Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 419, 28 March 1892 — Page 4

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This text was transcribed by:  Patricia Ravarra
This work is dedicated to:  Autumn Kruse

KA LEO O KA LAHUI.

"E Mau ke Ea o ka Aina i ka Pono."

 

KA LEO.

John E. Bush.

I una Hooponopono a me Puuku.

MONDAY, MARCH 28, 1892.

 

“S. S.” AND PROTECTION.

 

            Some one who is evidently a “hypocrite” as he fears to sign his name to a communication in the Daily Bulletin of March 26, feels quite hurt at an article in Ka Leo of March 17, headed The “Nations Curse.”  This hypocrite, S. S. is also a wilful [ as printed ] liar, for we find nothing said in our whole article of that date advocating prohibition with which he charges us.  The article simply points out the curse of the use of alcoholic stimulants to the human family, and in no sense does S. S. meet the points of our argument.  It is very evident that S. S. feels the disgrace attached to any defence of the use of alcoholic stimulants, otherwise he would sign his name in full, like a man in his advocacy of his side of the question.  The question, of prohibition, if we are not mistaken, is gaining ground in those places where it has been tried in the United States, and the evasion of prohibitory law stopped until its effects had been thoroughly tested.  We defy S. S., or any other man of the same stamp, to prove that the human race was ever or is benefited [ as printed ] by the use of alcoholic stimulants or to prove that it is a blessing that would be wrong to prohibit.

 

Our Display at the Fair.

            That Messrs. Walsh and Thurston are going to the Columbian Fair Commissioners to secure space, wherein to exhibit the products of the island, composed of three shades of molasses, brown sugar, light brown sugar, washed sugar, muscovado sugar, loaf sugar, clarified sugar, a picture of the last and only native employed on plantation at Makaweli Plantation, –– a photograph of the sugar slave contract; a copy of W. R. C’s bunged-up Pactolus Chinese Act; a copy of Batowin’s amendment to the Constitution whereby the Chinese can be imported as slave into the country; a lithograph of the stone work, on the Union Church building, on which no Anglo-Saxon was employed; a copy of the whole Kawaiahao Theatre, with the Hawaiian Thistle in front; a copy of Boodle Castle don’t yer moind; a photo of Dillingham’s punt, showing the Portuguese from Yokohama; a picture of the dredger.

 

The Law of Marriage is the Hawaiian Kingdom.

            The moral sense of the community was recently shocked by two persons being legally united in marriage whose relation to one another are parallel to those of the parties at Corinth, whose union is so severely condemned by St. Paul in his first Epistle to the Corinthians, Chap. V.  The case at Corinth was the incestuous union of a man with his step-mother; in Honolulu it is that of a woman with her step father, that is of a man with his step-daughter.  What St. Paul wrote of that case at Corinth equally applies to the case in Honolulu:  “such fornication as it is not so much as named among the heathen.

            But that which makes the case in Honolulu the more grievous of the two is that it was solemnized by a Christian Minister, and was duly chronicled in the organ of the Congregationalist body, The Friend , as a true and proper marriage.  Now, the paramount authority of Holy Scripture is one of the leading doctrines of the Congregationalists, and is the ground of their rejection of Church authority.  Their position is clearly defined in the following article contained in the “Declaration of Faith, Church Order and Discipline” of the Congregational Churches in England and Wales, with which it may be presumed that the Congregational Churches of America agree:

            “Principles of Religion.  1.  The Scriptures of the Old Testament, as received by the Jews, and the Books of the New Testament, as received by the Primitive Christians from the Evangelists and Apostles.  Congregational Churches believe to be divinely inspired, and of superior authority .”

