Hawaii Holomua, Volume I, Number 10, 28 September 1893 — TOPICS OF THE DAY. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Tlie inJOURtstency of tbe annexationists is sii wu in a remark.*tble tlegree by a!l the festivities, testiuioni.ils mu! teapots, whieh are bemg arranged and presented to the different *ct<>rs in the revolution of the 171 1 of Jauuary. Tbc annexati>>nists bave j>ersistently elaimed. tbat thty were tlie men wbo acooioplished tbe revo!ution and the overtbro«r of tbe Qaeen's govermnent. They have asserted tiiuo aud time agiin, tlmt Jobn L. Stevens bad n >tbiug to do with tbe btisiues>, and tbat it is a inj>lv a rovalist iie, that C*ptain Wiltse and bis uien wera lauded for the purpose of intnnidatiug the Queeu’s government, »nd in case of au eraergoncy, support tbe rovolutioinry gov ernmeut. The Advertiser has eveu atteraj)ted to tell its readers, t >at tbe Boston m *n wore not landed on the 16th of Janaary, aud did notcomeashore before the 17th, aud Soreuo Bisboj> and the rest of them have written und gaid, tbat tbe revo!utiou was an accouij)lisbed fact, beforo tbe A>nerican rej)resentatives bere sbowed tbeir hauds. and that all, that Mr. Stevens virtually did. was to ackuowledgo the Provisroual Government as soou as it ▼as in j)ossession of tbe goverument building. Why tben. may we ask, all »hese testiinonials expressing tbe I gratitude of the citizens of Honoluhi tp Sterens, Wiltse aud the Boston, for baving “j)rotected life aud proj>erty on tbe 17th of Jannary?” How did life aud proj>erty ever become endangered on that duy, or for that raatter on any other<layin Honolulu? Who was it. who tlueatened tlie town with distarU*nce aad war except the very meu who now thank the Boston aud Steveus for protecting their lives and prujierty? We know of uo better aud stronger pr*H»f <n corroboraiion of what we have e<>ntended j all aiong. tu«t the revohit.ua wns i tbe work of the Araericau representative aiul furces, thau all Ihe slobbering tbanks-givings, wliieh aro takiug plaee in all tbe ditfereut forras from making ins* r i) tiona on silver tea pots. to ireating Portuguese to turkey aod puueh. Tbe Star eame out last uigbt in its most sensatioual mauner and • ‘disclose<r’ to tbo ast >nisbed pnhlie, that Claas Spreckels ha«l bought out tbe Pacific Mail and made a coiubiuatiou with the comj>anv wnieh virtailly gave him tbe moaopolv ou tbe t ai£o betweea Honolula aud Sin Francisco. This terrible“disclosure” had evidently thrown ihe e<litor of the Star iato hysterics in bis . eflort to devise ways aodmeaQsto get the “ stalw.*rt members Em nehUh and Waterhouse??) of the P. G. to listen to his cty of • • Stop thief' By leoking iuto the details of

the st*rtling “disclosare,'’ we fouiid that absolutely notbing new faad transj)iretl. bnt tbat the s.taation to-day was exact!y the same as a year or two ago. Tbe f Star ed>tor is a new comer, else he wouhl have knowu Ioug ago tbat the Pacific Mail Co’s passengor ratos are largei than ’ the r*tes of the Oeeaaie Gcra- • pany’s. and tbat the first-named does not take any froight from tliis p-<rt. Why he worri>?s over tius w<? cannot understand. The rates of the Pacifie M lil Comj>any have never be n sra dler than the Oeeanie nor conld it comj>cte witii theSpreckelssteamers as long as the contract | exists between tbe j)lauters of ;Uaw<iiand Mr. Spreckels. All tiie sngar cnitivated liere has got to go to Spreckels for f>>ur years vet. And what freight bēsides sugar is her<? whieh could make it worth the while forany ste.mier liue. to eall here and stirt to '•cut'’ r.itos with a company whieh by contract bas the transport«tiou of the whole sugar output? The Star has always advocuted that the P. G. Govshould withdraw its snbsidy