Proceedings of the first Independence congress : held in the city of Manila, Philippine islands, February 22-26, 1930 / Published under the direction of Dean maximo M. Kalaw, executive secretary, University of the Philippines.

122 INDEPENDENCE CONGRESS PROCEEDINGS

as to hamper useful industries and other economic activities.
This is no time to discuss exhaustibly the changes that we
should adopt in our financial system; the matter should be
made the subject of a separate study by competent persons.
I do not believe there will be serious opposition to the idea
of increasing taxation here, if that is necessary for the main-
tenance of an independent government. We should be willing
to pay the price of liberty. Of course, in working out our
financial program for the provinces and municipalities, we
should at the same time study the ways and means by which
the expenses of the governments of these political subdivisions
could be reduced to the minimum without, however, hampering public business. It is possible that we could bring down
administrative expenses of our provincial and municipal governments by the reduction of their personnel.
The next speaker was the Honorable Jose Abad
Santos, Secretary of Justice. Secretary Santos, in a
very notable address, made the acute observation that
the impartial and speedy administration of justice is
an indispensable requisite to political stability, because
of the sense of security and confidence it gives to citizens
and resident aliens alike. He gave the political section
of the Independence Congress a complete comparative
study of the different judiciary systems existing in
many parts of the United States and America, warning
his audience that his purpose is for them to choose that
which best suits the needs of the country. He also stated
that it was his idea to prepare the minds of the people
on this question so that when the time comes to solve
it, they could solve it intelligently.
Before going deeply into the differences found in
the judiciary system of many countries, Secretary Santos pointed out the importance of the separation of
powers of the three branches of the United States gov