The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-12-13

doubtedly caused by the excessive use of spirits,
is beginning to create alarm among the people,
and leads them to inquire why it is that the law
which prohibits the selling or furnishing of IN
toxicating drinks to Hawaiians is 50 VIGOROUSLY
and extensively disregarded. 1t Is well known
that a large majority Of the native people would
OPPOSE any repeal or abatement whatever of the
law in question, which they justly consider
should be a protection and safeguard against the
evils Of intemperance. The attempt has been
more than once made Of late years 10 relax the
law in this respect, but it has invariably been
voted down by the Representatives Of the people.
From the native newspaper HaIrail PonOi, of
this week, we translate the following editorial
remarks on this subject
"In these days we quite frequently hear Of sud-
den deaths Of HaWaiians, the immediate cause Of
which Is known to be drunkenness. We also see,
every day, On every hand, that the law which for
bids the selling or furnishing Of strong drink to ma
tives is utterly disregarded. Everybody knows that
natives can get liquor Just as easily as do foreigners,
if they have the money to pay for it. This is q sad
state Of things. Our people are disappearing fast
enough from natural causes, but this free use Of
strong drink is fastening their departure. Is there
no possibility Of quenching this fire that is thus con-
suming our people;
at Is q common saying among those who study
the working of laws, that if any one law is not ap-
proved 10y the majority of the people, then it will
not be enforced. Let us ask, does not the majority
Of the nation think that the law forbidding the sell
ing or furnishing spirits to natives is q good and de-
sirable law: We do not doubt that if put to vote,
the answer will be decidedly in favor of the law as it
stands. Why then is it not enforced? Cannot the
police, who are paid to enforce the laws, do their
duty as to this One2 The Attorney General and the
Marshal are the heads of the Police Department do
they say that they are unable to execute this law?
If go, then let them make known the reasons, and
suggest some new enactment that can be enforced.
Better have the present law repealed altogether than
have it constantly treated with contempt.
"But we have a word of complaint to make in
this connection with regard to native juries. Some
months since there was a clear case of selling and
furnishing liquor to natives in Koolau on this island.
The case went through the District Court and the
Court of Judge Kapena, and the party was convict
ed. As we have said, the case was very clear, with
out any reasonable doubt about the guilt of the
party accused. But some smart lawyer advised him
to appeal and take a jury trial, and an intelligent
jury of natives acquitted him. They perhaps had a
HSA6 SANA1 JAN NN1NNNS NANAA NhNN
black was white. We must confess that such juries
are enough to discourage a police officer who desires
to do his duty under the law. We should not feel
proud of having been one of that jury!
"It is the truth, that nearly all of the liquor
shops in Honolulu sell to natives just as freely as to
foreigners. Indeed, there are so many of these
shops, and a good many foreigners in these days
having become abstainers, it is reported that the
I;-,o,s o1lor COW +bap,Sa1yaO tboF tbav, oou1J not oa+
a living if they did not sell to natives. So then, it
appears that we natives are supporting the gin man.
u~facturer in Holland. the merchant here who i'm
ports, and the sellers who retail the gin. What a
shame, that our people should spend their limited
means for this wretched, soul and body destroying
stuff
"If we were a preacher of the Gospel, one who
possessed influence with the people, we should not
fail to raise our voice on this subject and try to rouse
the people to action. Let the law be enforced. In
the words of the motto under the picture of Judge
Lee in the Court House, Fiat j~ustitia ruat cGlum'
Let justice be done, though the heavens fall.''
1t may indeed be very pertinently asked, Is
not public sentiment in favor of the enforcement
of this just and necessary lawP Without doubt,
every good citizen, every Christian and right
minded man in the community, will hold up both
hands on the side of the law. If this public
opinion can be concentrated and its expression be
clearly and strongly enunciated, it will be strange
if it shall not prevail. An ample field is here
presented for the labors of true philanthropists.
Intemperance and its Suppression - was the
subject of a paper read before the Evangelical
Alliance, which recently met in New York. Our
limited space precludes our making more than
brief extracts, which strike us as pertinent. The
italics are ours.
cit is "a hOarse voice of materialism that shouts
for the rights of property, and demands for them the
precedence before all other rights. 1t is the calm
voice of Christianity which afirms the higher sacred
ness of the right to rear children in virtue and
purity, and to dwell in peaceful homes, and to have
those homes protected against the erection among
them of establishments which regularly and system
atically emit influences more baleful than the deadli-
est pestilence."
Neither forgetting nor d~espising the press and
the secular platform, and current literature, we be-
leve that prominently from the Christian pulpit
must be sounded forth those mighty truths lchich
cork in The bosom of society, and move at length the
whole body along pathways of benefcent reform.
Nor should it offend these our fellow-laborers in this
reform who agree with US in our views of Christian
ethics, but dissent from our views of evangelical
doctrine, if we solemnly ayow our belief, that this,
which they reject, is the rery life and soul of that
which with US they accept. Here is the hiding of
its the power of God unto salvation In
order thus to serve society, the Church must sanctify
herself
MR.. EDITOR-SEVERAL OF THE RE-
TAIL Store keepers of Honolulu desire through this medium to