Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 175, 9 March 1893 — Untitled [ARTICLE]

If the treaty of anneiali a as prese.ited to the Senate īh rat.fie<J bv that b»dv and th**n »ent l-'» * ihe Provisi nal Government >r | ratification the C<»uncii“ ought to go siow and well consider ai. the pros. and o»ns. bef»re takmg a step whieh the g >vernment ean never retr.ict. — Has it heeume fu 11y clear t> the bu9ir.ess and i>lantii'g e »mtnuuity wbat annexatiou will mean under the terms of tho īreaty? W e will leave out of the question all the points relating t>» ihe injustice and oulrage against the nation here whieh wouId be comniitted by a non ret>resentative body like the Provis:onal Government disposing of the futuro of the naiion without giving a voice m the raatter to the people. We \vi 11 not consider the treacherous and contemptible aot of a handful of adventurers to barteraway the honor, indepe.idence, and lifeof a naiion. for the purpose of obtaining a few selfish ends —and a doubtful financial profit, b"t we would like to see what exactly will be gained by, and what will happen to, the verv raen who now believethat the g>>lden era is coming if tlie anneiaīion heeomea au establiehed fact. In former issue9 we have shown what will happen to the plantere. Tbey will be placed on a worse fix>ting than the Louieiana planter« because there labor is plentiful, if not eheap, while here it will be imposs:ble to make it either plentiful or eheap. By the abolishing of the labor contracts the planters will lose their Japanese and Chinese laborers, and what little Portuguese or Hawaiian labor that is left and ean be obtained will be expensive, uncertain aud independent, and the managers will be m consUnt trouble and short of men. Of course we know that Mr. L. A. Thurston hae repeatedly stated that it was time that tbe planters carried their business <>n a nonnal aiul independent bisis, and if thty couid nol exist. if they had to pay deceut wages and without bounties or privileges. >t was iime that they closcd up. He never had any sympathy f»r that privileged an<l paropered ciass and it is note worthy with what alacrity he accepted the part of Uie treaty whieh makes the outlook for ihe planters s>» very glooray. We understand that socue of the 9ugar-tueu here are under the erroneous impression that C »ngress eannoi rej»eal the act providing for a sugar bounty of 2 cts. pr. ft>. They hold that such act op«rate« as a contract or a franchise, and that j»eople planting eane or beets while the act is in force necessarily imist be entitled to the bounty. imeh a deduction is fal9e, and a decision in a similar case has l»een given by the United States Supreme Court whieh held that no vested rigbts are created by acts of the nature roentioned, and that they ean be repealed at any tiroe. The present bounty act is suppoeed to be in f»rc« for 15 years. and the sugar-men wou!d uodoubtedlv be in clover if it was not a foregone eoneluaion that one of the firat actions of the new ad min-

i«tratiop will be have ihe &ct repeaicd. If any of the planters &re eiisting under the iliusion of a 15 \cars millennium a d sagreeab e surprise will be in etore ; for them. — But ihe planters carry a’»ng , with the:n a nuraber of o* j busine" TheJapanese willleav., f and the Ciiinese w:ll follow īheni. I Tne Chinese merchanls here will j not remain under ihe l n;ted j j States Anti-Chinese laws with | even less privileges than the Calif >rnia ehinamen. and they will '■ gr.\dual!v g.t home to China. and no new ones will take their plaeea. But v?ho sutfers when the Chinaman goe8? Decidediy tbe wholesale dry g>xxls houses; wh<»se business mostly is with Chinese, and wh>» generally carry heavy. outstanding accounts on their b<»ks against every little village Ptore in the countrv. Srailing and purseproud anneitionisla like the heads of Gnnhaum Co.. Hackfield Co., Phillipe Ā' Co., and others will need a new field to be ahle to keep up the amile after their plantations have suspended and their Chinese customers returned to the flowery Kingdom [no more passports] leaving nothing behind except their visiting cards with handsomely ongraved I. O. Us. in Chinese figures of very little practical use but greatly fitled to oruament the walls in the military castles of all the Geheime-Militair-Kommittee-Raths in the country —cast!es alaa! not to be in San Francisco or Bremen, but only in the thin, thin air, or possib!y inthen abandoned walls of the Advertiser. We are neither the advocatcs nor the defenders of the interests and welfare of the plutocracy in Hawaii, but we wam them to carefully investigate and study, if the alleged benefits undc-r anneiation are not more fancied than real, more speculative than aelual. The part of the proposed treaty, with whieh we deal, is theunheard of. unjo9tifiable outrage whieh will be coiumitted by the American people, if they by a bullying agression shou!d infringe on the rights of this people to the soil of their country and to 9eIf government. If the Senate should ratify tho treatv and aunei these Islands contrary to the sen9e and will of the Hawaiian nalioo, simply to 9uit a few alien representatives of commercial and monopolĪ9tic interests. and9uch ratification should be approved by the Araericau people, then that great nation forfeiU its right to be cla99ed as a free, liberty-loving and just>celoving j»eople. It would be the establishiug of an unholv precedent. It would be an admi9sion lhat the p’.utocratic interests of a few individual9 are paramount to the peraonal and polilieil rights of the j»eople. It would be a denial of ihe principle of consent of the governed to the d;src>sai of lheir citizenship and the form of their governmeut. whieh is the foundation of free self-governmeDt and whieh is recognized in form if not in fact even by monarchies. lt would be the groe«est outrage upon a friendly *nd peaeeahie people. Can the American people afibrd to eommil sucb * eoulempiible act whieh will remain as * permanent sUin on its fair page in history?

