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the time the code was enacted and the demand for civil provincial governments was so strong that it proved necessary to abandon this plan. The policy adopted in most instances was to establish a provincial government and appoint one of the provincial officers, usually the governor, chairman of organization committees for the several municipalities, so that the work might proceed as rapidly as possible. In some few instances persons other than provincial officers were selected on account of their special fitness for the work.

The municipal code had been widely scattered through the islands before the commission started on its southern trip. It had been carefully studied by the leading men of many of the municipalities, and its provisions were freely discussed with them in the meetings held at provincial capitals. In this way a number of useful, practical suggestions were obtained, which were subsequently embodied in act No. 132, amending the code.

Practical experience has developed some other minor defects, which will be corrected by further amendments in the near future. Six hundred and sixteen towns have thus far been reported as organized under this law, with the provinces of Bataan, Bohol, Capiz, Cebu, Isabela, and Surigao yet to be heard from. In actual practice the law has worked to the satisfaction of the people and of the commission.

There have been individual instances of misconduct on the part of municipal officers, which have been promptly punished by suspension or removal from office. Violation of the oath of allegiance has not yet been proved against a single president. The shortcomings of municipal officers are chiefly survivals of the old system, known as "caciquismo," and manifest themselves in a tendency on the part of the municipal officers, and especially of presidents, to exercise arbitrary powers which have not been conferred upon them by law. The ignorance of the common people is, in many instances, so great as to make such abuse of power easy. Little by little, however, they are coming to understand their rights under the law and to demand them. In order to expedite this much-to-be-desired change, a very large number of copies of the code have been printed in Spanish and distributed throughout the archipelago, and the Tagalog provinces have also been supplied with copies in the Tagalog language, while Visayan, Bicol, and Ilocano translations are in preparation.

Few complaints have been received from towns thus far organized of inability to maintain themselves, while in some cases considerable balances are on hand in municipal treasuries. This, too, before the land tax has gone into effect and at a time when the ravages of war, of rinderpest, and of locusts have produced unusual poverty in many provinces.

These encouraging results lead us to believe that when the system of taxation provided by the code has been put into full effect and

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conditions have again become normal the municipalities will be able not only to meet their necessary current expenses, but to make important and much-needed municipal improvements.

An attempt has been made to ascertain the proportion of qualified electors to inhabitants in the towns thus far organized. Difficulties of communication have rendered this effort only partially successful. Returns have been received from 390 municipalities, showing a total population of 2,695,801 and a total of 49,523 qualified electors, or 18.37 electors per 1,000 inhabitants. Any person who is able to read and write the English or Spanish language is eligible to vote, as already stated; and when it is remembered that this total of electors includes not only such persons, but also those who own property to the value of $250 in American currency or who pay annually taxes to the amount of $15, and also all those persons who held municipal office under the Spanish régime, some light is gained as to the educational attainments of the common people.

It was to be expected that the intrusting to municipal councils of powers which were entirely new to them would lead in some instances to their exceeding their authority. This has been the case. For instance, municipal councils have attempted to fix by ordinance the fees which native and other priests should be allowed to charge for baptism, marriage, and burial ceremonies. At the quarterly gatherings of municipal presidents in some of the provinces attempts have even been made to legislate as to public lands and the exploitation of the forest products grown thereon, but no serious harm has resulted from these minor failures of municipal presidents and councils to realize the limitations imposed upon their authority by law.

On the whole, it may safely be said that the people have received the municipal code in a most friendly spirit, have taken a commendable interest in its provisions, and in the majority of cases have attempted in good faith to carry them out.

Numerous petitions have been received for authorization to create new municipalities. A pueblo under the Spanish régime corresponded rather to a township or a county than to a "town," in the ordinary acceptation of that term. It often embraced an area of many square miles, through which were scattered small villages, known as "barrios." Two factors have apparently been potent in bringing about these applications for the formation of new towns. One has been the inconvenience of keeping up communication between remote barrios and their centers of municipal government; the other has been the desire on the part of leading men of the barrios concerned to hold municipal office. While there are doubtless cases in which new municipalities might advantageously be formed by the segregation of certain barrios, the commission has thought it best to delay action in nearly all such cases for the period of one year, in order that time might be afforded for