assembly was
made by congress in response to po-
| litical pressure at home. 1t was a
party necessity and it did it's work of
aiding the party to stay in power at
Washington. When the time came to
put the act of congress into force wise
men shook their heads in doubt, but
there could be no turning back. The
| census was taken, the provinces di-
vided into districts, the election held
and eighty Filipinos were returned to
compose the first assembly. The as
sembly corresponds to the lower house
of a state legislature, while the func-
tions of the upper house are discharged
by the Philippines commission, which
/
government.
The assembly has the full powers of
coordinate branch of the legislature,
and no positive action may be taken
without it's consent. The law provides,
however that If the assembly shall
fail to pass the appropriation bills the
appropriations of the previous year
shall remain in force with the effect Of
law. This provision will prevent the
possibility of such a deadlock as came
about In Porto Rico.
The assembly at the close of both
| its sessions, solemnly adopted resolu-
tions demanding the immediate inde-
pendence of the Philippine islands. The
! last session witnessed the passage of
a bill abohshing the commission as a
legislative body and substituting for 1t
a senate of Filipino selection. Natur-
ally, such resolutions found their graves
in the pigeon holes of the commission
| ers' desks. But on account or the
character of these enactments they
were given wide publicity and brought
general condemnation upon the as
sembly from American critics In the
islands.
One hears in Manila on every hand
that the assembly wasted time. that
many bills were introduced but few
passed, that all the time was wasted in
| talking, that useless debates were pro-
| longed until the necessary bills were
passed at the close OF the session with
undue haste and without proper con-
sideration, that the members played
| party politics and looked more to party
advantage than to the welfare of the
country, and so on.
No one adverse critic offered any
argument to support his attack on the
assembly that is not offered at the
close of every state legislature. or at
the close OF every session OF congress,
by opponents of the party In power. II
was charged that the assembly per-
mitted over 300 bills to be introduced
and that only thirty of them had
PASSED. This was made the basis or a
public attack upon the Filipinos by an
American, who asserted that II proved
the Filipinos unfit for even partial
lf-government. A Filipino news
paper retorted with the record of the
! last American congress, about 10000
bills introduced and 400 public laws
passed, and asked IL the Americans
were fit for self government.
| AS far as the immediate independence
! resolutions are concerned-they are
pure buncombe. The members of the
legislature knew the resolutions didn't
amount to anything. but they felt the
|
their political strength in their dis
trcts. The resolution inviting the
commission to commit suicide and pro-
viding for Filipino senate was
passed with about as much hope for
its success as the house of representa-
tives at Washington has when 1t
passes the usual resolution providing
for the submission of a constitutional
amendment authorizing the election of
senators by the people directly.
The faults of the Filipino assembly
were many, no doubt, but they are
faults which differ neither in quality
or quantity from the faults of other
legislative bodies all over the world.
The critics of the assembly appear to
expect the Filipinos, a semi-civilized
people, with no training whatever in
self-government, and with no back
ground of parliamentary usage, to pro-
duce a parliament which would have
none of the faults so common in Occi-
dental states where parliamentary gov
ernment has been in vogue for CEN
turtles.
Acting Governor General Cameron
Forbes and other members of the gov