_Judiciary._--The elaborate system of Spanish courts and the Spanish legal system generally have been done away with, and in their place a system of law and procedure and a judicial system modeled upon those of the American states have been substituted. There is a supreme court consisting of five judges appointed for life by the President, and of these, three are Porto Ricans and two Americans. Below this court are a number of district courts each of which is presided over by one judge appointed by the governor with the consent of the council for a term of four years. There are also twenty-four municipal courts, and in the several towns there are courts held by the justices of the peace. The act of 1917 provided for the establishment of a District Court of the United States for the island. _Resident Commissioner at Washington._--The interests of the island are looked after at Washington by a resident commissioner who is elected by the qualified voters for a term of four years. Unlike the delegate from an organized territory he has no right to a seat in the house of representatives, but the house has granted him the courtesy of this privilege. He is, however, entitled to official recognition by all the executive departments whenever he wishes to discuss with them matters of business affecting Porto Rico. The island has its own internal revenue system for raising taxes, and the receipts from all customs duties on goods imported into the island are turned into the insular treasury. Unlike the Philippines, however, the island does not have its own monetary system, but uses that of the United States. =The Philippines.=--The problem of governing the Philippines has proved much more difficult than that of governing Porto Rico. Instead of a single island inhabited by a fairly homogeneous population, the Philippine archipelago consists of several hundred islands inhabited by various races and peoples representing almost every stage of development from savagery to fairly complete civilization. It has been a difficult problem to develop a system of government adapted to the needs and capacities of so many different elements. In addition to the difficulties presented by these conditions, the Filipinos in various parts of the archipelago have resisted American rule, and no small amount of effort and expenditure of money has been directed toward the suppression of outbreaks and the maintenance of order.