Ke Alakai o Hawaii, Volume IX, Number 25, 1 October 1936 — Republican Smoke-Screens Flop! [ARTICLE]

Republican Smoke-Screens Flop!

Further evidence of the realization bv Republican leaders of the weakness of their standard-bearer on Oahu has beeri"fufnished in two items whieh have appeared in the Star-Bulletin and The Advertiser in a vain effort to build ūp the shattered morale that has decimated the forces of the "Wright gang maehine." Comment alrēady has been .made on the "Whistlin' in the Dark" tactics whieh the Star.Bulletm-has transplanted to Hawaii from the negroes south of the MasonDixon Y\i\q on the Mainland. These are contm«ed in a soc«lled eolumn under the heading, "The Political RoundUp", with a pipe-dream beginning; "The conviction that the mayoralty contest, whiehJ>romised to be the hottest fight of the primary, is resolving itself into an October 3 walkaway for the Republican incumbent, is being expregsed privately and gloomily in certain Bourbon headquarters and jubilantly in the tents of the GOP. n . . . That "The w!sh is father tp the thought" īn th!s state- " Ttifent in an allegedly fair, impart!a! and «nbiased political eolumn, is so apparerst tliat it ts laughable! There are no "certain Bourbon headquarters, M whieh are īoyal tō thē Tēnets oF Democracy, that are "privateīy and g!oomily" expressmg any doubt about the outcome in the mayoralty race October 3! They are as sure and certain of a victory for Manuel C. Paeheeo as they are that President Franklm Delano Roosevelt will be re-elect-ed President on November 3. And if there are any "tents of the GOP" w'here the outcome of Saturday's primary on the mayoralty contest is being "jubilant!y" discussed, they are certainly hard to find—they are not advertising their existence! If the so-called "jubilant" Republican leaders were so confident of success for Fred Wright in Saturday's primary, w r hy did they find it necessary to eall a mass rally last Sunday at McKinley high school and to enlist the services of all their party "b_ig shots" such as James P. Wmne and Mrs. Muriel Shing!e to speak at a meeting that they themselves'announced was for the purposes of "?trengthening party unity in the primary campaign"—as if-that same party unity had not been shot to Haele^l Additional evidence of the Fact that Mayor Wright has deserted the rest of the Repubh'can ticket—earlier this year than usual, it is true—was Found in the fact that he—and he alone of all the Republtcan cand!date.-; who so • sorē!y need support at Saturday*s eleelion—was the only candidate permitted to speak at this McKinley meetingī Even the faithful "Poupou'* Conk!ing, who is encountering more serious 6pposītion this year than usual, was not given the privilege of the rostrum! "There will be plenty of music, songs and hulas," the official ftepub!ican announeemenī of this meeting promised—but the day is over in Hawaii when elections are settled by "plenty of music» songs and hu!as"—the enlightened electorate is beginning to Ihink about the issues of good goVemment fnvo!ved ( and less of "music, songs and hulas" —except as pure entertairunent! The mass meeting a!so sang "America/' as though the Republican oath-swearing candidates needed to retmnd themselves again—over and over again—that they are American citizehs and as they assured themselves when they swore their. infamous oath before the radio microphone not so long ago! The Advertiser, in a front-page story in a half-hearted effort to instill confidence in the faltering Republicans, related that a "hui on Merchant St.," haunt pf the "princes of privilege" in Honolulu, after mueh digging and scrab bling, had been ab!e to get together a stupendous pot of $100 to bet that the Republican standard-bearer on Oahu wou!d win in Saturday's eleeiion by 1,000 votes. A "hui" on Merchant St., where mil!ions and mil!ions of dol!ars have been garnered īn excess profits as the resu!t of President RooseveH s New Deal, has been able to co!!ect the vast sum of $100 to bet that ihe Republican candidate will win Saturday by I,(HW votes!l This bit of Rejjublican propaganda is only another one of that party s obomerangs that re-acts agaihst its objective! A group of millionaires has been able to eollect $100 to bet that the Republican candidate will win bv 1,000 votes! This offer, of course, only makes manifest the Republican admisison that Mayor Wrsght is woeful!y weaker this year than he ever has been and that he h up against the strongest competition this year |J».at he ever has been. For in the 1934 eleelion, Mayor Wright wa.a able to win with a majority of 3,005 votes—ihia year a group of Repuhliean mil!ionaircs is wi!ling to wager $100 that he will win by a majority of 1,000! ! The answer is obvious——the nulionaires who support the Repub!ican party don't really believ e that Mayor ! Wrlght will win thi« year! They must be remembering the fact that Supervisor Paeheeo, running in the 1934 primary against 34 othor candidates to split the vote on received a tokl of 15,824 votes, and that in the same election Fr.ed Wright, ru»niiig againn»tonly one opponent, received 17,945 V otes! eompared wtth the 14,540 obtained by his sole Democratic opfK>ntfft„ They must also be rememhering the fact that in the 1534 gcneral election Supervisor Paeheeo runniag Again*t'

