end of the last school year, and as the civil government was no longer able to avail itself of the army transport service the sum of $15,000 was appropriated to meet the necessary expense. Since then a law has been passed giving to all civil employees free transportation to San Francisco on separation after three years of faithful service, and it is thought that future misunderstandings on this account will not occur. Experience has demonstrated, at least to my satisfaction, that the present plan which gives to the division superintendent the power to employ native teachers and to fix their salaries, and no authority whatever to oblige municipalities to make the necessary appropriation or to pay the salaries fixed, is a mistake and must be changed sooner or later. American teachers were made a charge on the insular treasury, for the reason that the salaries of such teachers were beyond the financial ability of the municipalities, or even of provinces, to pay. It was believed, however, that the payment of native teachers was not beyond the ability of provincial and local governments, and that at least that responsibility should be imposed upon them if for no other purpose than to give them a strong financial interest in the success of the schools. The event has shown, however, that while it may be safely said that 90 per cent of the municipalities take a deep and abiding interest in education, their lively sympathy does not always go to the extent of providing the necessary means to pay the expenses. In some municipalities the failure to pay the monthly stipend of native instructors was due to lack of funds to pay anyone, but in others the disposition seemed to be to meet every municipal obligation except that incurred to teachers. The school fund, in my opinion, should be expended only on the approval of the division superintendent, and in no event should other calls be honored on the fund unless there is sufficient money actually on hand to meet the salary demands for the year. In the interest of retaining many good Filipino teachers, and as an incentive to others to endure the existing conditions in the hope of future promotion, the insular government made provision for the payment of the salaries of 150 native teachers out of insular funds, and this number will be increased by the end of the calendar year to 200. ATTENDANCE. In the months of September, October, November, and December of last year there was a very notable diminution in the attendance on the public schools. This was caused, to a great extent by the prevalence of cholera and smallpox and the almost countless misfortunes and discouragements which assailed the whole body of the people after six years of war and public disturbance. To some extent the decrease in attendance was also due to the fact that the novelty of the American schools had worn off, and that there was a suspicion that the schools were to be used as an insidious means of undermining and destroying in the child its belief in the religion to which the parents adhered. Moreover, many of the teachers were entirely new to the work, and confronted at the beginning of their labors with the great difficulty of making themselves understood. Their flagging interest and discouragement, often manifested by open impatience, immediately resulted in apathy on the part of the students and consequent loss of attendance. At the beginning of the present school year, however, the cholera and smallpox had fairly worn themselves out; the people had become more accustomed to their misfortunes and troubles; the policy of noninterference in religious matters by the Government had weakened in a marked degree the suspicion that there was to be interference by teachers with the religion of the children; and teachers, revived by two month's vacation, came back to their labors with renewed energy, and above all with the confident hope that a little perseverance and patience would finally overcome their difficulties. The consequence was a pronounced increase in both the enrollment and attendance from the very beginning of the year, and the enrollment and attendance have gone on steadily increasing in practically every province with but one or two exceptions. In the divisions of Pangasinan, Tarlac, Rizal, Oriental Negros, Manila, Pampanga-Bataan, Laguna, and Bulacan, the increase in enrollment has been most decided and gratifying, as the following table of enrollment for the months of September and October of this year will show: While the same extraordinary advance has not been made in all the provinces, the increase in attendance in the provinces just mentioned is typical of the great interest taken in the schools and of the steady advance, which has suffered no diminution or backset since June last. The Christian population of the islands as given by the last census is 6,967,011, and the school population is roughly estimated at 1,424,776, of which 182,202 have been enrolled in the day schools and 11,429 in the night schools, making a total of 193,731 who have been brought within the sphere of educational influence. The actual average attendance on day schools is 131,371 and on night schools 8,595, making a total attendance of 139,966, or about 73 per cent of the enrollment. The number enrolled in proportion to the whole school population is small, yet when it is considered that an average of less than 700 American teachers has brought about this result in two years' time, during part of which cholera ravaged the islands, causing the death of more than 150,000 of the inhabitants, the achievement is not disappointing. Since the submission of his report, the general superintendent has prepared and submitted to this office a table carrying the more important items of statistical information of his bureau down to the month of September. This table, which is given in full in Exhibit A, shows the Christian population and number of towns of each province as shown by the census lately taken, the number of American teachers, the number of native teachers, the enrollment and attendance by provinces in schools under American teachers, the enrollment and attendance by provinces in schools under native teachers, the total enrollment and attendance by provinces, and an estimate of the school population by provinces. The totals as shown by the table are as follows: Christian population. Number of towns.. Number of towns with American teachers.. Number of American teachers. Number of native teachers... Enrollment in towns under the supervision of American teachers, exclusive of night schools.... Attendance in towns under the supervision of American teacers, 75 per cent of enrollment.. Enrollment in towns not under the supervision of American teachers, exclusive of night schools.... Attendance in towns not under the supervision of American teachers, 65 per cent of enrollment... Total enrollment, exclusive of night schools. Total attendance, 72 per cent of enrollment. Percentage of estimated school population now enrolled in the schools (exclusive of night schools).... RELATIONS OF AMERICAN TEACHERS TO THE PEOPLE. 