Report of the Philippine commission to the President. : January 31, 1900[-December 20, 1900] [Vol. 1, no. 1]

LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL.

WASHINGTON, D, C., January 31st, 1900.
To the PRESIDENT.
SIR: The undersigned, who were appointed by you in the month of
January, 1899, to examine into the conditions existing in the Philippine
Islands, have the honor to submit the following report. The preliminary report made by the Commission, of date November 2, 1899, is
appended hereto as Exhibit I and made a part of this report.
As originally constituted, the Commission was composed of Jacob
Gould Schurman, of New York; Maj. Gen. Elwell S. Otis, of the
United States Army; Rear-Admiral George Dewey, of the United
States Navy; Charles Denby, of Indiana; Dean C. Worcester, of
Michigan, Commissioners. John R. MacArthur, of New York, was
selected as Secretary and Counsel of the Commission, and Rutherford
Corbin as Assistant Secretary.
On January 18, 1899, the civilian Commissioners met at Washington, received the President's instructions to the commission, a copy
whereof is appended hereto as Exhibit II, and took the necessary steps
to secure clerks and stenographers, and to form a preliminary organization. They then adjourned, with the understanding that they should
proceed as quickly as possible to Manila, where their next meeting
should be held.
In pursuance of that determination, the civilian members of the
Commission, except Comnissioner Denby, who was detained by
public business, left America the latter part of January and reached
Manila on the 4th of March, 1899. The last-named Commissioner
arrived at Manila the 2d of April, 1899.
MEETINGS OF THE COMMISSION.
Rooms for offices were assigned to the Commission and its staff in
the "Audiencia," a large building within the walled city near the
headquarters of Major-General Otis and formerly used by the supreme
court of the archipelago. In these rooms regular daily sessions of
the Commission were held, witnesses examined, visitors received, and
business transacted. The Commission also received visitors and
attended to business at its residence in Malate, a suburb of Manila.
The witnesses and visitors who came before the Commission, in and
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