by those in authority, and punishment is not meted out speedily and severely upon those who rob the people of their political rights, the result is generally a revolution in which the people again repossess themselves of the jewels of personal and political liberty and the right to self-government, through blood and carnage.

212. Public Office is a Public Trust. An American maxim is that a government office is a public trust. "Public offices are created for the purpose of effecting the ends for which government has been instituted, which are the common good, and not the profit, honor, or private interest of any one man, family, or class of men." 2

A man holding a public office is in duty bound to protect the interests of the public and the individuals placed in his care. He must lay aside his personal interests and look after the public interests that have been entrusted to him. In the case of a conflict between his personal interests and his official ones, it is his duty to prefer the latter. There was a certain public health official who, when smallpox spread in his town, did not want to leave his house for fear that he might bring back the disease to his children. Such was a case of manifest disloyalty to his trust.

The maxim that a public office is a public trust is not alone the unwritten law for public officials; it is also enforced in specific laws. Thus, our municipal laws prohibit municipal officers from being directly or indirectly interested in any municipal contract or other municipal business, or in the purchase of any real estate or property belonging to the municipality. This, of course, is to prevent the incumbents from using their office for the prosecution of private ends. There has been a rule established by the courts that invali

1 United States v. Iturrius, 37 Phil. 762.

2 Brown v. Russel, 166 Mass. 14.

dates any action of a government body in which a member has a pecuniary interest as distinct from a public interest. An Act of the Philippine Legislature punishes bonded public officials for the crime of misuse of public funds or property entrusted to their care.

213. Right to Local Government. It is axiomatic that the people of a community are entitled to self-government No constitution is needed to realize the principle of home' rule. The maintenance of democratic institutions depends on the respect which higher officials have for this beneficent idea. M. de Tocqueville, a well-known French author, wrote, "A nation may establish a system of free government, but without the spirit of municipal institutions it can not have the spirit of liberty."

Fortunately for the Philippines, President McKinley laid down the injunction that "the presumption is always to be in favor of the smaller subdivision"; that the central government of the Islands "shall have only such supervision and control over local governments as may be necessary to secure and enforce faithful and efficient administration by local officers"; and that "in all cases the municipal officers who administer the local affairs of the people are to be selected by the people." These portions of the Instructions to the Commission still constitute a portion of Philippine constitutional law and should be enforced. It must be admitted, however, that, in practice, there is supervision of local governments from above.

214. A Government of Laws and Not of Men. - One great principle of government which is at the bottom of American institutions is that a government must be a government of laws and not of men. This means that laws must be obeyed by all, and that everybody who violates them must suffer the consequences. From the humblest laborer to the most

powerful man and from the lowest employee to the official occupying the most exalted position, the laws must be equally applied and must have the same majesty and power.

The question may be asked whether a law which is clearly objectionable to the general public should be obeyed. The answer is, Yes; it must be obeyed. For in a democracy, the people can change the law. It is true that the people, as a rule, do not directly make the laws. That is so in the Philippines and in large countries. The people simply elect representatives to make the laws. Sometimes these representatives fail to represent the wishes of the people and pass an undesirable law. It is then for the people through the voters who elect their representatives to urge that the law be changed or to elect new representatives who will change the law. But while the law is on the statute books, it must be obeyed by all.

215. Popular Sovereignty. - Americans have prided themselves on the fact that in the United States sovereignty belongs to the people. In other words, to use the expression in our first chapter, the United States is a democratic state, the supreme power of sovereignty residing in the people; it is a government, to quote Lincoln, "of the people, for the people, and by the people."

By "people" is meant the entire population of the state, consisting of males and females, adults and infants. But the people themselves, the entire population, cannot directly do things. It is impossible for all the people in any given country to act or to pass laws or even to elect officials. Hence those who are best qualified to speak for all the people are generally designated as voters. In some countries there is universal suffrage, which means that all the adults are allowed to vote; in this case a majority of the voters are authorized to represent the people at a given election.

Government of the people, by the people, and for the

people, means not the spontaneous act of the people, not the angry action of a mob, but the action of the people through legal channels, through channels that they themselves have established. This is the fundamental American doctrine, which is often misinterpreted. It is the American doctrine of popular sovereignty. "When a part of the people or even a majority of them act outside the forms of law, they have no power, except the power of force, to bind those who do not join in the movement." 1

In a democracy there is no justification for a people to act outside the law; there is no place for a bloody revolution. The most radical changes in the government can be effected and should be effected through legal means. In no place is this more apparent than in the United States of America. If by revolution is meant a radical change in the government or in the fundamental law of the land, then there is a revolution in the United States every four or five years, for hardly that time passes before the people of some state, through a constitutional convention, revise or amend the constitutional law under which they live.

If the law provides a legal means for changing the form of government or the constitutional law, no other means are permissible. One important example is the so-called Dorr's Rebellion in Rhode Island. In the early part of the nineteenth century Rhode Island was under an antiquated charter which permitted the rule by a few of the landholding class. The majority of the people were against the constitution and the government, and the adult male citizens throughout the State extra-legally sent delegates to a convention to frame a better and more democratic constitution. The convention was called outside the law and its members tried to call a special election in 1841 to submit the constitution for approval. 1 Hoar, Constitutional Conventions, pages 21, 22.

At this election the majority of the adult males voted for the new frame of government. Dorr was subsequently elected governor. So there were set up two governments in Rhode Island. One was the legal one and the other the illegal one. The legal one was a government by the minority, but by the minority authorized by law. The other one was a government by the majority, but by the majority which was not authorized by law. Dorr was prevented from assuming his office by the President of the United States, who forced him and many of his followers into exile. On Dorr's return, a few years later, he was tried and convicted of high treason. In the meantime, a constitution was drafted in regular convention established in accordance with law, and although this constitution received only seven thousand votes, while Dorr's constitution received fourteen thousand, it became the real constitution. The real difference is this: the seven thousand voted at a duly called election and hence had authority to speak for the whole people, whereas the fourteen thousand voted at an irregular election and hence spoke only for themselves.

The essence of American popular sovereignty is a government of the people and by the people, but it is also a government of laws.

216. Predominance of Civil Power over Military Authority. Another great principle at the basis of Amercan institutions is the supremacy of civil power over the military authorities. The heads of the military and naval organizations in the United States, the President and the Secretaries of War and of the Navy, are generally taken from civilian ranks. The President of the United States is elected by the civilian votes, and the Secretaries of War and of the Navy are usually civilians appointed by the President of the United States.