It may be a revolutionary statement to make, but if I personally controlled the public lands of the Philippine Islands, I would without hesitation give them to persons who would cultivate them, making the amounts conceded dependent strictly upon the ability of their would-be owners to cultivate, and restoring to the public domain any lands not promptly and properly utilized. The money which the government now derives from the sale of public lands is a bagatelle compared with the benefit which would result to the country if cultivated areas were widely extended, and there is abundant labour here to extend them very rapidly. All that is needed is the introduction of modern machinery, modern agricultural methods and capital. The existing provisions of the Public Land Act relative to leases are very liberal, but the average man wants to own land before he spends much money on it. There are several serious omissions in the provisions of the act of Congress relative to the sale of public lands. No authority exists for their sale for residence purposes, business purposes, or cemetery purposes, except within town sites. The need of land for cemetery purposes became so acute that I deemed it wise to stretch the law a bit in meeting it. Many of the old cemeteries were situated in the midst of dense centres of population, or immediately adjacent to sources of public water supply. Their areas were usually grossly inadequate properly to accommodate the very large number of bodies requiring to be buried. Shockingly unsanitary conditions resulted, and it became necessary for the Bureau of Health to close many of them. Because of the trouble between the Aglipayan and Catholic churches, it was often impossible for representatives of the Catholic church to purchase private lands for cemetery purposes. Their old cemeteries were closed; yet they could not open new ones, although able and willing to pay liberally for the necessary land. Under these circumstances I ruled that public land could be sold to them, and that occupation by caretakers, and such cultivation as is ordinarily given in beautifying cemeteries, would be held to constitute occupation and cultivation within the meaning of the law, so that title could eventually pass. In closing let me emphasize the fact that the only method of informing the common people of the Philippines relative to their rights in the matter of acquiring public lands thus far found practicable has been to send special land inspectors from house to house, to convey the information by word of mouth. A considerable number of such inspectors are now employed, and more are badly needed. The total area of all public lands sold to Americans or foreigners since the American occupation is seventeen thousand acres; that of all public lands leased by such persons, seventeen thousand three hundred ninety acres. This is the answer to those who claim that there has been exploitation of the public domain.