Honolulu Republican, Volume IV, Number 502, 21 January 1902 — CONSTRUCTION OR DESTRUCTION [ARTICLE]

CONSTRUCTION OR DESTRUCTION

In the passim? of the old regime it> Hawaiian Islands, the regime which impulsively sprang from a little monarchy, there was of necessity much destruction don**. Old •■conditions had to be done away with; old Ideas had to be wiped out or re-form<-d; and old mcthrals were forced to give place to newer systems and more modern ways. Then came a period of construction, a period of but a few yeaxs to be sure, in which !• a attention was paid to tearing d wn old things than to building up new ones. Eape; ience teaches that construction will accomplish more in the w-ay of progress and reform, for destruction is bound of necessity to take care of Itself when construction is in the Add. Construction, in the very nature of its purpose, does th»- work of destruction on the same principle that two bodies cannot occupy the -.arm- spare at the same time. When these Islands 1ms ame a Ter ritory of the I’nited States and the enthusiasm of Americanism was felt by many of Hawaii's citizens, some of the more ardent of the upholders of American government at once sought to tear down everything which was not American. Their enthusiasm was most meritorious, but the same • nerg> directed in the cause of building up rather than of tearing down would have accomplished greater good generally. There are those today, good, hon est. enthusiastic American citizens, who are crying aloud for the tearing down of what is left over of the Republic of Hawaii, ami the Provisional Government and the Monarchy days of Hawaii. They are hot for the wiping out of everything that is not American Perhaps if they were as hot for the building up of everything that is American. American principles and institutions would find a firmer footing on Hawaii's soil. The enthusiasts are so hot for destruction that they are likely to forget the work of construction at the time when it Is most needed. Let the enthusiastic \merican take heed to the construction of Americanism. The destruction of things un-American will be a natural sequence.