Auother CounciIman has got into oAW in that Mr. Cooper bas \*i*n appointeti Circuit Judge m p!ace of Jndge Frear. Me now the re.tS‘>i? for the «peedy *nd unheanl of promotion of Mr. Frear. and tbe job looks worse than ever. W e h»ve some • • time ago j r'phe?ie<i thal Mr. o-* >i>or was a candidate for the whieh heeaoie vacant j ujxm the resignation <>f Mr. Do.e, but «> were beginuing to believe tb.it ihe Fr .visional Govermnent lacked the courage to fulfil tueir promi?e« to Mr. L\«>{>er. aml to nsk a 2eucral O itcry from the o>oimunity. A s iit*ble arrangement has now been iua>le ; aiid Mr. Cooper has been hoist<*l iuto a less eouspicuous plaee than a Supreiue Judg>-ship. but still a plaee to whieh he in no way is entitled nor has shovvu any grounds why he shou!d l>e considered eouipelenl and ahle to fill īt. Mr. Cooper is a stranger here. We believe that he is an Amer ean, and we kuow tliat he w.ia the person who read ihe Fr«4i ii»ioiial rroelamalion under Capta:n \\ iltse’s guns, and we auppuae thnt the Judgeship is the reward f>r this bruve act. It was the prcsence in the revolutionary committee of such strangers as Mr. Cooper with no affiliations or interests in this country that g.ive to the Iate revoluliou its piratical stamp, and we regret greatly to see the Frovieional Government using the judgeships to reward and satisfy polilieal adveuturers. There are a number of other offices whieh could be used for that purpose without mueh harm to the community, but we think it would have heen wiser not to have disturbed the coufldence whieh the jieoi>le heretofore have had in the integrity of the Courts, by avoiding having made the two last apDointments. Mr. Cooper’s appointment and coosequent resignation from the Adrisory Couucil, has benefitted that bi)dv in that it has ad>led to ils number as a member Mr. F. M. Hatch. Mr. Hatch is not alone a very prominent and ahle lawyer. but he is in all his dealings a perfect gentleraan, and as he has never affiliated with any polilieal party here or taken active part in politics, he has the confidence of all parties alike. He is esteemed as being a conservative aud discreet man, and we have no doubt that his teraporary career as a Councilman will fully justify the high expectations, and general eipressious of approval with whieh his appointmeut has heen hailed. A few more chauges in the Adviaory Council such ashavelately taken plaee will make that body quite respectable, a n d e v e n presenlable Mr. William Love the Secretarr oftheFire Department has heen disraissed. As Mr. L«ove has only held office f r a week or bo. and h.ia had no opportunity to §how hi« abilitv or disability to fill the office, his dismi3sal creales a ju§t indignalion. We were loud in our praisef of the Commissioners of the Fire Department w hen they were appointed because we thought thal they were men, and not old women. Their giving way to ihe clamors of the outside ring aml dismif«ing * newly appointed man for no c*use eieepl to m&ke room for aome member of the military forcea

