were on hand 21,750 books on August 31, 1903, of which 4,116 were received during the year ending on that date. The number of books issued was 20,579, and the number of new cards issued 4,701.

The library is at present established at No. 70 calle Rosario, from which place it is proposed to transfer it to more commodious quarters in the Oriente Building, recently purchased by the government. It is not expected, however, that these quarters will prove adequate to the growing demands of the library, and it seems certain that the government will be compelled to erect either a special structure for its use or provide proper accommodations for it in a museum building. the erection of which has been suggested.

The following is a statement of the total regular appropriations and regular disbursements, revenues, and petty expenditures of the library for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903:

Regular appropriations.

Regular disbursements
Revenues....

Petty expenditures..

$7,644.98

6, 700.75 2,756.98 702.94

It is provided by act of the Commission that all revenues from the library shall be deposited with the insular treasurer to be expended for the purchase of books and pamphlets for the library.

MUSEUM OF ETHNOLOGY, NATURAL HISTORY, AND COMMERCE. The museum of ethnology, natural history, and commerce was established by act of the Commission of October 29, 1901. The museum created by this act was placed temporarily under the immediate direc tion of the chief of the bureau of non-Christian tribes, now the ethnological survey. All collections made by the museum, as well as its files of commercial correspondence, periodicals, etc., together with the clerk in charge, were transferred in January of this year to the exposition board. Since that time all collections have been made with a view of aiding the exposition board in making a proper Philippine exhibit at the exposition to be held at St. Louis in 1904. It is provided by act of the Commission that on the conclusion of the St. Louis exposition a committee designated by the civil governor shall select from the exhibits owned by the Philippine government all articles which, in the opinion of the committee, it would be wise and not too expensive to reship to Manila for use in a permanent museum, together with all the property, effects, and exhibits of the museum of ethnology, natural history, and commerce shipped to St. Louis. Several exhibits from foreign exporters have been received by the commercial museum, including one sent by the Japanese Government filling 86 cases and valued at more than 5,000 yens, which has recently arrived and is now in possession of Mr. Shiley, the clerk in charge, who has been retransferred from the exposition board to the museum for duty. Until suitable quarters are provided for renting or the erection of a suitable museum, those exhibits of the museum which have not been sent to St. Louis will be placed in the Oriente Building. It will be necessary for the government to provide a building to accommodate the large number of exhibits which will be returned to the islands for the purpose of creating a permanent institution. Several scientific gentlemen connected with the various bureaus of the government have suggested to the Commission the advisability of constructing a proper edifice in which to house not only exhibits representing the

ethnology, natural history, commerce, industries and resources of the islands, but also the circulating and reference libraries of the government. This matter has been submitted to the Commission and is now under consideration.

For further information in regard to the museum, special reference is made to the report of Dr. David P. Barrows, marked "Exhibit E."

BUREAU OF STATISTICS.

The operations of the bureau of statistics, established in September, 1900, were practically suspended from March, 1901, to August of the present year, when the bureau was finally abolished by Executive. Order in accordance with a previous act of the Commission. Mr. Manuel Xerez Burgos continued in charge of the office until its abolition, when he was transferred to the office of the Official Gazette. Up to the time of his transfer Mr. Burgos was engaged in the compilation of comparative statistical tables of the population of the islands from information obtained from the principal census taken during the Spanish rule, and in the preparation of a number of other statistical reports asked for by officers of the census just completed.

CENSUS BUREAU.

Reference to the establishment of this bureau was made in the report of the secretary of public instruction for the year 1902. The census was taken as of March 2, 1903, in accordance with the proclamation of the civil governor issued in pursuance of section 16 of act No. 467 and was practically completed in most of the provinces by April 15. The census returns began to arrive in Manila about May 1, and from that date to August 1 the entire office force was engaged in the preliminary examination of the schedules, which were shipped to Washington on the U. S. army transport Sherman, which sailed from Manila on August 20.

In the prosecution of the census work, the provisions of the census law and its modifications have been carefully followed, and it is believed that the data collected will prove of much interest and value to the Government. As no compilations of the data collected, except a rough count of the population, have been made, it is not practicable to give any accurate statement of the returns in this report; neither is it possible to make an accurate statement of the disbursements, as the accounts of all the disbursing officers have not as yet been closed. It can be said, however, that the total expense of the census will be well within the sum appropriated for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903, amounting to $684,689, and that there will be a considerable surplus. On August 29, 1903, it was provided that the services of the director of the census in the compilation and tabulation of the census returns and the preparation of the report of the census were to be continued in Washington upon the same terms as those upon which he served in the Philippine Islands, and that the two assistant directors of the census were also to be continued in Washington until the completion of the census report at the rate of $300, United States currency, per month each. The compensation of these assistant directors while in the Philippine Islands was $720 per month each. Authority was also given to the director of the census to take with him to Washington as his assistant Lieut. T. B. Taylor, U. S. Army, and two secretaries upon the same terms as were in force as to their employment in the Philip

pine Islands. This act provided further that the chief clerk and disbursing officer was to be continued in office in the Philippine Islanduntil the 15th day of November, 1903, for the purpose of settling up delayed accounts and to receive and forward to the director at Washington schedules and other documents relating to the census. It was, however, found necessary to extend the time of office of this officer from month to month until the odds and ends of the census work in the islands have been finally finished, in view of the fact that he found it impossible to complete the payment of enumerators and special agents in 20 or more provinces by November 15, and of the further fact that reports from different sources are still out and the mortuary schedules will not be received until February or later, and when received will have to be verified, classified, corrected, and packed according to census districts and municipalities.

