to the system, because under it there was not only a constant clash of authority, but the conduct of affairs was so complicated that it became almost impossible in many cases to know where the real powers of action were located. To a large extent the different offices of the central government were made bureaus of complaint for taxpayers and others who thought that they had been unjustly treated, and almost every act of the local authorities caused claims or petitions to pour in upon the central government, concerning the merits of which the latter was often not in a position to pass judgment. Though apparently the central government exercised, and really had, the power to control at most points, in practice it was able to accomplish but little in the way of insuring good local government for the island.

Most objectionable of all, however, was the fact which resulted from the foregoing, that the essential principle of good government was violated in the failure of the system definitely to bring home to persons holding office their political obligations. As long as this system was maintained all idea of educating the people in the principles of responsible and honest self-government was hopeless. If such a government was ever to be built up on the island, it was imperative that a simpler and more direct system should be devised-one in which the officers should have real powers of action within their spheres of duties, and in which they could be held to rigid accountability in case they failed properly to perform them. That which needed to be done, in other words, was the abolition of the old practice whereby permission had

to be obtained in advance, and under which real responsibility could never be felt, and the adoption in its place of a system under which direct power of action should be given primarily to the local authorities, and control by the central government be exercised merely in the way of enforcing the proper performance of these duties.

Turning now to the defects in the administration of the system, the first to be noted is that the municipalities failed to perform a number of the most important duties properly belonging to local government: that too great dependence as regards them was placed upon the insular government. This failure was especially apparent in respect to the obligation of maintaining a suitable system of public schools and to the opening, improving and caring for municipal highways. The entry of the United States authorities into power had, if anything, aggravated these evils. Thanks to the "trust fund," which Congress had so generously placed at the disposition of the central government for the prosecution of works of public utility, the central government was doing a great deal in these matters. This action, while productive of material improvement, was having a bad effect upon the development of self-reliance on the part of the local governments. It was a matter of prime importance, therefore, that in some way the local governments should be brought to a realization of their responsibilities and duties in respect to these matters.

On the other hand, the municipalities were spending their revenues with extravagance in directions which resulted in little direct benefit to the taxpayers them

selves. A considerable part of their total expenditures went for the payment of excessive or unnecessary salaries, and for objects of private rather than public improvement. The case where one alcalde secured an appropriation of several hundred dollars a year to pay for the musical instruction of his son in Europe is but one example among many of the ways in which use was made of public funds to further private ends. As a result of these various influences, many of the municipalities had failed to meet their obligations and were burdened with a large floating indebtedness, for the meeting of which no adequate provision was made.

After all, however, the greatest evil presented by municipal government as carried on in the island was the failure to obtain as officials men who would use their office for the public rather than private good. General George W. Davis, late military governor of the island, a very acute observer of Porto Rican conditions and problems, excellently stated the evils of political life in Porto Rico in his valuable report on "Civil Affairs of Porto Rico" to the War Department, in 1899:

"In order," he wrote, "to permit American customs and policy to take root in this island and to prepare it for transformation into an organized Territory, it is desirable to set aside personal politics, which is one of the inherent vices here. The public mind must also be disabused of the idea, still dominant, that the whole art of politics consists in securing power in order to give offices to one's friends. It has been too much the rule here for office-holders to neglect public interests and to blindly obey those who, having put them into office, can also remove them. Their endeavors are chiefly directed to obtaining

high salaries, and they give little return therefor. Besides, it is necessary to instill vigor into municipal life by granting full local autonomy. This will accustom the people to act for themselves and not to look to the government for everything, as has been the case until now.

"It is especially necessary to wipe out all of those inherited vices and to prepare the country for a real democratic régime, to suppress all abuses, and to install new methods of administration and government, so as to allow the people to take part in the control of their local affairs without the predominant influence of persons having only political ambitions to serve.”

It is difficult to describe the extent to which office in the municipalities was used merely as a means for furthering private ends and gratifying personal and political enmities. The especially discouraging feature, moreover, was that, to a very great extent, this action seemed to the Porto Ricans quite the natural and proper thing. It was a frequent occurrence for officers of municipalities to enforce with great hardship the collection of taxes resting upon property owned by their political opponents while practically condoning or failing to collect taxes due on property owned by themselves or friends. If a man incurred the hostility of the party in power, that party would annoy him in every possible way. If he was the owner of a slaughter-house, it would impose a special tax on slaughter-houses which, while apparently fair enough on its face, would be so framed as to drive him out of business. Though such actions were in most cases subject to review by the central authorities, it was impossible for the latter in many instances to go below the bare proposition and detect the object in view or to follow up and enforce the just application of the

ordinance. The first requisite of good governmentfair and equal treatment of all citizens-was thus persistently violated, and the central government, under the system which existed, found itself to a large extent without power to apply a remedy.

To recapitulate, then, the evils of the existing system were: (1) the maintenance of an elaborate governmental organization by municipal districts of little importance; (2) the exercise of legislative, executive, and to a certain extent, judicial functions, by the same individuals; (3) the failure to bestow power in such a way that real responsibility was at the same time incurred; (4) the intervention of the insular government in the way of approving or directing what should be done, rather than in seeing that the powers possessed, or those that should be possessed, by local authorities were properly exercised; (5) the misapplication of public funds, through their employment for the benefit of individuals rather than the general public, and the consequent failure to provide for important public services, like public instruction, road improvement, etc.; (6) the failure adequately to distinguish between the sources of revenue belonging, respectively, to the municipalities and to the insular government; and (7) the utter failure of those in authority even to understand, much less to fulfill, their political obligations.

Reorganization of the System. The foregoing will serve to show the imperative necessity that rested upon the insular government promptly to take in hand the matter of the reform of local government upon the island.