The per capita rate of taxation is lower in the Philippines than in any other civilized country. Money is badly needed for education, health work and the improvement of means of communication, and all of these measures were ill-advised. First Session and Special Session of 1908 Assembly Bill 23 provided for the appointment of jurors in courts of first instance and justice of the peace courts. Under it the provincial boards were to select the eligibles from a list of names submitted by the municipal councils of the provincial capitals. This would in effect have put the administration of justice in the hands of the political party in power. Assembly Bill 104 was entitled "An Act amending Act numbered fifteen hundred and thirty-seven of the Philippine Commission on horse-races in the Philippine Islands." Gambling is the besetting sin of the Filipinos, and in the city of Manila gambling in connection with horse racing had grown to be such a scandal that the commission had been compelled to take action limiting the days on which it was permitted to legal holidays and one Sunday per month. The evil had reached large dimensions. Several race-tracks were maintained in one small city, and the money that went through the totalizer, or gambling machine, had reached the enormous sum of $3,500,000 per year. Even poorly paid clerks were leaving their work to bet on the races, and then stealing in order to recoup themselves for their losses. The morals of the community were being rapidly undermined. The act passed by the commission interfered with the business of conducting daily crooked races. It certainly left plenty of opportunity to indulge in horse-racing as a legitimate sport. The amendment proposed by the assembly permitted horse-racing on all Sundays, on three days prior to Lent and on all legal holidays except Memorial Day, Rizal Day and Thursday and Friday of Holy Week. If passed it would have protected certain vicious interests and opened the way to a prompt extension of the gambling business. Assembly Bill 134 reduced the tax on distilled intoxicating liquors one-fourth. The tax was already low. The rate proposed by the assembly was a concession to the demand of powerful interests and its attitude was worthy of severe condemnation. Assembly Bill 136 abolished provincial boards of health, substituted therefor district health officers and took important powers away from the director of health and gave them to provincial boards. Substantial progress had been made in improving provincial sanitary conditions through provincial boards of health, under the control of the director of health. As was to be anticipated in a country like the Philippines, many necessary health measures were unpopular. This bill, vitally affecting one of the most imperative needs of the islands, would if concurred in by the commission have resulted in widespread disaster.