JANUARY 24, 1913. MR. PRESIDENT: I have been directed to inform your honorable body that the Assembly, on January 24, 1913, passed the following Assembly Bill No. 248 in which it requests the concurrence of the Commission: An Act authorizing the municipal councils of the municipalities organized under Act Numbered Eighty-two, known as the Municipal Code, to expend during one year of their unexpended funds or unappropriated balances an amount not exceeding five hundred pesos, without necessity of the approval of the provincial treasurer, for the immediate relief of sufferers from public calamities. Very respectfully,

To the Honorable,

TEODORO M. KALAW, Secretary, Philippine Assembly.

the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

By unanimous consent, Assembly Bill No. 248 was read the first time by title only and referred to the Committee on Municipal and Provincial Governments for report and recommendation.

JANUARY 23, 1913.

MR. PRESIDENT: I have been directed to inform your honorable body that the Assembly on January 23, 1913, passed the following Assembly Bill No. 348, in which it requests the concurrence of the Commission: An Act providing for the formation of a "poor list," regulating gratuitous medical attendance at public dispensaries and hospitals in the city of Manila and municipalities, or public hospitals in the provinces, and for other purposes.

Very respectfully,

To the Honorable,

TEODORO M. KALAW, Secretary, Philippine Assembly.

the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

By unanimous consent, Assembly Bill No. 348 was read the first time by title only and referred to the Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of the Interior for report and recommendation.

SECOND READING OF BILL.

Assembly Bill No. 240. An Act providing for the reimbursement of traveling and subsistence expenses to witnesses in criminal actions.

Assembly Bill No. 240 was read the second time and, together with the report of the Committee on Matters Per

taining to the Department of Finance and Justice thereon, referred to the Committee of the Whole.

It was considered in committee and reported back to the Commission with the recommendation that the bill be indefinitely postponed.

The report and recommendation of the Committee of the Whole were adopted.

REPORTS OF COMMITTEES.

[Committee Report No. 118.]

MR. PRESIDENT: Your select committee of three, to which was recommitted on January 20, 1913, Commission Bill No. 49, entitled "An Act to prohibit the introduction into the Philippine Islands and the manufacture, sale or public exhibition therein of moving picture films or of pictures of immoral, indecent, obscene, vicious or a disorderly character or tendency," with instructions to make provision for one central board in the city of Manila and another board under its direction at such ports of entry as may be considered necessary, and to limit the provisions of the bill to motion picture films, has examined the same and has the honor to report it back to the Commission with the following recommendation, viz:

That the bill pass with the following amendment:

Strike out all after the enacting clause and insert the following in lieu thereof:

"SECTION 1. It shall be unlawful to show, display, or exhibit in the Philippine Islands any moving picture film of an obscene, indecent, immoral, vicious or disorderly character or tendency, or which is likely to create disorder or breach of the peace, or which has a tendency injuriously to affect the morals of the community, or to teach of inculcate contempt or disrespect for law or morals.

"SEC. 2. No moving picture film, whether imported into or manufactured within the Philippine Islands, shall be shown, displayed or exhibited therein unless a permit is granted by the Board of Censors created by section three of this Act.

"SEC. 3. A board is hereby created to be known as the Board of Censors which shall consist of the Insular Collector of Customs, the Director of Education, and the Director of Constabulary. It shall be the duty of this board, in person or by duly authorized subordinates, to examine and inspect all moving picture films imported into the Philippine Islands or manufactured therein which are intended to be shown, exhibited or displayed to the public, and to issue upon request of any person desiring so to show, display or exhibit such moving picture film a permit for such public exhibition or display, or to refuse to issue such permit according as, in the judgment of the board, such film falls within the prohibition of

section one of this Act: Provided, That any permit issued for any moving picture film may be canceled by the Board of Censors when in its judgment such moving picture film falls within the prohibition of section one of this Act.

"SEC. 4. The Board of Censors is authorized to appoint an auxiliary board at such ports of entry in the Philippine Islands as may be considered necessary, said auxiliary boards to act under such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the Board of Censors.

"SEC. 5. Every permit issued under the provisions of this Act shall so identify the film authorized therein to be publicly shown, exhibited or displayed as to make apparent any attempt on the part of any person to use such permit for the public display or exhibition of any other film than the one contemplated in the permit.

"SEC. 6. Any permit issued under the provisions of this Act may freely be sold, assigned, transferred, rented, or leased by the person to whom or in whose favor the permit was issued to any other person to whom the film contemplated in the permit is sold, assigned, transferred, rented or leased. Lost permits may be replaced by the Board of Censors upon request of the person interested.

"SEC. 7. Any person publicly showing, exhibiting or displaying in the Philippine Islands any film without having received the permit provided for in section three hereof shall, for each such unauthorized display or exhibition, be punished by a fine of not less than fifty pesos nor more than one thousand pesos, or by imprisonment for not less than one month nor more than six months, or by both such fine and imprisonment in the discretion of the court.

