abaca), sugar, and tobacco. In manufactures, textiles, 's hand-made and hand-embroidered wearing apparel, and deries are produced in considerable quantities. The chief 3, in the order of their importance, are cotton goods, iron and roducts, meat and dairy products, rice, wheat flour, coal, ating oil, leather goods, and automobiles. e 3 exhibits the values of the principal exports and of total 3 by principal countries for the calendar years 1913, 1918, 19. 3.— Total exports by country of destination and principal articles exported from the Philippine Islands, 1913, 1918, and 1919.1 port of collector of insular customs, 1919. he abaca fiber (Musa textilis) is frequently but incorrectly called hemp (Cannabis sativa). Abaca gs to the banana family and has no relation to the hemp family. Manila is a hard fiber, obtained anically by scraping or decorticating the leaf of the plant; hemp is a soft fiber obtained by the retting ting of the stalk of the plant. Table 4 exhibits the values of the principal imports and di total imports by principal countries for the calendar years 1918, and 1919: TABLE 4. --Total imports by country of origin and principal articles importi (a) TOTAL IMPORTS. 1 the 180 The statistics in Table 5 indicate the growing share of the States in the import trade of the Philippines since the acquisiti the islands: TABLE 5.--Share of the United States in imports into the Philippine Islands. 1 U. S. Bureau of Insular Affairs, Monthly Summary of the Commerce of the Philippines, Jul Sept., 1899. 2 Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs to the Secretary of War, 1918, p. 7. Philippine Bureau of Customs, Foreign Commerce of the Philippine Islands, 1913 and 1914. Report of the Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, 1920, p. 19. ACQUISITION AND GOVERNMENT. 'he Philippines were acquired by the United States as a result of War with Spain which began on April 21, 1898. On August 13, 8, the city of Manila was occupied by American military forces, for an interim period the government of the islands was placed he hands of Army officials, subject to the President acting in his acity of Commander in Chief of the Army. On December 10, 1898, the treaty of peace signed with Spain, the islands came under the ereignty of the United States in return for a payment of $20,000,000. 1899 President McKinley appointed a commission to investigate 1 recommend a plan for the civil government of the islands, and March 16, 1900, there was created the "Second Philippine Comssion," a civil body subject to the Secretary of War, and entrusted th the greater part of the powers which had been hitherto exercised the military commanding officer. Receiving its formal instruc>ns from the President through the Secretary of War on April 7, 00, the commission formally assumed its legislative functions on ptember 1st of the same year.2 20 This government was still legally a military one, but by the Spooner amendment" to the Army appropriation act of March 2, 01, the exercise of military and civil powers in the islands was finitely separated, and the Philippine Commission was made bject to the President in his civil capacity and not in his capacity Commander in Chief of the Army. On July 2, 1901, the President signated William Howard Taft, chairman of the Philippine Comission, as civil governor of the Philippines, and instructed him to xercise the executive authority in all civil affairs in the government the Philippines hitherto exercised by the military governor. The next step was the passing of an organic act by Congress on uly 1, 1902, by which the commission form of government was left ubstantially intact but which made several interesting provisions or the self-government of the islands. It provided, for example, hat within two years a general election for the choice of delegates to a popular assembly should be held, and that, after the assembly had onvened and was organized, the legislative power of the commission hould be transferred to a legislature consisting of the commission as _n_upper house and the assembly as a lower house. In conformity with this act, a general election was held on July 50, 1907, on the basis of the census of 1903, and the new Philippine Legislature met for the first time on October 11, 1907. This régime continued without change until the passing of the Philippine government act of August 29, 1916, which is entitled "An act to declare the our pose of the people of the United States as to the future political status of the people of the Philippine Islands, and to provide a more 20 As an indication of the policy of the United States toward the Philippines the following quotation from the instructions is of interest: "In all the forms of government and administrative provisions which they are authorized to prescribe, the commission should bear in mind that the government which they are establishing is designed * for the happiness, peace, and prosperity of the people of the Philippine Islands, and the measures adopted should be made to conform to their customs, their habits, and even their