frora Mr. Spreckels, steamers. In tbe fii"st plaee such stej> eonhl not be taken before the 31st of March, 1894, becanse there exists, at least, an imj)lied contract between the governraent aud Sj>reckels whieh could not be bn>keu witbout causing law suits aud damages, nud even Mr. Smith eau bardly believe thut the present governmeut will be in power ' at the date of the exj>iration of that contract. But if we suj>pose that the “stalwarts” in the gov erument did listen to Mr. Smith’s j)ropositiou aud regardless of eonsequeuces withdraw the sobsidy from the Oeeanie SteamshipCo., it would be woll wortb to loek into, who would be the losers and who would sutfer tbe raost, the Steamship Company or the Hawaiian puhlie. If the sobsidy was withdrawn Mr. Spreckels wou!d diminish the Steamer service, or perhaps withdraw his Steamersaltogether and sbij) his sugar in sailing v>>s»elfi, and we would be back to the good old days when all commtinioation with the outside world was unc><rtaiu, and spasmenlie, »ud we believe that tliere wonld be a pretty lond liowl against the “stalwarts” from the whole community: Mr Smith j depends on the Pacific M >il I Ste«mers. and wants to give tbem m mueh larger subs dy than now given to the Oeeanie Compuny, thereby inducingthem to j>erform a regularmail senūce here—with out gett:ng the freight tnongh. In the first plaee, the Pacific Mail Co., couldn’t give us so efficient a service as we have now, nnless tbe subsidy was made so ont rageously high that it wnuld burst o>>r already depleted treaāurv and secondlv, we are sure, that a combination would very speedilv be made between that co.uj)any aud Spreckels. aud Hawaii would receive a severe lesson io ita attempt to mon<ey with the great monopoUes of tbe United States. Mr. Smith of the Star, has a grievance against Spreckels and he loses no oj>j>oituuily to »ir it. We do bt tbougb. that the Prov;sioual Governmeat ean be used to gn*t:fy the spite of the Star-mau, aud be induced to cut its nose to spite — Spreckels, At tbe meetiug yesterday of

i * the Bj«rd of ileaUh. Mr. Lan- ’ ' sing s.v.J. that a= a basinesa proposition, it woahl be “nnwise to hamper the pnrchase of goods s ! for tb« sett!ement store by ealling for bids as provided bv law.” i As f«r as we ean nnderstand. this tnenns that the snpplies to the ' store at tbe Leper Sett ement should uot be fnrnished tbrongb oompetition as it now is accord ing to law, but that pnrcbases sbonid he made bv tbe Board of Healtli, or by tbe snperintendent ; of tbe settlement according to their best judgment. We adinire tbe idea of Mr. L msing tbe “bnsiness” member of tbe Board of Hfaltb, and we | subnnt to the ditlerent mercantde bouses iu towu. if bis propos tion isn‘t extremely souud, and disint“rested. Mr. Lausing represents tbe hous- of Pbillii)s k Co., aud we suppose it i migbt “ h a ra p e r " s o m ebody’s business, if bid»werecalled for to supply the gener tl store at Kilawao. Uufortuuately for Mr. Lausing and bis “busiuess‘‘ views, tbe law, as it st>mds, prevents orders from beinggiven out except tbrougb e >mpetition for any government snpply wbeuever the amount reacbes more tban $500. Kow, t >e amonnt paid yearly for blaukets and clotbing, and bats and shoes for the 1,200 ' lepers on Molokai, exceeds by a i very bandsOme figure tbe $500 whieh is tbe limit prescribed by the law —and we snggest that tbe law deuiauding coutracts for sup- ' plies to be put up for public i competition is one of tlie most jnst and fairest measures ever passed in a Legislature bere. It is fair for tbo Treasury, it is fair to tbe tax-payers and it is eminently fair to the license-paying mercbants of the country. If Mr. L«nsiug or tbe firm whieh he represents shonld find