Vol. XV, No. 6 



WASHINGTON 



June, 1904 



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THE WORK OF THE BUREAU OF INSULAR 



AFFAIRS* 



By Colonel Clarence R. Edwards, U. S. Army, 

 Chief of Bureau of Insular Affairs 



IN the month of August, 1898, after 

 the capitulation of the Spanish 

 forces at Santiago de Cuba, the 

 War Department was brought face to 

 face with a unique problem, i. e., the 

 establishment of a properly qualified 

 civil government under military control 

 in the surrendered territory — a territory 

 that speedily included Cuba, Porto Rico, 

 and the Philippine Archipelago. The 

 functions of an organized government, 

 in harmony with American methods, 

 had to be established in an unpromising 

 field. 



Officers of the Army were, as a rule, 

 placed in charge, and they became, 

 therefore, for the time being, civil serv- 

 ants ; collected taxes, governed munic- 

 ipalities, enforced sanitary measures, 

 established schools, adjusted claims, 

 and, in short, performed almost every 

 function of civil government. In a day, 

 almost, they were called upon to govern 

 more than twice as many people as in- 

 habited the United States at the close of 

 the Revolution. 



The War Department found itself 

 without adequate machinery to handle 

 this new work. Its bureaus were re- 

 stricted to military requirements, while 

 the new conditions extended to all classes 

 of governmental affairs. 



The most important business which 

 presented itself to the Department im- 

 mediately after the organization of San- 

 tiago was the collection and disburse- 

 ment of customs revenues. On August 

 23, 1898, the Secretary of War directed 

 that all matters relating to the customs 

 duties and taxes to be levied and col- 

 lected as a military contribution upon 

 the occupation and possession of any 

 ports and places by the forces of the 

 United States, under the several ordeis 

 of the President, as published by the 

 War Department, should be referred to 

 the Assistant Secretary of War for his 

 consideration and report. 



The Chief Clerk of the War Depart- 

 ment states that, for the sake of ready 

 reference, the first of the Cuban cus- 

 toms cases that reached his desk were 



An address to the National Geographic Society, January 22, 1904. 