"SEC. 8. The Board of Censors is hereby authorized to prescribe and issue such regulations not in conflict with the provisions of this Act as may be necessary to carry out the provisions of this Act, and to change, amend and modify such regulations from time to time as it may deem proper.

"SEC. 9. The words 'moving picture film' shall, within the meaning of this Act, include and comprise transparent or translucent strips or sheets of celluloid, mica, paper or any other natural or artificial substance manufactured or prepared for the purpose of projection by means of light or by the manipulation of natural or artificial light upon a screen, wall or surface of any motion pictures and any slides, negatives, transparent or translucent sheets or strips of celluloid, mica, paper or any other natural or artificial substance for the purpose of visualizing any pictorial representations in, or before or behind such films, by means of light or the manipulation of light, or by means of holding such films towards or away from any source of light at any angle or at no angle.

"SEC. 10. Nothing in this Act shall be construed so as to deprive the Insular Collector of Customs of his authority over any imported article or object of obscene or indecent character or subversive of

public order which falls within the provisions of paragraph (b), section three, of the Philippine Tariff Act of Nineteen hundred and nine.

"SEC. 11. This Act shall take effect on its passage." Respectfully submitted.

FRANK A. BRANAGAN,

RAFAEL PALMA,

JUAN SUMULONG,

Committee.

To the Honorable,

the PRESIDENT OF THE PHILIPPINE COMMISSION.

The report was accepted, and the bill and the report thereon referred to the Committee of the Whole.

After some consideration the committee rose and reported with the recommendation that the bill pass with the amendment recommended by the select committee in report No. 118 and the following further amendment:

Insert the following as section 5, renumbering sections accordingly: "SEC. 5. For every permit issued by the Board of Censors under the provisions of this Act a fee of one peso shall be paid by the person to whom or at whose request such permit has been issued, which fee shall be collected by an officer or employee of the Bureau of Customs to be designated by the Insular Collector of Customs. Collections made under the provisions of this Act, after payment of the necessary expenses of the board hereby created, shall be deposited in the general fund in the Insular Treasury in accordance with regulations to be prescribed by the Auditor for the Philippine Islands."

Amend section 11 to read as follows:

"SEC. 12. This Act shall take effect on April first, nineteen hundred and thirteen."

The amendment as recommended by the Committee of the Whole was adopted.

On motion by Commissioner Araneta, unanimously carried,

The bill was considered urgent under the provisions of Rule XIV, Rules of the Commission, and read the third time by title only.

The question then being upon its passage, the roll was called and the bill was unanimously passed.

Commissioner Branagan moved to amend the title to read as follows:

An Act to prohibit the public exhibition in the Philippine Islands of moving picture films of immoral, indecent, obscene, vicious or a disorderly character or tendency, and for other purposes.

The motion prevailed and the title as amended was read and approved.

[Committee Report No. 119.]

MR. PRESIDENT: Your Committee on Matters Pertaining to the Department of Finance and Justice, to which was referred on January 24, 1913, Commission Bill No. 67, entitled "An Act imposing an internal-revenue tax on polished rice manufactured in or imported into the Philippine Islands," has examined the same and has the honor to report it back to the Commission with the following recommendation, viz:

That the bill be laid on the table.

Your committee recognizes the worthy and laudable purpose of the bill as set out in the explanatory statement by the Secretary of the Interior, and believes that the Government should overlook no means of accomplishing the end sought. Your committee, however, is of the opinion that the bill, aside from being inequitable, would not produce the result desired. It imposes a tax on polished rice at the rate of 5 centavos a kilo, or 2.87 a cavan, which ordinarily contains 57 kilos-that is, almost one-half the market price of rice before the price went up in 1911. This tax is even much greater than the customs duty on rice, which is $1 for each 100 kilos, or at the rate of 2 centavos a kilo. The Philippine Tariff Law of 1909 authorizes the imposition of a higher rate of duty-that is to say, $1.20 instead of $1 for each 100 kilos-but provides that the Governor-General, by and with the advice and consent of the Philippine Commission, may in his discretion continue in force the lower rate of duty until in his judgment conditions in the Philippine Islands warrant the imposition of the higher rate. The Governor-General, by and with the advice and consent of the Philippine Commission, on December 21, 1912, by Executive Order No. 100, directed that the lower rate of duty should continue during the present year. The grounds for this measure were that the condition of the Islands did not justify the imposition of the higher rate of duty. This bill would impose a tax greater than double the amount of the higher rate of duty prescribed by Congress.

It may be said that this tax is only imposed on polished rice; but it should be remembered that at the present time the great majority of the people eat polished rice, and that the effect of this bill would be to impose an excessive tax on the majority of the people for the use of an article of prime necessity.