Appropriations, expenditures, and unexpended balances. Bureau of architecture and construction of public buildings...... Exhibit B.-Statistics relating to the work of the bureau... Exhibit C.-Reports of division superintendents and principals of the Second annual report of the secretary of public instruction-Continued. Exhibit A.-Report of the general superintendent of education—Cont'd. Exhibit C.-Reports of division superintendents, etc.-Continued. Exhibit E.-Circulars issued to division superintendents and teachers. Exhibit F.-Minutes of the superintendents' convention held at ANNUAL REPORT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION TO THE SECRETARY OF WAR. MANILA, P. I., December 23, 1903. SIR: The Philippine Commission has the honor to submit to you its fourth annual report, which is accompanied by the reports of the civil governor, the secretary of commerce and police, the secretary of finance and justice, the secretary of the interior, and the secretary of public instruction. The reports were delayed, due to absence and illness of two or three of the Commission, and cover varying periods. The report of the Commission extends over a period from November 1, 1902, to December 22, 1903. The conditions of the islands as to tranquillity are quite equal, so far as peace and good order are concerned, to what they were at any time during the Spanish régime. There are centers of disturbance in the Moro country, but they do not offer any difficulty in their removal. The conditions in the Jolo group are shown in the special report of Major-General Wood, governor of the Moro Province, and in the report of the civil governor. The Commission concurs in the recommendation of the civil governor and General Wood that the sultan and datos signing the so-called Bates treaty be notified that its terms are no longer binding on the United States or the Philippine government, and that the Jolo group and all its inhabitants, including the sultan of Jolo and the signing datos, are entirely subject to the Philippine government act and laws passed in accordance therewith. The condition as to the food supply in the Archipelago has been dealt with at length by the civil governor in his report to the Commission, and it is sufficient to say that the $3,000,000 voted by Congress were exceedingly useful in aiding the islands to meet emergencies which grew much more serious than they were supposed to be at the time the appropriation was made. The recovery from the disastrous loss of cattle through the rinderpest must of necessity be slow, and it 1 can not be said as yet that the Commission has reached a satisfactory solution of the difficulty, or that it can be certain that with the remainder of the $3,000,000 it may greatly alleviate the embarrassment in agriculture due to the absence of draft cattle. Still, experiments will be continued, and it may be that a remedy will be found. The civil governor in his report to the Commission has set forth at length the dispositions which have been made of the money which has been expended or appropriated out of the $3,000,000 relief fund. The law requires that the civil governor should give an account of this expenditure to the Secretary of War. There is appended to the report of the civil governor to the Commission a detailed statement of expenditures by the auditor so far as it can be made down to the date of his report. In order to prevent a duplication of matter which was properly part of the Commission's report to the Secretary of War, it is hoped that the report of the civil governor with the auditor's statement will be regarded as a sufficient compliance with the law. The revenues of the islands were maintained for the last fiscal year, and the balance of trade for the year with respect to the islands was much more favorable. The balance of trade against the islands in merchandise was a little over $8,000,000 for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1902. For the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, it was about $150,000 in favor of the islands, and this in spite of the importation of $10,000,000 gold of rice, an increase of nearly four millions over last year's importation. The conditions with respect to sugar and tobacco continue to be very unfavorable, and the arguments in favor of a reduction of the Dingley tariff upon these articles, to 25 per cent of the rates of that tariff on sugar and tobacco from the Philippines, grow stronger instead of weaker. On the 22d of December, 1903, contracts were signed with the owners of the so-called friars' lands and by the civil governor, with the approval and consent of the Commission and the Secretary of War, by which, for a lump sum of $7,239,000, more or less, all the agricultural holdings of the friars in the Philippines were agreed to be transferred to the Philippine government, except about 10,000 acres, the reason for the exception of which is stated in the report of the civil governor. By these contracts, when consummated, something more than 400,000 acres, three-fifths of which have been highly cultivated land and are thickly inhabited by thousands of tenants, will be transferred to the Government. This step has been recommended by the Commission in its previous reports, by the Paris Peace Commission, and by the Schurman Commission as important in producing permanent tranquillity in the islands. Many of the tenants have urged the purchase upon the Government. |