s include the Congress Law of July 1, 1902;
President McKinley's Instruction to the Civil Commission of April 7,
1900; Government of the United States, Colonial Government in European
States, and Parliamentary Law.

The question of the Filipinos' capacity for _self-government_ has been
frequently debated since the Rebellion of 1896. A quarter of a century
ago the necessary 500 or 600 Filipinos, half-caste in the majority,
could have been found with all the requisite qualifications for the
formation of an intelligent oligarchy. The Constitution drawn up by
Apolinario Mabini, and proclaimed by the Malolos Insurgent Government
(January 22, 1899), was a fair proof of intellectual achievement. But
that is not sufficient; the working of it would probably have been as
successful as the Government of Hayti, because the Philippine character
is deficient in disinterested thought for the common good. There is
no lack of able Filipinos quite competent to enact laws and dictate
to the people what they are to do; but if things are to be reversed
and the elected assembly is to be composed of deputies holding the
_people's_ mandates, there will be plenty to do between now and March,
1907, in educating the electors to the point of intelligently using the
franchise, uninfluenced by the _caciques_, who have hitherto dominated
all public acts. According to the census of 1903, there were 1,137,776
illiterate males of the voting age. In any case, independently of
its legislative function, the Philippine Assembly will be a useful
channel for free speech. It will lead to the open discussion of the
general policy, the rural police, the trade regulations, the taxes,
the desirability of maintaining superfluous expensive bureaux, the
lavish (Manila) municipal non-productive outlay, and ruinous projects
of no public utility, such as the construction of the Benguet road,
[286] etc.

The Act providing for a Philippine Assembly stipulates that the
elected deputies shall not be less than 50 and not more than 100
to represent the civilized portion of the following population,
viz. [287]:--Civilized, 6,987,686; wild, 647,740; total, 7,635,426. The
most numerous civilized races are the Visayos (about 2,602,000)
and the Tagalogs (about 1,664,000).

_Population of Manila_ (_Approximate Sub-divisions_) [288]

Race. Pop. Race. Pop. Race. Pop.

Filipinos 189,915 Americans 3,700 Other Europeans 1,000
Chinese