RINDERPEST.

In the matter of rinderpest, owing to the very active and cordial coöperation of Major-General Bell, the Government has been able to maintain an effective quarantine and has practically succeeded in stamping the disease out of the great province of Pangasinan, after a campaign lasting many months and involving the use of a great many Scouts. While progress can be noted in the control of rinderpest and especially of getting record of cases whenever they appear, a great deal has yet to be done and the Government is not in position to reduce its forces or its expenses or to lessen its activities in this direction.

DIRECTOR OF AGRICULTURE.

Vice-Governor Gilbert, during his stay in the United States, succeeded in securing the services, as Director of Agriculture, of Mr. F. W. Taylor, a very distinguished gentleman, who has made a reputation in agriculture, and it is hoped that under his wise guidance great stimulus will be given to the agricultural work of the Government.

SALES AGENCY.

The Commission, acting in its exclusive legislative capacity, has established a sales agency to work up a market for the products of the schools and for the specialties manufactured by the non-Christian tribes, and has appropriated the sum of $60,000 for the construction of a sales agency building on the filled-in land near the new hotel now nearing completion. It is hoped with this to keep in touch with the markets of the world for those things made in the schools, such as laces, embroidery, hats, woodworking, et-cetera, and to be able to put the Bureau of Education in touch with those lines of practical work which will command a market and will enable children, upon leaving school, to earn a living by reason of the things they have learned in the school. It is believed that this service could readily be extended to the children in the schools throughout the Archipelago and the matter is recommended to the consideration of the Legislature with a recommendation that the necessary legislation be made to give all the schools of the Islands participation in these benefits.

NEW LEGISLATION RECOMMENDED.

I have the honor to repeat my recommendations made at the last session of the Legislature for the passage of a law regulating the use of water for private and public purposes, and the terms upon which water for the purpose of irrigation may be taken from the public streams and distributed among landowners. A bill intended to accomplish this purpose was presented at the first session of the Legislature and at the extraordinary session in Baguio, and both times failed of passage. A committee, upon which three distin

guished members of the Assembly worked throughout the summer months of last year, prepared a plan to meet the objections which arose in connection with the first two bills, but the resulting bill failed of passage. It is hoped that a similar bill will now meet the approval of the Legislature.

At the first session of the Legislature also there was offered a commercial shipping bill, to define the status of seamen and creating the office of shipping commissioner. It is believed that this would be of great assistance to the shipping interests, and the passage of this bill is recommended.

It is not believed advisable that concessions or charters for publicservice corporations should contain provision for the distribution of the percentage paid to the Government in lieu of taxes between the Insular, provincial and municipal treasuries, as the proportions would be different in different charters and would not follow any regular rule. It is therefore recommended that a general law be enacted providing for such proportionment.

By decision of the Supreme Court of the United States, the punishment imposed by the laws in force in the Philippine Islands for falsification of a public document is declared to be cruel and unusual. The penalty imposed by existing law for this crime is out of proportion to the magnitude of the crime and to penalties imposed for other similar crimes. It is recommended that an amendment be made to the Penal Code modifying the penalty in these cases, as the decision of the Supreme Court may have the result of liberating certain persons who ought to undergo punishment, and yet who can not be punished to the extreme now provided for in the law. This amendment of law is recommended by the Code Committee.

Act No. 817 provides a means to fight locusts and gives the provincial governors the necessary authority to enforce the work on the part of the community, incurring certain expenses. The law, however, provides that these expenses shall be defrayed from the Congressional Relief Fund, which has now been exhausted, a fact which renders the law ineffective. It is recommended that a fund be created that can be used in the future for such purposes.

The matter of control of labor is one of the serious problems which confront the Philippine Islands. In the First Legislature the Assembly passed a bill which was calculated to remedy the present difficulty, but which was not approved by the Commission on the ground of doubt as to its constitutionality. It is hoped that some Act can be framed which will penalize failure to fulfill the contract for the performance of labor for which money has been advanced, providing always that the terms have been just and reasonable.

The Government, and incidentally the people, of the Philippine Islands, are continually suffering loss of their good employees. Good

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men are hard to get and hold, as they are always sought for other positions, and the service which can attract the best class of men and hold them is the one which is going to prosper most. In the tropics there is the additional risk of losing the health, and a great many valuable American employees have left the Philippine service because of the fact that they feared, after twelve, fifteen, or twenty years of faithful service, that they would go back and find that they were unfitted for the kind of work which remained for them to do at home. The cost of living here is such that very few people are able to save much money from their salaries, and the result is that many men are willing to accept a position in the United States at a lower salary and with less responsible work. Could those who had given their lives to the service of the Philippine Islands be assured that a pension would be given to them on retirement it would result in a marked economy in the matter of holding good men in the service, and in the long run would be beneficial to the Islands and result in economies and saving and betterment of administration in excess of the cost of paying the pensions to those who availed themselves of the privilege. I therefore recommend that the Legislature pass an Act providing for a reasonable pension which would be proportioned on the length of service and on the salary received.

