them without impairing the rights of sovereignty of the United States. The mere granting of two elective branches of the legislature would not make the government an autonomous one if the people had not a hand in the execution of the laws and in the administration of the government. Considerable executive power must, therefore, be transferred to the people.

The cabinet officers appointed have, with the exception of the Secretary of Public Instruction, all been Filipinos. Moreover, they are appointed only after consultation with the members of our Legislature, "the representatives" of the people. A certain amount of responsibility of the Cabinet to the Legislature, and indirectly to the people, is thus assured.

95. Reasons for the Reorganization of the Executive Departments. There are several reasons why the reorganization of the executive departments was imperative.

The Jones Law authorized such reorganization, and it was necessary to ratify in the statute books of the Philippines the new executive power granted the Filipinos, in order to make the departmental secretaries responsible to the Legislature. It was urgent, too, that there be a ore logical and scientific regrouping of bureaus and offices. This need had long been felt even before the passage of the Jones Law, and for that purpose the Emergency Board provided for in the Appropriation Law of 1915 was authorized to act as an efficiency board "to investigate and analyze as minutely as possible the organization of the bureaus of the Insular Government for the purpose of determining the utility of each of them, the possibility of their improvement by eliminating all duplication of work, . . . and in general indicating such changes in the direction and organization of the bureaus as will tend to simplify the system of work followed and result in economy and increased efficiency." It was necessary,

furthermore, to provide for harmonious action and coöperation between the executive heads and the Legislature, and also that the new department heads should have more authority and power over the offices and bureaus under them.

These were, on the whole, the problems which were met by the Reorganization Act.

96. Cabinet Responsibility to the Legislature. The Reorganization Act, as finally passed (Act No. 2666, as amended by Act No. 2803, and incorporated as Chapter V in the Administrative Code), provides several means whereby the responsibility of the executive heads to the Legislature may be effected.

The secretaries of departments, excepting the Secretary of Public Instruction, are appointed at the beginning of each Legislature, instead of indefinitely as before. This means, by inference, that the executive heads are to be appointed after each triennial election, and that they are to be chosen in obedience to the popular will as expressed in such election. Members of the Legislature can probably become at the same time cabinet heads. It is true, however, that because of the provision of the Jones Law prohibiting members of the Legislature from occupying positions created by them, no cabinet post was open to a member of the Legislature except the Secretaryship of the Interior, and this was later filled by a Senator; but in the subsequent elections all the cabinet posts, if deemed necessary, could be filled by legislative members.

Secretaries of departments may be called by either of the two Houses of the Legislature for the purpose of reporting on matters pertaining to their departments. This gives the Legislature the power to examine and criticize the different departments.

Only a citizen of the Philippine Islands, thirty years of

age, who has resided in the Islands continuously during three years next preceding his appointment, can be appointed. This means that, except as to the Department of Public Instruction, only Philippine citizens can become secretaries of departments.

The fundamental theory of this Bill," as expressed by Speaker Osmeña, in explaining his vote on the Reorganization Law, "is that, inasmuch as the country must exercise all the powers conferred upon it by the Jones Act, without sterile vacillation or cowardly renunciation, the departmental direction of the administrative activities should, so far as possible, be in the hands of Filipinos. For this reason, the Chief Executive has ceased to be a departmental head in the sense in which he used to be, and the Secretary of Public Instruction, who is not responsible to the Philippine Legislature, will, under the new plan, have no executive functions but those assigned to him by the Congress of the United States. Neither the Governor-General nor the Secretary of Public Instruction will perform the duties of any departmental office belonging to other secretaries, during the absence or temporary incapacity of the latter. This distribution of the executive power is in accordance with the legitimate desires of the people and involves a frank determination to assume the responsibilities of a real and ample autonomy.

97. The Reorganized Departments. - Up to 1916, there were four departments, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Commerce and Police, the Department of Finance and Justice, and the Department of Public Instruction. In the reorganization of the departments, the plan of the Efficiency Board was chiefly followed. Instead of the old four, there were to be six departments, the Department of the Interior, the Department of Public Instruction, the Department of Finance, the Department of

Reading from Left to Right: Secretary of Agriculture and Natural Resources Apacible, Secretary of Justice Mapa,

Secretary of Public Instruction and Vice-Governor Yeater, Governor-General Harrison, Secretary of the Interior Palma, Secretary of Finance Barretto, Secretary of Commerce and Communications Jakosalem

Justice, the Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and the Department of Commerce and Communications. These departments were to correspond to "the six principal purposes which a fairly well organized government has to accomplish," namely:

1. "The political direction of the various local administrative units, such as departments, provincial and municipal governments, and special governments" The Department of the Interior;

2. "The guardianship of the State over the mental development and physical welfare of the citizens" - The Department of Public Instruction;

3. "The collection of the public revenues and administration of the finance and business of the government" Department of Finance;

The

4. "The enforcement of the law and maintenance of order and safeguarding of the citizens and their rights" — The Department of Justice;

5. "The guardianship in connection with the preservation of the natural resources and the development of its sources of wealth" — The Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources; and

6. "The carrying out of such work and services as cannot be performed by private citizens, conducive to the common welfare and public prosperity" The Department of Commerce and Communications.

98. Departmental Control. We have stated that one reason for the reorganization was to give greater control and power to the department heads. Heretofore, each bureau was almost a department by itself. The control of the department head was very slight. The Reorganization Act, therefore, as amended by Act No. 2803 (Section 79 (c) of the Administrative Code) provides that the department head