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The National Geographic Magazine 



French, Dutch, and Danish islands. Dur- 

 ing the last two years of Spanish domina- 

 tion the trade balance against the island 

 was over $12,500,000, while the present 

 balance of trade in favor of the island 

 under American control is $2,500,000. 

 The total of exports and imports has in- 

 creased from about $25,000,000 under 

 Spain to $44,000,000 under our sov- 

 ereignty. At the date of the American 

 occupation the estimated value of all agri- 

 cultural land was about $30,000,000. 

 Now the appraised value of the real prop- 

 erty in the island reaches $100,000,000. 



PHILIPPINES 



The fortune or misfortune of the 

 Cuban war carried us to the Philippines. 

 The exigencies of the situation brought 

 us into such relations with Aguinaldo and 

 the Filipino troops in insurrection against 

 Spain, that when peace came we could 

 not turn the islands back to Spain. Our 

 international obligations and the welfare 

 of the people of the country prevented 

 us from turning the government over to 

 the military forces commanded by 

 Aguinaldo. His attempt to carry on a 

 government had been a failure. The 

 failure would have been colossal, had he 

 been given more responsibility. The only 

 alternative was for us to take over the 

 island ourselves and administer the gov- 

 ernment until by gradual training in 

 partial self-government the people might 

 become so acquainted with the art and 

 responsibilities of government that we 

 could ultimately leave the islands. 



Accordingly we undertook, first, the 

 establishment of order in the islands, and 

 then the maintenance of civil govern- 

 ment. In the course of this we had first 

 to disperse Aguinaldo's army and then 

 to suppress the guerrilla warfare which 

 the country was well adapted to encour- 

 age and facilitate. In establishing order 

 we expended $170,000,000. As order 

 was established from place to place, 

 municipal governments were set going 

 with complete autonomy. Provincial 

 governments were established with a gov- 



erning board of three, in which two of 

 the officers were appointed and one, the 

 governor, was elected. A central gov- 

 ernment was established, with a civil 

 governor appointed by the President and 

 eight commissioners, five of them execu- 

 tive officers and American and three of 

 them Filipinos. By changes effected in 

 the period of six years, a majority of the 

 provincial officers have become elective, 

 and only one, the provincial treasurer, is 

 appointed under the civil-service law. 

 In July next an election will take place 

 by which an assembly of seventy repre- 

 sentatives, elected by the qualified voters 

 of the Christian provinces, will constitute 

 a national assembly, which will be one of 

 the two houses, the other being the 

 Philippine Commission, to constitute the 

 legislature of the islands. The national 

 assembly elected in July will meet for the 

 first time in October. Thus has the 

 promise of our government, made 

 through President McKinley, been kept, of 

 gradually increasing the measure of self- 

 government extended to the Filipinos. 



AMERICAN IMPROVEMENTS IN THE 

 PHILIPPINES 



Having established order by use of the 

 military, a Philippine constabulary was 

 created, consisting of some 5,000 men, 

 who police the islands. Considering that 

 the islands contain a population of now 

 more than 7,000,000, this constabulary 

 force is not excessive. The American 

 troops in the islands number about 

 12,000. There is also a Philippine mili- 

 tary force, known as the Philippine 

 scouts, 4,000 in number, that are really 

 enlisted men of the United States Army. 

 The expenses of the United States in the 

 islands from year to year are about 

 $5,000,000 in the support of the army 

 over and above what would be expended 

 were there no Philippine scouts and were 

 the army housed in the United States. 



During the threat of famine in 1902 

 and 1903, arising from the death of most 

 of the draft cattle of the islands, due to 

 rinderpest. Congress voted $3,000,000 to 



