The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1884-11-19

Editor, is it reasonable to suppose
that men who have been accustomed
all their life to handle bacon and
canned fruit, or measure yards of .
calico, or import bales of merchan-
disc and export bags of sugar, OF
count dollars and dimes over
counter, or keep set of books and !
make out periodical balance-sheets,
however expert in their own special
line, are exactly the stamp of per-
sons qualified by nature or education
to he entrusted with the functions
of Government? No, sir. Their
anteccdcnts should exclude them
percmptorily from the affairs of
State; for this reason, that although
they may be very excellent and
praiseworthy persons in their own
particular calling, they cannot have
had any previous acquaintance with
the business of State affairs.
In Europe. those who govern are
brought up to the trade. AT school,
in their own homes, in society, and
in subordinate offices, they learn the
business involuntarily by mixing
with those who make it the faculty of
their lives, so that large class are,
so to say, to the manner born. III
not great profcients, they under
stand the principles of the science,
and are experts in the practice.
Above all, they understand the rules
of the service, and adhere strictly to
the code of honor which distinguishes
certain grade Of men, and is adj
mitted to be Indispensable in diplo-
matte proceedings.
If Hawaii had been fortunately
governed by men understanding the
principles and trained in the practice
Of government, and withal guided
by the instincts of honor and patriot
ism, how much better would it have
been for her to-day! l prefer the
services of mechanic who knows
something of his trade, and if it were
left to me to choose an Executive j
should probably select men who had
been accustomed from their youth to
the society of statesmen and the
transaction of public duties. If
these were not to be had, would
accept in their place men of intelli-
gence, education, high character,
experience of the world, and with
that measure of public estimation
for honor and generosity of feeling
which marks one of natures gentle
men, though he were born in taro-
patch and his father sent to the reef
for larceny. A mere name and
family connections go for nothing
with me. Glittering decorations and
big titles have no Importance in the
eyes of an Arab, and he sets small
value on men who carry bureaucratic
portfolios when they are better fitted
to carry brown paper parcels, and
stand proudly before the country
instead Of properly behind the
counter. The sang JIeu Of the desert
has, however, one weakness which
neither time nor circumstances can
cradicate--a desire that all places
and positions of trust and honor
should be occupied by men to whom
the principles of government are in
telligible and the principles of gen.
tlemen sacred. | care little for the
precedence supposed to attach to a
long line of ancestry, and less still
for the claims of wealth, satisfied
that neither of these can confer
character or ability; whilst highly
esteeming the honest son of nobody,
whose word is as good as his bond
and whose mind is uncontaminated
by love of lucre, believing that in-
tegrity of purpose will pull him
safely through political complica-
tions that would leave even Bismarck
on the fiat of his back.
A