Legislation
The Taft Commission promulgated a total of 157 laws between September 1900 and July 4, 1901, when Taft became Civil Governor, classified as follows:
| Classification | Quantity | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| Local Government | 46 | 29.30 |
| Reorganization of Government Agencies | 40 | 25.48 |
| Appropriations for Government Expenditures | 33 | 21.02 |
| Judicial Reforms | 12 | 7.65 |
| Economic and Tariff | 9 | 5.73 |
| Public Works Projects | 7 | 4.46 |
| Public Health | 4 | 2.55 |
| Anti-Sedition | 2 | 1.27 |
| Church | 2 | 1.27 |
| Education | 2 | 1.27 |
| Totals | 157 | 100.00 |
The fact that seventy-five percent of the laws promulgated were related to the reorganization of the national and local governments clearly shows that the establishment of the foundation for colonial rule was the primary concern of the Commission during the first year of the Taft era. Following the advice of McKinley to start at the bottom and gradually move upward, over seventy percent of the laws dealt with local government and the bureaucracy; with more than half of these being acts extending the provision of the Provincial Government Act to the different provinces. Others were acts establishing municipalities, and the rest concerned the local police.
The thirty-three appropriations laws passed were appropriations to pay certain expenses not covered by the General Appropriations Act, including salaries of government employees, burial benefits for victims of the war, funds for the construction of roads and bridges, and other miscellaneous expenses.
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Famous quotes containing the word legislation:
“The laboring man and the trade-unionist, if I understand him, asks only equality before the law. Class legislation and unequal privilege, though expressly in his favor, will in the end work no benefit to him or to society.”
—William Howard Taft (1857–1930)
“The conservative assumes sickness as a necessity, and his social frame is a hospital, his total legislation is for the present distress, a universe in slippers and flannels, with bib and papspoon, swallowing pills and herb-tea.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Coming out, all the way out, is offered more and more as the political solution to our oppression. The argument goes that, if people could see just how many of us there are, some in very important places, the negative stereotype would vanish overnight. ...It is far more realistic to suppose that, if the tenth of the population that is gay became visible tomorrow, the panic of the majority of people would inspire repressive legislation of a sort that would shock even the pessimists among us.”
—Jane Rule (b. 1931)