Hawaii Holomua, Volume I, Number 68, 7 December 1893 — TOPICS OF THE DAY. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

This .ifternooii, acconling to the AdTertiser, the great and almi‘rhtv Provisional GovemO • ment n-i’l t eet in open session and perforni a concert over the beantiful theme of ‘ turn the r iscals oat.” —Hhy are the taxsuddenly allowed to be hnwoni il i s aeion of the c< (oncils who disbnrse —and sqnamler j — the ta\* s paid? hy is ;t that the {>ublic s*uldenly is adraitted to tlie tonfi<lence of our self- | appoiut< l rulers ; hy is the 8tar-chamber system to be abandoned and tlie vulgar herd alloweil t > iistt*n to the words of wisdom whieh are to fioat froin \ the lips of such ?titesmen as Emmelnih, lVaterhouse and Hrnith? The reason is obvious, tho answer is near. Mr. S. M. ]),imi n the minister of finance, has long ago declared his policy in regard to the dismissals of governraent officials. He has in spite of tho vitui»erations of the org<n of the anuexation club uphehl his policy, and he has received the unanimons support of tho respectable eleraeut in the community in his determined — and so far successful efi’ort of I koeping the government service eleau and efiicient. That the minister thereby has become obnoxious to the boodlers who howl for olliee as a reward for joining tLe P. G. party after all danger —if there ever was any — was over, is natural, and is realiy.ed by anybody familiar with the characters of the supporters of the piesent “good government. l?ut in spite of everything Mr. l)amon has stood finn and until to day he has showed the community that he is able and ready to run his department without any assistance frora the mob who believes that “migbt is I right. ’ The open session to-day | and the puhlie discussion of the subject of remova!s are instituted for the purpose of intiraidating and bulldoziug tbe Minij;ter of Einanee. lf the scberaers who are fathering this raove will succeed, has yet to be seen. Wo shall remind the men who constitute tbe Advisory Council and who nearly all are members of tho Ileform Party that it has alwavs beeu streuouslv ad- ! • J I vocated b\ T tbe leaders of that party that a legislative body has uo right to iuterfere witb the duties of the oxecutive. Mr. L. A. Thurston, tbe great prophet of the Reform Party, followed always tho principle set forth, and although it raight have been to tbe adv.mtage of his party as a political movo he decidedly refused to make tbe remova!s or appointments of government officials a subject for legislative debate or a reason for impeaehmeni. lf to-dav the councils in tbeir abject fear of the raob tbey have armed, out-vote Mr. Damon and force him totake a stepagainst whieh he has openly declared himself. their actiou will amount to a vote of want of confidence in

the minister of finance, and the courdrv must l>e prepared to see him resign his office. and thereby the main-prop of the government fall. I I Politically, we do not desire to see anything l>etter. because we know that without Damon the goverument is a prononuced failnre. But the policy of this paper and of lbe loyalists is not the policy of “rule or luin’’ and we shall deeply re«ret to see Minister Damon O give up the helm of the ship of state whieh he holds temporarily and hand it over to some irrosponsible pai ty who neither will possess his abilitv and iutegrity. nor have the c<»nfidence of the community. Me ire willing to believe that there are a wellmeaning and intelligent majority iu the couacils —it has to be seen j this afternoon if good sense and eommon deconcy sball rule, or if the bulldoziug actious of irresponsible blatherskites shall ; conirol. .. .