Local government in the Philippine islands,

234 LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

ation on the part of our legislators. An attempt to discuss
these and similar problems will be made in the second volume of this work.
Have We Succeeded at the Polls? —If the ability to
maintain a stable government is to be tested by the use
which is made of the ballot, then our provinces and municipalities can with pride assert that such a government
now exists. The election of provincial and municipal officials and, in fact, of all officials, though bitterly contested, has always been characterized by orderliness; and the
people's will has been given licit and untrammelled expression. On this point, let America's highest representatives speak. Shortly after the elections of 1919, Acting
Governor-General Charles Emmet Yeater issued the following significant statement to the press:
"By taking the election as a whole, I consider it entirely
creditable to the Philippine people; and I believe that no shortcomings or improper conduct in receiving the votes will exceed
those ordinarily committed in other countries."
Referring to the elections of 1919, the Wood-Forbes
Report said:
"Interest in the elections was widespread and Election Day
passed without any serious disturbances. There was a general,
quiet acceptance by the minority of the results of the popular
vote."
Immediately after the 1922 election, the author, as
Secretary of the Interior, reported to the Governor-General
as follows:
"Now that the elections are over, permit me to report to you
that in the provinces and in the Cities of Manila and Baguio,
the general elections were held in an orderly manner with due
regard to the law and the officials charged with the duty of its
administration and enforcement. While a few isolated cases of
personal violence might have occurred in the heat of political
excitement, yet taking the elections as a whole, the people exercised the important political right of suffrage in a manner cre