BY THE COMMITTEE ON INSULAR AFFAIRS (IN TWO VOLUMES) VOLUME 1 MARCH 3, 1911.-Submitted by Mr. OLMSTED, from the Committee on Insular Affairs, and ordered to be printed. (To accompany H. Res. 795) WASHINGTON GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 1911 Bil 2-28-57 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 Representative Martin, of Colorado, the author of the resolution. Mr. J. H. Ralston, counsel for the Anti-Imperialist League of Boston, submitted in writing such questions as he desired, and they were propounded by members of the committee. He also submitted a brief. Many days were consumed in the taking of testimony, all of which is submitted herewith and as part hereof. The lands of the Philippine Islands may, for the purposes of this report, be divided into three classes: 1. Private lands.-Lands which, at the time of the passage of the act of Congress entitled "An act temporarily to provide for the administration of affairs of civil government in the Philippine Islands, and for other purposes," approved July 1, 1902, and commonly called the "Organic act," were, and still are, in the private ownership of individuals or corporations as distinguished from Government ownership of any kind. They are estimated at 7,000,000 acres. 2. Public lands.-These are lands which belonged to the Spanish Crown, and by the treaty of Paris became the property of the United States. They are estimated to contain about 60,000,000 acres. 3. Friar lands.-These were at the time of the passage of the organic act in the private ownership of certain religious orders, from whom, under authority of the said act, they were subsequently purchased by the Philippine Government. They cover about 400,000 acres. They cost the Philippine government, in round numbers, $7,000,000, and bonds to that amount were issued to provide the funds for their purchase. LIMITATION UPON CORPORATE HOLDING OF LANDS. Section 75 of the organic act provides as follows: SEC. 75. That no corporation shall be authorized to conduct the business of buying and selling real estate or be permitted to hold or own real estate except such as may be reasonably necessary to enable it to carry out the purposes for which it is created, and every corporation authorized to engage in agriculture shall by its charter be restricted to the ownership and control of not to exceed one thousand and twenty-four hectares of land; and it shall be unlawful for any member of a corporation engaged in agriculture or mining and for any corporation organized for any purpose except irrigation to be in anywise interested in any other corporation engaged in agriculture or in mining. Corporations, however, may loan funds upon real-estate security and purchase real estate when necessary for the collection of loans, but they shall dispose of real estate so obtained within five years after receiving the title. Corporations not organized in the Philippine Islands and doing business therein shall be bound by the provisions of this section so far as they are applicable. This is a general provision and applies equally to private lands public lands, and friar lands. There is no limit to the amount of private lands which may be acquired or owned by natural persons. Public lands acquired by the United States under the treaty of peace with Spain may not be sold by the Philippine Government in quantities exceeding 16 hectares to one person or 1,024 hectares to any corporation or association of persons. A hectare is equal to about 24 acres. There have been 62 sales of public lands made by the Philippine Government since the passage of the organic act of 1902, covering an area of 14,790 acres. Ten of these purchasers were corporations, whose purchases aggregated 13,177 acres. Owing to the restrictions on the sale of public lands, or for some other reason, there have been only 52 sales to individuals in tracts of 40 acres or less, their purchases aggregating 1,612 acres out of the total of some 60,000,000 acres offered for sale. In no single instance has there been more than 16 hectares of public lands sold to a single person or 1,024 hectares to a corporation or association of persons. There is no manner of doubt that the organic act limits to 16 hectares, or 40 acres, the amount of public land which one person may acquire. Does that limitation extend to friar lands? That question, which will presently be discussed, is the most important one involved in this inquiry. There have been made 8,393 sales of friar lands. Of these sales 82 involve amounts in excess of 16 hectares, or 40 acres each. The following table shows the name of each purchaser, the name of the friar-land estate, the number of hectares purchased (omitting fractions), and the sale price in pesos, 2 pesos being equal to $1 in value: |