BY THE COMMITTEE ON INSULAR AFFAIRS !!C Congress. House. Committee on (IN TWO VOLUMES) VOLUME 1 MARCH 3, 1911.-Submitted by Mr. OLMSTED, from the Committee on Insular WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911 ADMINISTRATION OF PHILIPPINE LANDS. In pursuance of House Resolution No. 795, adopted on the 25th day of June, 1910, the last day of the second session of the Sixty-first Congress, and reading as follows: Whereas it has been publicly charged that sales and leases of public lands have been made in the Philippines in violation of law: Now therefore be it Resolved, That the House Committee on Insular Affairs be, and it is hereby, empowered and directed to make a complete and thorough investigation of the interior department of the Philippine Government touching the administration of Philippine lands and all matters of fact and law pertaining thereto, whether the same are to be had in the United States, the Philippine Islands, or elsewhere, and to report to the House during this Congress all the evidence taken and their findings and recommendations thereon; that in conducting said inquiry said committee shall have power to subpoena and require the attendance of witnesses, to administer oaths, to require the production of books, papers, and documents, whether of a public or private character, and to employ necessary assistance, legal or otherwise, and make necessary expenditures, the cost of said investigation to be paid out of the contingent fund of the House. The powers hereby conferred may be exercised while the House is in session or during the recess of Congress by the committee or any duly appointed subcommittee thereof. the Committee on Insular Affairs, having made the required investigation, submits the following report: We have called before us and examined at length the following officers of the Philippine Government: Capt. Charles H. Sleeper, director of the bureau of lands; Dean C. Worcester, secretary of the interior; Frank W. Carpenter, executive secretary; and Ignacio Villamor, attorney general; also Rafael Del-Pan, the leading counsel employed by the Philippine Government in connection with the titles to friar lands. We required also to be brought here the records of the Philippine Government touching land sales, from which records much information was furnished by the Philippine officials above named. We also called and examined John Henry Hammond, Horace Havemeyer, Charles J. Welch, and Carl A. De Gersdorff, and caused to be produced for examination the books of the Mindoro Development Co. We examined also E. L. Poole, manager of the Mindoro Development Co., of the San Carlos Agricultural Co., the San Francisco Agricultural Co., and the San Mateo Agricultural Co., and of the San Jose estate; also Col. Frank J. McIntyre, assistant Chief of the Bureau of Insular Affairs, Aaron Gove, and Manuel L. Quezon, one of the Resident Commissioners to the United States from the Philippine Islands. These witnesses, after thorough examination by members of the committee, were also, by permission of the committee, examined by |