Indeed, in several cases we yielded to their judgment
and organized provinces which we ourselves thought might better wait
for a time.
Our first trip was to the northward along the line of the
Manila-Dagupan railway, and in the course of it we organized the
provinces of Bulaean, Pampanga, Tarlac and Pangasinan.
On the 2d of March we crossed Manila Bay to Bataan and established
a civil provincial government there.
The first provincial officers were necessarily appointed, not
elected. I well remember the consternation which Mr. Taft created
on this trip, when in announcing the appointment of a man of strong
character who was much disliked by some of the people present, he
said that if the appointee did not behave well his official head
would be promptly removed. Surprise showed on almost every face in
the audience. They had become sufficiently accustomed to the idea of
being beheaded or otherwise sent out of the world by their own people,
but had been led to believe that the Americans were a humane nation,
and it took Mr. Taft at least five minutes to explain his joke.
During the second week in March the commission transferred its officers
bodily to the United States Army Transport _Sumner_ and started on
a long journey in the course of which it visited and established
provincial governments in eighteen provinces, [462] returning to
Manila on the 3d of May.
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