6, 967, 011 934 338 691 2,496 123, 147 92, 627 59, 055 38,754 182, 202 131, 371 1,424, 776 13 When the insurrection against the United States was definitely ended and the insurgents were forced to submit to the inevitable, their submission did not bring with it any particular good will to those whom they had so lately regarded as enemies. Neither the American soldier nor the Filipino insurgent would make or was disposed to make the first advance to a better state of feeling. The blood of the insurgents had been shed and they, in their turn, had shed that of the American soldier. Conditions, therefore, were not at all favorable on either side for the creation of an era of good feeling or the burying of the dead but well-remembered past. The first decided break after the insurrection in the mutual sentiment of estrangement between Americans and Filipinos came with the advent of civil government and the initiation of a policy of attraction coupled with just, firm, and merciful treatment. Apart from the personal attitude of the members of the Civil Commission and the influence of an impartial judiciary, which dealt out justice to Filipino and American alike, this policy was brought home to the people in no inconsiderable degree by the disinterested devotion and unselfish work of the American teacher. From the beginning the relations of the American teacher to the people have, as a rule, been pleasant and agreeable. Even in provinces where there was more or less disturbance and ladronism, the almost sacred regard in which the teacher was held exempted him from violence, and I know of none who came to grief except four teachers who were killed while traveling in the mountains where their status was unknown-or -one who was mistaken for the provincial treasurer and stabbed to death to secure the money which it was thought he carried, one who lost his life while leading an armed party against the ladrones, and one who was robbed of his watch and money, but not otherwise molested. So clearly have the people manifested their predilection for the American instructor that a failure on his part to maintain a warm local interest in the success of his school may be usually attributed rather to some cause personal to himself than to any popular sentiment against the school. SCHOOLHOUSES. One of the great obstacles to the growth of the school work in the islands has been the lack of proper school accommodations. Since the beginning of the year, however, considerable activity has been manifested in the construction and repair of school structures, generally in those towns where the land taxes have been collected. Many school buildings have been completed during the year, quite a number are under construction, and plans for others are in course of preparation. In some of the municipalities where there was a lack of funds to pay labor, the timbers for buildings have been cut and the buildings constructed by voluntary labor, and sometimes by the students themselves. In needy provinces, where an additional food supply was required, division superintendents have availed themselves of the rice purchased out of the Congressional relief fund in order to relieve the distress, and at the same time secure improved school accommodations. Great interest is taken by the provinces in the provincial schools, many of them applying to the insular government for loans in order to secure the erection of edifices appropriate for the purposes of secondary instruction. In some few cases the competition by municipalities to secure the site of the provincial school has been very intense, and through this rivalry some provinces have been enabled to secure valuable and adequate sites and such liberal contributions from the people that the necessity of applying to the insular government for aid has been avoided. MORO PROVINCE. The act of the Commission providing for the organization and government of the Moro Province passed June 1, 1903, practically legislated out of existence the school division of Mindanao and Jolo. Dr. N. M. Saleeby, a man well acquainted with the Moro people, their language and customs, was appointed superintendent of the school system in the new province and charged with the general supervision of all school matters in that jurisdiction. Out of the school division of Samar and Leyte two school divisions were created by act No. 917, and Henry S. Townsend, the former superintendent of the division of Mindanao and Jolo, was transferred to the new school disvision of Samar. B. B. Sherman, former division superintendent of the united provinces, was left in charge of the division of Leyte. Under the act creating the Moro Province all reports of its division superintendent are required to be made to the provincial governor, copies of such reports being forwarded to the general superintendent of education. The American teachers located in the former division of Mindanao and Jolo were transferred to the new division, which has assumed the responsibility for the payment of their salaries from and after October 1 of this year. All school supplies in the original division have been also turned over to Doctor Saleeby, the present division superintendent. THE WORK ACCOMPLISHED AND THAT WHICH REMAINS TO BE DONE. Since the organization of the bureau of education, a little more than two years ago, one of its principal objects has been the creation of a system of primary instruction so extensive as to place within the reach of every child of school age in the islands the means of obtaining at least the rudiments of an education. It is useless to think that this result can be obtained through the medium of American instructors only. To place one American teacher in every important municipal and barrio school in the islands would require at least seven times the number of teachers now in the service, and would involve an expense which could not be borne. If the smaller centers of population are to be reached at all they must be reached by a corps of instructors born in the country, able to resist the insidious influence of a tropical climate, acquainted with the habits, customs, and language of the people, and carefully trained for the work by American teachers. Holding this opinion, the bureau of education has established in Manila a well equipped normal school, and has encouraged secondary schools in the practice of selecting bright pupils to aid and assist in the instruction of their fellow-students. A system of provincial normal institutes has been established, where every year during the vacation time the local force of teachers, American and native, including aspirantes, is brought together for a course of advanced study and mutual improvement. During this present calendar year normal institutes were held in 30 provinces, with an enrollment of more than 5,000. Some time is given every day by American teachers to the instruction of their Filipino assistants. From all this it is hoped that the native contingent will soon be brought up to the standard of modern instructors, and that a force of Filipino educators amply sufficient to supply this demand for primary teachers will be created. Besides all this, the Civil Commission has provided for the sending of 100 Filipino students to the United States for four years of study and experience in American schools. The students selected were placed in charge of Professor Sutherland, who for the time being has assigned them to various secondary and grammar schools in southern California in order to avoid the rigors of an eastern winter and to perfect his charges in English before finally entering them at the various colleges and universities selected for their education. From this body of students, and from the other sources of supply already established in the islands, it is confidently hoped that a corps of Filipino teachers, thoroughly acquainted with our educational methods, will be developed to take care of primary instruction and to aid in supervisory work now almost wholly confided to Americans. Next in importance after the creation of a supply of native teachers comes instruction in useful trades and the mechanical arts and sciences necessary for the industrial development of the country. A trade school has therefore been established in Manila, and lately industrial and trade instruction has been made a feature of many of the provincial and secondary schools. This branch of instruction is, as has been already stated, in its infancy, and while no great progress has been made, it is confidently believed that besides giving to the islands a supply of educated Filipino artisans and mechanics, it will compel a due regard and respect for the dignity of labor. Of course no attempt |