Local government in the Philippine islands,

312 LOCAL GOVERNMENT IN THE PHILIPPINES

tions of the present period will permit, the historical
elements of the old regime and even the designations which
have been hallowed by custom among the natives.
The very great difference which is observed among
the towns of those provinces would make this Decree impracticable, if it were to contain minute regulations which
would have to be carried out unchangingly in all these provinces. Only such organic laws have been established as
appear sufficient to define the constitution and mode of
operation of the local administration, the details conforming to the conditions of each district being left to the regulations which are to be drafted, revised, and approved for
each province. In the preparation and approval of these
regulations, the main object must be to secure an added,
not a reduced, simplicity which is to be sought in the organization and conduct of the local institutions.
Care has been taken to avoid the organization of the
secretarial or other similar professions as an integral part
of the administration of the towns. It would be contrary
to the pristine intention of the reform scheme to place on
the same level with the authorities and officers of the town,
who are elective and temporary, those nominal public servants who, in view of their permanency and the general
character of the natives, would easily degenerate into irresponsible and dissembling wire-pullers of the Administration. At each appointed time, let every tribunal seek
its servants; but the law takes no direct concern of them.
The sphere, wherein the attached Decree grants to the
municipal courts an unrestricted and special jurisdiction,
is circumscribed to genuinely local interests, in so far as it
is possible to distinguish them from the general interests
with which they are always united in an indissoluble manner; and within this limited jurisdiction, provided that the
general interests and the obedience to law are observed,
the higher authorities must consider that the temporary
advantage of improving some measures does not counterbalance the permanent injury which is caused by hamstringing and crushing local initiative. When the administration of the persons elected or of the delegates of a
Principalia is defective, there will, nevertheless, be the
peculiar advantage that their errors, unavoidable as they
are, can be ascribed only to the selfsame natives of the
towns, in whose hands lies the remedy for the future.
Without depriving them of the opportunity of testing
themselves in the management of their interests and in supplying the necessities of the towrr itself, the following will