13 other cau2idatea, received 20*202 vpl^—the Wgest numlier of votes eveir iecelvec? by any cand!date on any j party ticket in the history of Qahu, as a tribute to the faith | and confidence whic|i the Honolulu e!eptorate have in the t)eraocratic cari<]idate for mayor! Fi?oiii these figures—Supervisor Pac,h.eco receiving 15,824 votes in a field of 35 as compared with Fred Wright's 17,945 in a field of two candidates, and Supervisor Paeheeo coming back with the staggering total of 20,202 votes iu the 1934 general elect,ion in a field of 14 candidates—there is on!y one, mathematical calculation that eaa possibly be, drawn — Hanuel C. Paeheeo will smother Pred Wright under a veritable avalanche of votes in Saturday's primary — and the Repuhlicans know this better than anybod7 { else on Oahu, de&pite all the tran„parent smoke-screens they are trying to spread! An4, if a»ything were needed to make manifest the Republican realization that they are headed for defeat next Saturday, ,it was supplied Tuesday by t|ie ever,willing Star-BiilleMn, in about as asinine a political move as was ever conceiyed in Hawaii «r elsewhere! "Bourhon Lead<?r Supports Wright," ballyhooed the Star-Bulletin in an eight-column bajper liue that was supposed to make the result of the Saturday primary certain without a doubt. i "Bo«rl>on LeaderJ" For2zoih, who U tliis "Bourbon Leader" except none other fchan Pr. Dai Yea Chang, whom the Republican *traJ;<ggAsts, with their usual ineptness, ressurected from a political and ab,splute ob!ivion to, m*ke fchi# ill-aclvise4 and rather foul attack upon Superviaor Paeheeo? i Dr. Dai Y§n Chacg, never anything but a nominal, Bemocrat who embraced the policies. ofthat party only! in order to obtain election in a "Democratic year" as this j is. to be--in.odrer to : attempt to pull off sucn steals from tli&£publie as the infamous and notorious "Palolo land' dear' and similar'transactions whieh only served to in-| crease h.is own wealth and to decrease his own personal , sianding iu this ffomjPiunity! . " ! Dr, Dai Yen Chaitg, who announces boastfully that "I am a big taatpayer," but do.es noi take the trouble to add that, in order to be of the pa.ymen.t of some of his just taxes» he went on his hands and knees before the Tax Equalization Board in a ,manner that was shameful in a former so-called servant of the public—and obtained the relief for whieh he begged! If this is the class of "Bourbon Leader," that the purported "Brain Trusf' of the Eepublicaii party, aided and abetted by the all-too-subservient Star-Bulletm, ean bring ,forth to launeh their futile attscks upon the char§gjter | and the public serv|ce of Manuel C. Paeheeo—let's have | some more of them I j The Democratic party, secure in the belief that its |Candidate fpr MayO;r will be swept overwhe!ming!y into office on Qctober 3, is praying for some more of these "Bourbon Leaders M , who are in politics the rea§on q{ fattemng their own to &j£p,ear pufelicly on behalf of Mayor Wright's faltering and[ flopping candidacy! A man is k.now» by the he ke;eps, accorcUng to an old adage. Mayor Wright in the opimon of the I Democr.atic party, is weleome to his new "company"—Dr. I Dai Yen Chang. j We \vonder how mueh the eminent Dr. Dai Yen Chang recci\ed from the overflowing war-chest "slush funds" of the Republican party in return for that rather low aml belov,-the'belt attack upon Supervisor Paeheeo, who earned and n\erited, for onee and for all in that Palolo land deal-stcal, the title of "The Watchdog of the |Treasury ! M .. '