Hawaii Holomua, Volume I, Number 72, 12 December 1893 — TOPICS OF THE DAY. [ARTICLE]

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

The St.ar is now busy att;ickiog the R >ail Bo.ird and desires the »calp of the threo-tnembers who i serve withoat pay. The editor of ; the clul> shoet is of conrse not acqoainted with oar institutions ! so he doesn’t know that tho ; Road Botrd was e!ected by the people and not appointed by a rninister, and that the members cannot be dismissed by the ministers who have no business with them whatever. Of course the councils ean repeal the Road Bourd ;tct to sat sfv the Star. We aro fullv aware that the eouncillors are only tools in the hand;s of Stellar Smith and eom pauy, and as it was a measure of tho refonn party to establish Road Boards it will perhaps look rather awkward—but then, nothiug is impossible for the four great pr >phets and tbeir twelve srnall followers. 'Hie Star is especially nnnoyed because Mr. A. * Fernaudez is business manager of the HoloXOA , n!though a raember of the Road Board, and in its usual blackguardly style it throws out an iusinuation that the funds of the Road Board are being used to snpport the HoLomua. Hitherto we have been informed daily by the St tr that it is the Queen who supports the Holomua, aud we feel quite pleased at being snspected of having such a finaneial backing as Ihe Star asse ts. Of course we ean woll understand thnt tho 8tar judging from its own standing cannot believe that any newspaper ean exist without a constant “digging up’* bv its backors, but the Holomua unfortunately has got to stand on its own lvgs, not being so fortnnate as to have like tbe Star sorae great nuwasbed snpporter who oan ath>rd to furnish the sinews of war when Saturday comes ar>uud. 8omething signing itself Maui annexationists is anxious to see Judge Kepoikai dismissed bocause he is supposed to be a royalist. We woukl just like to see the government make a break iu that line and fiuallv show us that we have no constitution. The Star correspondeut doesn t realize that a Circuit Judge is appointed for four years and cannot l>e removed before auy more than a Supreme Judge. But by all meau$ let the Chief Justice write an admonishing letUr to tho Maui Judge. It wouidu t l>e the first tira«* that he bas pnt his nose into what doesu’t eoneem him and got a fitting answer and a deserved snub from Maui. We presume tbat the “Maui annexationisi” has iost a case befure tue Judge or is anxious to get the billet, either for himself or for the ven* accommodating Jobu Kalua. if he is to gain the point, be raust hustlc tbe authorities up,becanse their time is getiing extremely brief.

The annexation organ contains i occasional letters from an- ! nexationists in the other j is’ands in whieh the un- : fortunate kuaaina# try to imitate the braggadocio of their confreres in Honolulu. and talk fight and resistance and bloodshed. To anybody familiar with the situation in the country districts such talk sonnds extremely ndiculous. If the bugle of war ever should be heard iu Maui or Hawaii, the life aiul property of ; the men trying to sell ont the in- ! dependence and civil rights of l the Hawaiiaus wooldn’t be worth ; a cent. Beware gentlernen, that I you don’t imtate »nd try the : palienee of the slumbering lion, the awakening might be disastrous. We reprint to-day some editorial retriarks from lead:ng Japanese papers bearing on the Hawaiian question. They show that the Japanese ]>ress aml government are wide awake as to the interests of the Japanese in Hawaii We !ii*ve always advocated that Hawaii,as she is in honor bound, fulfil her treaty obligations and grant to tbe Japanese residing here the same rights that have been granted to the subjects of the most favored nations whieh they are entitled to under our tieaty. We havo oft<>n proven that the granting of the electoral franchise to those Japanese who otherwise are qualified to vote under our constitution wonkl be of small practical importauce at present, altbough it would be eminently just. Why should industrions tax-paving educ&ted and intelligent citizens be deprive«Vof a voice in a government whieh they help to support, becauso they have the misfortune —or as the case raay be good fortune —to have been born in Japan. That such ideas ean be advanced by honest and intelligeut men in this nn de eieele is far from compliraentaay to their mueh boasted M estern civilization. We are pleased to see that the enlightened people of Japan are especially represeuted here, and we hope that scme day justice will be done to the men who eame hera under a treaty whieh so far has been trampled upon bv Hawaii. There is something remarkably conspicuous in the manner in whieh the ollieial guillotine is being used. Minister Samnel Damon pretended not alone officially in the raeetings of the Councils, but privately to his sobordinates thr.t he wasopposed to the policy of dismissing faithful officials at this the eleventh hour of the existence of the government. And vet we notico that • the cierks in his department were the first to be swept ont of office while thc other d*partmeuts have ceased the work of beheading their clerks. We are getting tnore and more convinced that minister Damon is plaving a deep aud to him dangerous game. lt seems that he is ready to s;icrifice avowcd principl e—yes, even honor —for the purpcse of hanging on to his miserabie olllee us minister. And it is not, we all kuow, for the paltry dollars whieh he gains in shape of salary. He has paid the bigger portiou of tbat to George Ashley who now has been put on the regular pay ro!l. It is simply bocause Damon cannot

separate bis position as a banker and as a minister. and becanse he bas been swimming ont to the deep sea AnaneialK' until loss and min stare him in the face. He dares not continue his independent position as a patriotic and ncselfisb citizen. The mistake whieh he and his comrades made when they thongbt that America —the free and libertv-loving republic —w ould help them in their tyrannieal etforts in snppressing and hnmiliating, an independent nation is bearing fruit and he now finds himself between the deep sea and tbe devil. On one side looms up his fear of losing the money whieh be has invested and Ieut and furnished to the govemment, whieh will never be able to pay it. On the other side he sees the unpleasant prospect staring hira in tbe face of an eventnal restoration of a government whieh he | bas condemned, abnsed, and be- | trayed. If his heart conld j dictate to him he wouUl Uave j dropped tUe tbankles8 crowd 1 whieh he has saved for nearly a year from ruia and disaster ! and manfnlly retired from offiee ! with the esteem—if never agaiu with the love —of the Hawaiian Nation. His mercenary motives now plainlv exposed, his moral cowardly mob whom he created and armed, are now so conspicnous, tbat we bcliove, against onr will, that Damon was iu his rigbt colors when he used the temporarv embarassment of the Qneen whose friend he preteuded to be, whose confidential banker he was, to try to wrest from her that constitution whieli Ua« Ueen eonstrned and interpreted and criticised by tho revolut ; onists — hui never seen hy anyone of them. — The people regret the loss —still exit Samuel Damon.