The rough count of the population, showing Christian and nonChristian inhabitants separately, is as follows:

THE OFFICIAL GAZETTE.

The Official Gazette has been in existence a little more than one year, having been established by act of the Commission on September 2, 1902. The office force provided for the Gazette consists of an editor at $1,800 per annum, one clerk at $720 per annum, two clerks at $600 per annum each, and one clerk at $300 per annum. It is printed at the Government printing plant in English and Spanish, and is at present issued to 2,182 subscribers, of whom 1,028 are officers of the insular government, on the "free list," 989 provincial and municipal governments, and 165 private persons. Laws of the Commission, executive orders, such decisions of the supreme court and court of customs appeals as may be designated by the judges, proclamations of the civil governor, resolutions of the Commission, opinions of the attorney-general, circular letters, orders, notices, etc., of the different bureaus are presented to the subscribers of the Gazette within a week after they are ready for publication. The price of the Gazette has been fixed by law at $6 U. S. currency per annum, or 15 cents per single copy. Provincial and municipal governments are required to subscribe for at least one copy weekly, and by this means are enabled to follow more closely the operations of the central government. On March 5, 1903, the editor was authorized by the Commission to make exchanges of the Gazette with similar periodicals with a view to collecting and placing on reference file useful information on political, social, and economic questions, and a number of publications of the Orient are now received regularly. Extracts from reports of bureau chiefs and other government officials on different subjects of interest and value to provincial and municipal officials and other subscribers will be printed from time to time in the Gazette. The Gazette is by law made a part of the public records of each provincial and municipal government, so that in each municipality and province there will always be a continuous record of necessary information for ready reference.

The following are the appropriations for and the receipts and expenditures of the Gazette during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1903:

Amount of appropriations..
Receipts
Expenditures

$3,000.00

3, 303. 76

2,704.22

The total cost of printing the Gazette from the date of its establishment to June 30, 1903, as returned by the public printer, was $9,690. For details in regard to the Official Gazette, reference is made to the report of the editor attached thereto, marked "Exhibit F," and made a part of this report. Respectfully submitted.

JAMES F. SMITH, Secretary of Public Instruction.

EXHIBIT A.

REPORT OF THE GENERAL SUPERINTENDENT OF EDUCATION FOR THE PHILIPPINE ISLANDS FOR THE PERIOD SEPTEMBER 1, 1902, TO SEPTEMBER 30, 1903, WITH ACCOMPANYING REPORTS AND PAPERS.

AIMS OF PRIMARY EDUCATION IN THE PHILIPPINES.

MANILA, P. I., September 15, 1903.

SIR: I have the honor to submit the annual report for the bureau of education for the Philippine Islands, which is the third annual report to be made by the general superintendent since the introduction of an American public-school system in these islands.

Within the past year the public schools' work has twice suffered the loss of a general superintendent. In December last Dr. Fred W. Atkinson, after two and one-half years' service in this capacity and after having organized the public-school system practically as it stands to-day, resigned his position in order to return to the United States and continue there his profession as a public educator, which was interrupted by his acceptance of duty here. He was succeeded by Dr. Elmer B. Bryan, then principal of the Manila Normal School, who, to the great disappointment and regret of every one interested in education, was obliged, by serious ill health, to resign his position August 13 last. The undersigned was appointed to succeed him, and has been in charge of the work only a few days over one month.

In reviewing the history of the islands for the past three years, one is immediately struck by the great emphasis placed upon public schools, first, by officers of every rank of the United States Army who administered this Archipelago during the first two years of American sov ereignty, and subsequently by the United States Philippine Commission and the civil government of the islands. This emphasis upon the public schools is undoubtedly the result of the primary importance which they play in American civilization and the supreme confidence which Americans feel in the necessity, to this and to every aspiring people, of a democratic, secular, and free-school system, supported and directed by the State. It has resulted that the school system of these islands is the most typically American institution which our government has here established. Spanish precedents and previous institutions have been followed to a strikingly less degree than in the organization of local and insular administration, the constitution of the courts, or any other branch of administration.

The definite purposes in introducing this educational system are unique in the history of colonial administration. Professedly, openly, and with resolute expectation of success, the American Government avowed its intention through public schools to give to every inhabitant of the Philippine Islands a primary, but thoroughly modern edu