tbemselves barapered by tb law by all means have it repealed. The always-accoinodatiug President - of - the - Board - of-Healtb, with the rank of Attorney-Gener-al ia ready to bring in a new bill before the Councils araending tbe law “hampering” Mr. Lansing, bnt we doubt that such amendment will pass unless there is a grand “divvy / ” We eanuoi i believe that “our stalwart” f”iend Waterhonse or onr militarj T do. Bolte will alloW the profits to be swallowed by Mr. Lansing’s firm withont a kiek, aud we say without beiug frivolons tbat S«nator Emmeluth will never allow the d«ngerous precedent to be establ shed, whieh wiM delivor tb« supply contracts of tho gOTermuent into tbe bands of its politicai friends or its poliiieal necessities —or in fact into tbe hands of boodiers. Wbjle we of course are sorry tbat any of onr friends sbonld have lost m<mey through beiog swindled by Mr. Von Berg aliaa Howjnf, alias everything. we must confess tbat we do not sympathize w.tb them. If tbis was the first lessou given to tbe Uonolulu store-keepers we sbould say notbing exeept to dep iore the aiT ir, but, if it is tbe first, we will swear, tbat it is tbe hundredth ur more iikely the tbousaudtb instance io whioh ihe very same trick bas been performed—aud will be performed over aud over again. To be a 8tranger here, is a password, whieh gives you the

entree to society, antl the access to the sa(e aud to the ZBoney Jrawer <f the bnsiaesss man. They nerer a-ik for the strHUger’s lettersof cre\lentials or his .nnb*ce*lents. He sai!s rigbt io, as long as he is weil dresseil »ml balf-«ay decent in his behaT»or. He t»kes a roora at some halel, spe.»ks in a genial manner to si>me bar-keeper at some aaloon, gets ntrodoced by him to s <me of the “town boys.” treats the:n a few tinikS —and his success is secured. He wiil api>ear at a hop at some HoteI or B.tliing Est.«blishmeut, g-»t iutroduced to some of the yonng lndies »hose angelio feathers are of a nther “gOoeey” color. piease them (tiirough being a strnnger) and, 8ubseqnently, be »sked to “eall.” Tiien thero is a eall, a drive, a geneial appeamnee at ba ds and ooncerts, and—h1s credit is establislied. The Hotei man. the stable-raan—thejeweller aud the rest will ail be paiil—when the remittHnee eomea (always by next steamer) and the buttertly m the mem time enjoys life—then disappears throngh the aid of men who finaliy get ushamed of owning up thut they were duped, aud the creditors monni, and the gir!s pout and s»y. “we al ways tho»ght that lie was nasty. ” Wheu the next stranger arriv»-s and the story is repeated. After »11 we havo no sympathy for the victims of these speculati: gbirds of passage. Nobody e- n see the object of the j>resent government or of the annexationists to wantonly create “sc res” the results of whieh are siraply a great annoyanee and trouble to the navul men in port. We are credibly informed, lhat word eame from “headquarters” to Admiral Skerrett. that the “royalists” wonld m >ke a disturbance, und probab!y an attack on the palaee on the nigbt of the ball. No oue donbts tbe wisdora of the Admirul and his disbehef iu snch an absurd rumor, bnt as a raatter of fi>ct be did not like to t»ke the eventual responsibi)ity arising fiora turning a deaf ear to the absurd yarn. The consequence was that a number of officers were confioed to their ships on the night of the bali. and that 20 rounds of ammnnition were handed out to eaeh mnn. If the governraeut »nd the Admiral wonld publish the names of tbe men starting aud circulating these sensational rumors. they wonkl be re-assured in a moment and it woukl heproven that their informers wonld not be believed by any average citizen, under any circumstmces eveu under tbe most so!emu oath.