Except in the non-Christian provinces, there is no express provision of law prohibiting slavery or involuntary servitude in the Philippine Islands. While the law provides certain methods of punishing the practice of slavery, as for example, the law for illegal detention, yet it does not seem right that an enlightened and modern country should have no way of punishing the purchase or sale of human flesh. It is recommended that this be remedied by appropriate legislation at the coming session.

Another crying evil in the administration of justice lies in the fact that witnesses are not paid for the time they are taken away from their work, which renders it not only a difficult matter to obtain justice, but also makes it a hardship on innocent persons, who are compelled to leave their work in order to see that justice is done. It is customary in many civilized countries to pay the fees of witnesses during the time they are engaged in a case. The only reason this has not been done before is on account of the expense. It will take an increased appropriation for the Bureau of Justice, but it is an expense which the Filipino people should take as soon as the finances will justify it.

I have the honor to recommend the passage of a law providing for a method of a general cadastral survey. Such a law is of vital importance to the welfare and prosperity of the Islands. By Act No. 495 a method of settling titles guaranteed by the Government has been provided, but the cost of registering land and the delays caused by faulty and improper surveys have so retarded the settle

ment of land titles that but a minimum of the benefits of the "Torrens" system has been received. Without a good title to his land the small land holder cannot borrow money from the banks, and especially the Agricultural Bank, without which he cannot buy carabao and the necessary machinery for cultivation. A bill was prepared by a competent committee of experts on this question and introduced at the last session. The two Houses disagreed on certain important points of this law and the bill was not passed.

The necessity of an habitual criminal act has been urged on the undersigned by those who are in charge of the prisons of the Islands. In passing such an Act we should be but following the lead of other enlightened countries and taking a step which has been found to work most successfully.

In the Philippine Islands the rates for loaning money have always been extremely high. It is customary to provide by law against loans of money at exorbitant rates of interest, and administrative action has already been taken to prevent the loaning of money at high rates of interest by employees of the Government. I am of the opinion that a law making usury a punishable offense would be of great assistance to the people of the Islands, and in this also we should be merely following in the footsteps of most civilized countries.

The undersigned desires to bring to the attention of the Legislature the fact that machinery which is attached to buildings is subject to the land tax. This has a bad effect, as it tends to discourage the purchase and installation of machinery throughout the Islands, which is necessary to bring to the highest point of development the sugar and many other industries on which the welfare of the people rests. It is urged that the law be amended so that machinery will be exempted from this tax.

There are many amendments to existing legislation which will be presented by the Secretaries of Departments, with their reasons. These involve, among others, sundry changes in regard to the mining, forestry, customs, internal revenue, sanitary and land laws. W. CAMERON FORBES,

Governor-General of the Philippine Islands.

To the PHILIPPINE LEGISLATURE.

The message was ordered spread upon the Journal of the Commission, and

On motion by Commissioner Branagan, it was

Resolved, That the message of the Governor-General be referred to committees of the Commission for the preparation of such legislation as said committees may deem advisable, as follows:

That so much of said message as relates to the release

and investment of portions of the gold-standard fund, the amendment of the Penal Code, the payment of fees to witnesses, an habitual criminal law, a law making usury a punishable offense, and a law to prohibit slavery and involuntary servitude, be referred to the Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Finance and Justice.

That so much of said message as relates to legislation to afford all schools of the Islands participation in the benefits of a sales agency for their products, legislation to provide a fund to fight locusts, and legislation to provide a fund for advertising Philippine products, be referred to the Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Public Instruction.

That so much of said message as relates to legislation regulating the use of water for private and public purposes and for irrigation, the creation of the office of shipping commissioner and defining the status of seamen, and legislation to control labor, be referred to the Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Commerce and Police.

That so much of said message as relates to legislation to provide for a cadastral survey be referred to a select committee composed of the Committees on Matters Pertaining to the Department of the Interior, and on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Finance and Justice.

That so much of said message as relates to legislation for pensioning civil servants and as to the taxing of machinery attached to buildings be referred to the Committee on Taxation and Revenue.

That so much of said message as relates to the distribution of moneys paid by public service corporations in lieu of taxes be referred to a select committee composed of the Committees on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Finance and Justice and on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Commerce and Police.

That so much of said message as relates to the study and encouragement of the hemp industry be referred to a committee composed of the Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Public Instruction and the Committee