soldier when well disciplined and well led.
The establishment and maintenance of order in the Philippines have
afforded opportunity for some of the bravest deeds in the annals of
any race, and the opportunity has been nobly met. The head-hunters
of the Mountain Province, the Mohammedan Moros of Mindanao, Jolo
and Palawan, the bloody _pulajanes_ of Samar and Leyte, the wily
_tulisanes_ of Luzon, all unrestrained by any regard for the rules
of civilized warfare, have for twelve years matched their fanatical
bravery against the gallantry of the khaki-clad Filipino soldiers. Time
and again a single officer and a handful of men have taken chances
that in almost any other land would have won them the Victoria cross,
the legion of honor, or some similar decoration. Here their only
reward has been the sense of duty well done.
The force known as the Philippine constabulary was organized for the
purpose of establishing and maintaining order. It has established
and is maintaining a condition of order never before equalled or
approached in the history of the islands. The policy which led to
its organization has been a thousand times justified.
CHAPTER XV
The Administration of Justice
In no branch of the public administration have there been more
numerous or more beneficial reforms than in the administration of
justice. They have resulted in simplifying organization, in decreasing
the possibility of corruption and partiality, and in diminishing the
cost of litigation and the time which it requires.
For the benefit of those especially interested I give in the appendix
the past and present organization of the courts. [495] The subject
is too technical to interest the average layman.
The slender salaries paid to judges, the fact that in the majority
of cases their appointment and promotion were due to influence and
suggestion, their liability to be transferred from one court to another
or from the Philippines to the Antilles, as frequently happened, and
the further fact that the subordinate personnel of the courts was not
a salaried one, caused the administration of justice in the Philippine
Islands to be looked upon askance. There was a general belief, well
founded in many instances, that lawsuits were won through influence
or bribery. Clerks and the subordinate personnel of the courts were
readily bribed. Indeed, they frequently demanded bribes from litigants,
or from defendants in criminal cases, under promise to
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