            Nevertheless, in the direct fact of Holy Scripture, an Hawaiian Minister is suffered without rebuke from the Evangelical Board to ask God’s blessing on a union which He has distinctly forbidden in His Holy Word, “Thou shall not uncover the nakedness of a woman and her daughter” (Lev. xvii:17).  It may well be asked, Whither is this community drifting when incest is thus sanctioned and blessed by a Minister of the Gospel?  It will be argued that the union in question is not forbidden by the laws of the land.  That is true.  The laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom with regard to marriage unhappily fall far below the standard of the laws of the Roman Empire at the beginning of Christianity.  The laws of Hawaii only forbid marriage of consanguinity to the forth [ as printed ] degree, and lay no restriction whatsoever on marriage of affinity .  But it is a marriage of affinity, of which St. Paul writes that it would not be tolerated by the Gentiles.  As an offset, however, against this extraordinary omission in the Marriage Law in this country, it is necessary to the validity of marriage in the Hawaiian islands that it be solemnized by a Minister of the Gospel.  But there is no law to compel a Minister to solemnize the union of every couple who come to him with the palapala ao mare from the Interior Office.  If the permission of the State is contrary to the law of God, it is the plain duty of every Minister to obey God, and refuse to solemnize an incestuous union.  No Clergyman of either the Roman Catholic or Anglican Church would have solemnized the marriage in question, and if the Congregationalist are true to their principle of taking Holy Scripture for their guide, they will take steps to prevent the recurrence of the scandal of God’s blessing being invoked on marriage which according to the Divine law remains, in spite of the permit of the state, null and void.

            If any are not aware of the principle on which the Levitical law is based, it may be pointed out in conclusion that its foundation lies in the declaration found in the Second Chapter of the Bible and repeated by our Lord Himself that man and wife “are one flesh.”  Consequently every man stands to the kindred of his wife in exactly the same relation as to his own kindred.  And by the Marriage Law of the Holy Scripture, affinity, or connection by marriage presents a bar to marriage in exactly the same degree as it is barred by blood relationship or consanguinity.  A man is forbidden to marry his wife’s sister as much as his own, and his wife’s daughter, or son’s wife as much as his own daughter, and so through all the degrees.–– Honolulu Diocesan Magazine.

 

ON DIT.

            That rumors say revelations will be made by and by, notwithstanding the scandal going the rounds about pay Rolls and Bogus Vouchers being burned up.

            That a man named Frenchy and some Portuguese employed on the Waikiki improvement can tell some crooked stories about the cement deal, &c., &c.

            That the Interior Department got the cement at third hands, and the number of barrels charged for are many––very many.

            That it is current that the man called Frenchy –– (Tommy’s pet) was accounted time on the Water Works pay Roll and rated for six dollar a day as a luna on the the [ as printed ] Waikiki steal.

            That Oriental Joe, (15 cents per day Marsden) has gone to Hamakua to help to boom the Bill Ricard election.

            That it was common street talk before and is now that the head of police was the protector of opium and lottery joints, not only with headquarters in Honolulu, but also with depots throughout the kingdom.

            That subordinates in the Custom House service got snubbed when they as a matter of duty dared to call the attention of their superiors, irregularities.

            That Kahala entrance, east of Diamond Head is a favored haven for unknown schooners to call in at, especially when the government officials club are holding forth their periodical Saturday night and Sunday debauchery tournaments.

            That the newspaper are singularly silent over the recent robbery from the safe of the merchantile firm on the corner of King and Bethel Streets.

            That those having business on the other Islands of the group can hear all the details of how the Lottery Business has been and is carried on in Honolulu under police protection.

            That the same system of protection (?) has been going on since 1838 and who the beneficiaries have been and are now.

            That Intelligent Chinese do not hesitate to say to their friends that the main and true cause of the closing out of Retail Chinese Stores in Honolulu for months past is the result of che fa.

            That there are four gambling organizations in free sway for five years under official protection.

            That “S. S.” a correspondent for the Bulletin was evidently spiritually hypnotized, and was unable to sign his name.

            That the gate Keeper of the Oceanic Steamship Company’s wharf must have been under the influence of opium last Friday night, to allow a couple of men to get by him with seventeen or more tins of opium.  What next?

            That George Smithies, like George Washington, would not tell a lie to suit his evil mentor J. H. B., who wanted him to tell a lie for the sake of the “office,” against the rights of the people.  This is due to the difference of early home influence.

            That between the Custom House official’s picadillo’s [ as printed ] the Police officials are able to keep themselves quite busy and between the two money is made both ways––by the one passing the boodlers and by the other arresting them.

 

Platform of Principle

of the

HAWAIIAN NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY.

principle of government and constitution.

1.                   We deem that all Government should be founded on the principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity, we hold that all men are born free and equal before the law and are end wed with inalienable rights to life, to liberty, to property, to the pursuit of happiness and to self-protection against arbitrary concentration of power, irresponsible wealth, and unfair competition.  We believe that just government exists only by the consent of the People, and that, when it becomes necessary for the public welfare, they may abolish existing forms and establish more advantageous and equitable system; and, as the present Constitution of the Hawaiian Kingdom never has had the approval of the People, but was established by in@dation and fraud for the benefit of a certain class, therefore we favor the adoption of a new and more liberal Constitution, to truly secure a Government of the People, by the People and for the People.

