In
view of the rather primitive state of civilization of the people for
whom we were legislating, a special act adapted to local conditions
was passed providing for a provincial government and fixing a form
of government for the several settlements.
On January 31, 1901, we passed an act for the organization of municipal
governments in the Philippine Islands which, with various amendments,
is still in effect and has been made applicable to all municipal
corporations of the Philippines inhabited chiefly by Filipinos, except
the city of Manila, the city of Baguio and a few small settlements
in the so-called special government provinces. [461]
On February 6, 1901, we passed a general act for the organization of
provincial governments in the Philippine Islands. A special act was
required to make it applicable to any given province.
Having thus prepared for the serious work of establishing civil
government throughout the archipelago so fast and so far as conditions
might seem to justify, we determined to visit the several provinces
and to familiarize ourselves with conditions on the ground in each
case before taking action. We invariably sought the opinion of
the military authorities as to the fitness of the provinces under
consideration for civil rule, and never established it except with
their approval.
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