[475] Fairly adequate legislation for the protection and development of the forest resources of the islands was enacted.

[476] Means of communication by land and sea were greatly improved, and the development of commerce was thus stimulated.

[477] It is a noteworthy fact that all of these things were done with a per capita taxation of about $2.24! Another fundamentally important aid to the commercial development of the islands was afforded by a radical reformation of the currency.
The islands under the sovereignty of Spain had their own distinct silver coinage in peso, media peso, peseta and media peseta pieces.
In 1878 the Spanish government, hoping to check the heavy exportation of gold currency from the Philippines, passed a law prohibiting the importation of Mexican dollars, but allowed the Mexican dollars then in the islands to continue to circulate as legal tender.
When the American troops arrived, there were in circulation the Spanish-Philippine peso and subsidiary silver coins; Spanish pesos of different mintings; Mexican pesos of different mintings; Hongkong dollars, fractional silver coins from different Chinese countries, and copper coins from nearly every country in the Orient.

Although a law had been passed prohibiting the introduction of Mexican dollars into the islands, they were being constantly smuggled in.

Fluctuations in the price of silver affected the value of the silver coins, and the money in common use was in reality a commodity, worth on any given day what one could get for it.