INDEPENDENCE OF THE COUNTRY

2.                   Out of consideration for the inherent rights and present opinions of the native population, we desire to retain the independence of the Country and defend its autonomy, under a liberal and popular form of government:  but our Treaties with Foreign Powers, and yespeciall [ as printed ] with the United States of America, should be reviewed, so as to better meet present necessities and to obtain more equitable advantages in exchange of those granted by us.

JUDICIARY REFORMS

3.                   Our Judiciary system and Code of Procedure must be submitted to a thorough revision, so as to secure a cheap and prompt administration of justice free of all sectarian or partisan spirit, and to render the Judges more directly responsible to the People; and we are in favor of a more liberal interpretation of Constitutional guarantees of the freedom of speech and the press.

MONOPOLIES

5.                   We shall not use our offices (?) to administer (?) laws by which all @@@@@@@ and all monopolies, @@@@ to special @@@ shall be rendered impossible, by full, @@@ and mandatory statutes.

PROTECTION TO HOME INDUSTRIES

7.         We are in favor of concentrating all home agriculture and industries, and all our native products, like rice, coffee, wool, tobacco, etc., should be protected and fostered by proper tariff regulation; and also it must be the duty of the Government, in its contracts and other operations, to give preference to national products over imported ones.

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

            8.         We desire a more liberal policy towards the different Islands of the Kingdome, outside of Oahu; they should receive a fairer proportion of the public moneys for the development of their resources and the satisfaction of their wants.  In fact, the principle of local, Self-government should be extended, whereby giving localities may choose the most important of their local executive officers, and levy taxes for the purpose local improvements of a public nature [ as printed ].

PUBLIC SERVANTS

6.                   Better laws should regulate the Civil Service.  The principle of the election of officers of the government by the people should be established, and no man should be allowed to hold more than one office of profit, whilst salaries should be adequate compensation for the services rendered.  All excessive salaries should be reduced and all sine cures or superfluous offices abolished.

PROTECTION TO THE LABOURING CLASSES

9.         We shall endorse all measure tending to improve the condition of the working classes, and consequently, without injuring any vested rights, we will advocate laws to prevent all further importation or employment of contract labor of any kind, upon conditions which will bring it into a ruinous and degrading competition with free Hawaiian or white labor.  We shall also, in the interest of better protection of the poor, ask for more liberal exemption of their property from forced sale on execution, and from seizure in bankruptcy proceeding.

SMALL FARMING AND HOME STEADS.

            10.       The wealthy fraction of our population have hitherto prevented the development of an independent class of citizens; the public lands have been acquired and have been tied up in a few hands or parceled to suit favorites, and small farmers and planters have been driven out by corporations or combinations of capitalists, but as small farming is conducive to the stability of the State, it should be encouraged by a new and more liberal Homestead act, by which the ownership of small tracts of land and the settlement thereof of families of present population––and especially of the native Hawaiians who have been left almost homeless in there [ as printed ] country––should be rendered possible.  To that end, the Government and Crown lands, in so far as can be done without invading vested rights, should be devoted as soon as possible to homesteads, and conferred upon bona fide settlers free of taxes for a limited period.

            It should be the further aim of government to , at once, so far improve the means of transporting them–local, national and international,–as to provide, in all the districts, cheap means of conveying the product of the soil to market.

ELECTORAL RIGHT.

            11.       We hold that upright and honest manhood, and not the possession of wealth, arbitrarily fixed, should remain the right to vote for nobles as well as representatives, and no more power should be accorded to the ballot of the rich man than the ballot of the poor man.  The discrimination in favor of wealth now made in our Constitution is contrary to all the eternal principles of right and justices and must be abolished.  To this end, we will favor a leveling of the present distinction of wealth and classes which blemish our laws with respect of the right to vote for nobles, thereby restoring to the native Hawaiians privileges which pertain to them in their own country, and of which they have been unjustly deprived.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS

            12.       We favor the expenditure of sufficient sums to secure a number of needed public improvements on Oahu and other Islands:  school, railroads and harbors and wharves, public light, and also a thorough system of reservoirs and water-works, not only for Honolulu, but through-out the other Islands.