prejudices, to the fullest extent consistent with the accomplishment of the indispensable requisites of just and effective government." autonomous government for those islands." By its provisions the supreme executive power is vested in the Governor General, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate. An elective legislature consisting of a senate and a house of representatives enact the laws which are reported to the Congress of the United States and which can be annulled by that body. The Governor General has the power of veto, but in case a law is passed upon reconsideration after his veto by a two-thirds majority in each house, and the Governor General still disapproves of it, the measure is referred to the President of the United States, who is possessed of an absolute veto power. Congress also reserves to itself complete power to legislate directly for the Philippines. Beyond the veto powers described above and limitations intended to secure a bill of rights for the inhabitants of the Philippines, the Philippine Legislature is further limited in its power to enact financial and fiscal legislation by the provisions that no export duties shall be levied; that the trade relations of the United States and the Philippines shall continue to be governed exclusively by laws of the United States Congress; and that amendments to the Philippine tariff shall not become operative until approved by the President.22 FINANCE. Coming under the sovereignty of the United States free from debt, the Philippines were allowed from the start to devise their own internal taxation system, with the limitation that taxation must be uniform. The revenue laws of the old Spanish régime were continued in force, with some modifications, however, for about five years after the American occupation, the changes resulting generally in decreases in revenue. During the fiscal year 1896-97, for example, the Spanish had collected 12,000,000 pesos by internal taxation, whereas in 1902-3 internal taxation yielded less than 4,500,000 pesos."3 In 1904 the commission abolished much of what remained of the Spanish tax régime and an internal-revenue law of that year substi tuted an elaborate system of excise, license, stamp, and business taxes. This was revised in 1914, amended in the next year, and incorporated in the Administrative Code enacted in 1916, which is still in effect. Moreover, the United States income-tax legislation of 1913 and subsequent years was made applicable to the Philippine Islands, but with the provision that all revenues collected under this legislation in the Philippines should accrue to the insular treasury. 21 The presible, significant as an enunciation of the general policy of the United States toward the Philippines, is as follows: "Whereas it was never the intention of the people of the United States in the incipiency of the War with Spain to make it a war of conquest or for territorial aggrandizement; and "Whereas it is, as it has always been, the purpose of the people of the United States to withdraw their sovereignty over the Philippine Islands and to recognize their independence as soon as a stable govern ment can be established therein; and "Whereas for the speedy accomplishment of such purpose it is desirable to place in the hands of the people of the Philippines as large a control of their domestic affairs as can be given them without, in the mean time, impairing the exercise of the rights of sovereignty by the people of the United States, in order that, by the use and exercise of popular franchise and governmental powers, they may be the better prepared to fully assume the responsibilities and enjoy all the privileges of complete independence." 22 That the bonded indebtedness of the Philippines, in addition to debt incurred in the purchase of church lands, must not exceed $15,000,000, was a further stipulation. An act of July 21, 1921, raised the limit of indebtednes from $15,000,000 to $50,000,000. 23 Elliott, Charles B.: The Philippines (to the End of Commission Government), p. 149. The Philippine government act of August 27, 1916, authorizes the legislature of the islands to change in any way all laws relating to revenue and taxation in effect on that date. It specifically authorizes taxes and assessments on property, license fees for franchises and privileges, and internal taxes, direct or indirect. The principal sources of revenue and the chief expenditures in 1919 are shown in Table 6. The item "Licenses and business tax" includes the cedula or poll tax of 1 peso on each male inhabitant over 18 and under 60 years of age, with certain exemptions, and the 1 per cent tax on the gross sales of merchants. The excise taxes fall on goods imported or produced for domestic consumption, namely, liquors, tobacco, cigars and cigarettes, matches, skimmed milk, mineral oils, coal, coke, cinematograph films, and playing cards. The income tax in the Philippine Islands is collected under the laws enacted by Congress, but the revenue is used locally. TABLE 6.—Income and expenditures of the Philippine government, 1919.24 |