Had the commission not prevented the passage of much dangerous and vicious legislation approved by the assembly the public service would have suffered seriously, and public order would have been endangered. Heretofore the commission has prevented the enactment of really vicious legislation. By giving the Filipinos a majority in this body a very important safeguard has been removed. Another serious result will follow. It was undoubtedly the will of Congress, when its Act of July 1, 1902, was passed, that Americans should control legislation for the Moros and other non-Christians; hence the power to legislate for the territory which they inhabit was reserved by Congress for the commission. Under the new arrangement Filipinos will control in this matter also, and so the will of Congress will be defeated, although the letter of the law is not violated. The outlook for the backward peoples of the islands, under these circumstances, cannot fail to arouse grave apprehension among all who are genuinely interested in them. The elections for delegates to the assembly have caused endless trouble in many of the provinces. Neither the people at large nor the candidates themselves have as yet learned cheerfully to accept the will of the majority, and the number of protested election cases is out of all proportion to the number of delegates. In many towns, like Cuyo, these elections have given rise to serious feuds which have brought their previously rapid social and material progress to a standstill, divided families against each other, and in general have produced very disastrous results. Many of the best people of Cuyo are now begging to have the right to elect an assemblyman taken from their province, on the ground that otherwise there is no hope for the restoration of normal conditions. The assembly is the judge of the qualifications of its members. It has seen fit to admit a number of very disreputable characters. In my opinion neither the character of its members nor that of the legislation passed by it has justified its establishment, much less the "Filipinization" of the commission. CHAPTER XXVIII THE PICTURESQUE PHILIPPINES Having now devoted a good deal of time to the consideration of political conditions in the Philippines, let us turn our attention to the islands themselves and consider their physical characteristics, their climate and their commercial possibilities. There has been much discussion as to the number of islands in the archipelago. The United States Coast and Geodetic Survey has counted them. Big and little they number thirty-one hundred forty-one, of which ten hundred ninety-five are large and fertile enough to be inhabited.