Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-09-22
SATURDAY ........
un. srnrcKrLH roslrroN

NR. spREcEELy POSTTTON
In the recent apparent Crisis Mr.
Sprcckes was believed to hold the key
of the situation, and it was confidently
expected that his influence with the
king would result in the enforced re-.
signation of the ministry last Saturday
On that day the cabinet made a fnan-
cial statement TO Mr. Sprcckcls which
that gentleman declares to- be, on the
face OF it, satisfactory AS il has not
been given in detail to the general public
it is impossible to say whether business
men will accept II as satisfactory or no.
Whatever may be the financial out
look there is every reason TO be diss7tis.
fed with the financial retrospect Mr.
Sprcckcls has not been on the islands
during the days When much OF what
the community believes to be jobbcry
has been going on. He has not been
able to analyzc the various public
statements made, rs the community has
done The lingishspcaking whites of the
islands, by large majority, and the
natives, by large minority, are united
against Mr. Gibson. Is it fair Of Mr.
Spreckcls TO assume that he alone is
right and all the Others are wrong
Claus Spreckcs is always entitled to
a respectful hearing from the people Of
the Hawaiian Islands. His public and
private acts have been generally just,
generous, and for the common good.
He has invested, and expended with
out investment, vast sums OF money.
His wealth has enabled him to do things
which almost no other planter here
could do. One result is Spreckelsvilc,
another is the new steamship line. And
the strongest thing about his position
to day is the fact that those who have
had personal dealings with him with
out an exception, so far as the writer
has been able to discover admit that
those dealings have been not only just
but generous. With his great interests,
no man has greater reason to fear the
evils of bad government We have
said this all along, and we repeat it now.
II Mr.. Spreckcls has the real good OF
the country at heart no man has better
reason than he to wish Mr.. Gibson
returned to his muttons. 1t is there
fore with no little disappointment that
the result of Mr.. Spreckels move
against Mr.. Gibson has been the cap
ture of a Tartar
These is compensation in all things.
1t would have been misfortunatc that
even so generous a man as Mr.. Spreckcls
should dominate the politics of these
Islands power greater than the
throne itself Mr.. Spreckcls moral de
feat is a lesson in practical politics. 1t
proves the vital need of more perfect
concord, more active leadership, more
ardent love of principle. So long as
Mr. Gibson may truthfully say of any
merchants or planters or professional
men that he can " buy them, body and
soul, with good fat contract" so long
must political control be at the mercy
of men who hold the keys to plethoric
moncybags or who dominate commerce.
1t will be better for everyone if this
lesson be among the ruminant exercise
of those OF us who at this writing
"chew the cud of sweet and bitter
fancy" who "bide our time" and
they remember "thc ldes of March. "
49,
-, ~ ''s' Niol''iay pui'e'''i' Ni' wafer
-" soe' va. VI ms way ~ c'i'icise ti'e
,'S"'se " '''e iess' ~ Is II, "c.oiu
WIN ','e n'ncSS OF 'nihss 'hat MT iiill
guage worse than that employed by the
San Francisco Chronicle "iu its worst
days Mr.. Hill was an employee of
the Chronicle Sin its worst days" and,
IN his little way did doubtless his little
best to keep up the papers reputation
Mr. Hill has taken few words and
expressions out of their context and
talked about them in language quite as
ungentemanly as the language cen
sured, but with this difference Mr.
Hill knows that the epithets employed
by the Press were applied to a man
who richly deserved them. In essential
gentlemanliness no one connected with
this paper has any need to fear com
parison with Mr. Walter Hill. He has
the writers on this paper at one mani
fest disadvantage, however He and
his former editor have alternately fiat
al Il.