Meanwhile, the unexpectedly heavy expense involved in completing the
road had been made the subject of severe criticism by the public press
of Manila. Most of the critics were entirely honest, having no idea
of the character of the country opened up, or of the importance of
making it readily accessible.
Just at the time when the commission should have crowded its programme
through to conclusion, it faltered. The only government construction
work performed at the summer capital that year, in addition to what
has been mentioned, was the erection of a small office building and of
a barrack building for labourers, the enlarging of five government
cottages, the addition of out-buildings, and the enlarging of a
building which served as a combination sanatorium and hotel.
This policy of inaction was a mistaken one. It made the Benguet Road
seem like the city avenue which ran into a street, the street into
a lane, the lane into a cow path, the cow path into a squirrel track
and the squirrel track up a tree, for while one could get to Baguio,
there was very little there after one arrived. The accommodations
at the sanatorium were strictly limited, and there was some apparent
justification for the charge freely made that the Philippine Commission
had voted to spend very large sums of money to open up a health resort
from which only its members and its staff derived benefit.
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