PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S INSTRUCTION TO THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION 189 PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS On and after the 4th day of July, 1901, until it shall be otherwise ordered, the President of the Philippine Commission will exercise the executive authority in all civil affairs in the government of the Philippine Islands heretofore exercised in such affairs by the Military Governor of the Philippines, and to that end the Hon. William H. Taft, President of the said Commission, is hereby appointed Civil Governor of the Philippine Islands. Such executive authority will be exercised under, and in conformity to, the instructions to the Philippine Commissioners, dated April 7, 1900, and subject to the approval and control of the Secretary of War of the United States. The municipal and provincial civil governments, which have been, or shall hereafter be, established in said Islands, and all persons performing duties appertaining to the offices of civil government in said Islands, will, in respect of such duties, report to the said Civil Governor. The power to appoint civil officers, heretofore vested in the Philippine Commission, or in the Military Governor, will be exercised by the Civil Governor with the advice and consent of the Commission. The Military Governor of the Philippines is hereby relieved from the performance, on and after the said 4th day of July, of the civil duties hereinbefore described, but his authority will continue to be exercised as heretofore, in those districts in which insurrection against the authority of the United States continues to exist, or in which public order is not sufficiently restored to enable provincial civil governments to be established under the instructions to the Commission dated April 7, 1900. By the President: ELIHU ROOT Secretary of War PRESIDENT MCKINLEY'S INSTRUCTIONS TO THE BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS TO THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS WAR DEPARTMENT Washington, April 7, 1900 SIR: I transmit to you herewith the instructions of the President for the guidance of yourself and your associates as Commissioners to the Philippine Islands. Very respectfully, ELIHU ROOT Secretary of War Hon. WILLIAM H. TAFT President, Board of Commissioners to the Philippine Islands EXECUTIVE MANSION SIR: In the message transmitted to the Congress on the 5th of December, 1899, I said, speaking of the Philippine Islands: "As long as the insurrection continues the military arm must necessarily be supreme. But there is no reason why steps should not be taken from time to time to inaugurate governments essentially popular in their form as fast as territory is held and controlled by our troops. To this end I am considering the advisability of the return of the Commission, or such of the members thereof as can be secured, to aid the existing authorities and facilitate this work throughout the Islands." To give effect to the intention thus expressed, I have appointed Hon. William H. Taft, of Ohio; Prof. Dean C. Worcester, of Michigan; Hon. Luke E. Wright, of Tennessee; Hon. Henry C. Ide, of Vermont; and Prof. Bernard Moses, of California, Commissioners to the Philippine Islands, to continue and perfect the work of organizing and establishing civil government already commenced by the military authorities, subject in all respects to any laws which Congress may hereafter enact. The Commissioners named will meet and act as a board, and the Hon. William H. Taft is designated as president of the board. It is probable that the transfer of authority from military commanders to civil officers will be gradual and will occupy a considerable period. Its successful accomplishment and the maintenance of peace and order in the meantime will require the most perfect coöperation between the civil and military authorities in the Islands, and both should be directed during the transition period by the same executive department. The Commission will therefore report to the Secretary of War, and all their actions will be subject to your approval and control. You will instruct the Commission to proceed to the City of Manila, where they will make their principal office, and to communicate with the Military Governor of the Philippine Islands, whom you will at the same time direct to render to them every assistance within his power in the performance of their duties. Without hampering them by by too specific instructions, they should in general be enjoined, after making themselves familiar with the conditions and needs of the country, to devote their attention in the first instance to the establishment of municipal governments in which the natives of the Islands, both in the cities and in the rural communities, shall be afforded the opportunity to manage their own local affairs to the fullest extent of which they are capable, and subject to the least degree of supervision and control which a careful study of their capacities and observation of the workings of native control show to be consistent with the maintenance of law, order, and loyalty. The next subject in order of importance should be the organization of government in the larger administrative divisions, corresponding to counties, departments, or provinces, in which the common interests of many or several municipalities falling within the same tribal lines, |