ia coward!y. If theCommissioners had been iudepen«lent and upnght they would simply have carrie<l on their busines- .is they s.iw right and if they were n«H al!owed to do so they would h ive re.-g:ied and let somebody e’.so ruu the dejvirtment. They have weakened onee and we fully exr>cct to see them weaken again ar.d dismiss the Chief Engineer or anybody else whom the oulside ring wants to see removed. Mr. Chas. Clark and Mr. Harrv ' Webb iwo Custom Houae Guarda were dismis-ed on Tue?«iay by F. rt Surveyor ?an*lers to make r>K)ai f *r a eouple of iuembers of the miiitary forces. Mr. Sander» we understand waa instruotevl to remove the meutioiied officers and replace them with a Mr. Kelly and a Mr. von Werthern Jr. These intructions did not emanale firom the Chief of Mr. tranders the CoIlector-General but eame direct it is said frum the mimster of finauce. We are surprised to learn that Mr. F. C. Jones eould have committeil so indecent and unbusinesslike an act as to interfere directly in ihe lower branches of his dej>artment without g >ing thr >ugh the usual form of consulting or if necessary instructing the Chief of the bureau. This is the very precedent f>r whieh insult afier ins ilt was beaped upon the heads of King Kalakaua and W. M. Gibaon aiul it is interesting to see the leading iight of the reform party adopl the mueh condemned policy. Mr. Sanders who is the iramediate by responsible person in the important olhee whieh he holds ia not allowed to select hie own subordinates, but has to make room for ihe proteges of the c.ibiuet ministers secret bone. The Port Surveyor’s officeis nota pleasant office to hold. Uufavorablecomments»nd 8Uspicions will always attach t» an office so full of temptations aud it is extremely unfair aud unjust to force upon the man holding it. meii whose honestv and ahiIity he has no know!edge of, aud in whom he has no reas *n to plaee any confidence. The dismissal of Chas Clark is so mueh more au outrage as this officer has heen the only one who uuder the present lmd lale incumbents ever has made any opium-seizures. He is an exfierienced wide-awake officer and ! his dismissal »eeuis to indicate that Minister Jones is u»t suffering from any particular desire to see opium-smuegliug checked or atopped. But who are to hlame for theee polilieal changes 0 The executive eouneil mu?t bear the resp >nsibility. We h*ve tried to find out who it is who is bringing such pressure to bear on the four Cabinet Ministers as to make them establish a precedent f >r:nerly condemned by them8elves. and we are answered that the milit*rv men have taaen the matters in their hand« and that they are forcing ihe Cabinet 1 to obey their oders. lt has then eome to this al lasl lhat tbe Pretoriana are running the governmeut. We pred;cted long ago that such would be Ihe result, but we never dreame<l that . i Sanford B. I)*3le or W . O. Smith would laek tbe moral and phyaical courage to resist any attempt at i bulldoxing whieh might be brought « to bear ou ihem. W hat are they » *fraīd of ? The Provisional Gov- > irnment is under the *ctive proi teclorate of the Uniled St*tes.

Any threatenir.g move *gain<t it will be prompt!y quele*l hy the l'. S. f<>rcv-> aml siace the last appointments to the AJvisory Council thecommunity al large was •at>sde\l that the g»werument sh<*uld reaiain in the hand« of the present administrati<'n uiuil matV*r9 in Washim;ton are s-ttled oue way or other. \Vhy doesn't the governmeut disband the military f>r - - an<l hand over to the U. S. repr -entatives all the arms :»n<l ammunilion and have all the military duties per* f<>rmed by marines ? It wouli bo an immeuae -«.leine to the deplete>l tre.isary, and it would re!ieve tho Cabinetof the fear whieh evidently i3‘in3p!ring them. It 'v »iKl enahle the minister-» to carry out the g<>vernment in a conscientk>u« manuer suitable to the:r individnal honorab!e sentiments without bnlldo*ing, iuterferenceordi 'lalion of a eet of irreapcnsible offioe hnnting men who»e qualifications arenot simply competency orability.butonly tbtough havingc»rried gun in a buxHi!ess revo!ution with no danper t<> them0elves or any1>h1v else. except the danger o! suicide or accidental h<>micide hy the **going ofT’ of the—to themstrange firearms. From the Bucyru« J<>urnal, Ohio, we reprint a porti<>u of an excellent lengthy editori.il oo the suhject of Hawau and annexation. The liberal views presented aro worthy of n<>tice espeoially as coming from a paper whieh has strongly h.tcked the H.irnson administration : In this matter our true policy is in accord with our best interests. Our consideration should be what will be beat for the native islanders, that large majority who have the m»et rīghteous elaim t> be eonsidereil and yet who, th>ie far, have not heen heard. Kvery true American who believes that ‘*Americans shoul»l govern Arnerica” should syrapathize with the oppressed 8andwich Islander who believes that “Kanakaa shou!d g<>vern Kanaka.*’ Not for her arbitrary and illegal acts, not for her oppression and inju?tice, but for her enlighleued Datriotisra Queen Liliuokalani has heen deposed; and not by her own people, but by foreigners who are on!y there to make enorraous prcnts by an inhuman disregard of the lives and morals of their laborers, the Queen’s own countrymen, whoiu she desires to elevate and pr»tect. The policy, the aheoliUe duty of this great N’alion, is to re-instate tbe Queen and protect her in her government so long as she merits such protection, and to assist her when she desires it. This righteous policy being adopted. all other things* that we desire would naturally fo!low. Taking ihe native Kanakas and lheir oppre*ēe<i and abused Queen under ourjuBt. l>etievoient and enlighlened pr<»tection. we att ich them t<» ua far more »trong!y. eff<-ctively an<l pr<*fitabty than any anm xation »utr tg>? cou>d *ecure them f<>r us, an<i anything in reason we might <iesire would be conceded. A fortified c»a)ing station as s perpetual acquisitioo, whieh ia what is now suggested as a Nalional necessity. would b« only a trifling return for our justice to a gratefui and oppres»ed people. an<i Ameriean Kepublicanis(u, showing itself the true fri«nd of the oppres«ed and weak, would by tbē wi»dom, humaoity and justice of its eoune be elevated higher than *ver in e9timation of the Nationa of the eartb for its iustice and the eolightened sagacity of its »utesmen.