Some few Filipinos, whose loyalty
was above suspicion, were appointed to the lower grades. This number
has since been materially augumented, and some of the original Filipino
appointees have risen to the rank of captain.
It was inevitable that at the outset there should be abuses. The
organization was necessarily born at work; there was no time to
instruct, to formulate regulations, to wait until a satisfactory
state of discipline had been brought about. There were not barracks
for housing the soldiers; there were neither uniforms, nor arms,
nor ammunition. There was no system for rationing the men. All of
these things had to be provided, and they were provided through a
natural evolution of practical processes, crystallizing into form,
tested by the duties of the day. The organization which grew up was a
true survival of the fittest, both in personnel and in methods. The
wonder is not that some abuses occurred, but that they were so few;
not that there were occasional evidences of lack of efficiency,
but that efficiency was on the whole so high from the beginning.
The several provinces were made administrative units, the commanding
officer in each being designated as "senior inspector." The men who
were to serve in a given province were by preference recruited there,
and a departure was thus made from the usual foreign colonial practice.
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