The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-07-09

has fallen upon corrupt times. and suf-
fers from the dishonest aud dishonorable
populations of those pledged TO preserve
its honor and integrity. Men paid, and
well paid too, for public services, are
not satisfied with their legitimate hire,
but defraud the State by secretly pocket
ing discounts and commissions on any
and every convenient occasion. Thus
one man purchases. supplies for the
Government at less price than is writ
ten on the bill, the difference between
the amount actually given and the
amount stated on the voucher going
into the pockets of the purchaser.
Another lets a contract for the perform
ance OF work at a specified figure, the
contractor actually receiving less, the
difference being appropriated by the
Government official In this way many
thousands of dollars are annually and
fraudulently diverted from the public
service to private emolument. All such
discounts and rebates should go into the
Government treasury, and not to the pri-
vate account of the Government en-
ployee Here is field 1.-THE Bulletin "
continuesl for the reforming agency Of
the new Ministry"
Now, two things are apparent on the
face of this accusation. One is that the
writer points to specific cases OF malver-
sation of public funds by Government
employees the other is that he brands
the civil service as dishonest and cor
rupt. In short, it is insinuated that dis
honest practices have been reduced to d
system in the Government departments
| Those accusations are far too serious to
pass without notice. They challenge at
tention; but here a difficulty arises
which is a bar to successful investiga-
ton unless the newspaper accuser does
| what newspaper accusers in other places
| do-name the offenders; state the ma
! ture of their nefarious dealings; the
dates and amounts OF their stealings
and in short, publish all the evidence
necessary to sustain such charge.
AS the bribe-giver is as bad as the
! bribe-taker in the eye of the law, there
! is small chance of confession of guilt by
| partners in crime, and therefore i
facts sustaining his charge have come tC
| the knowledge of our contemporary, it is
his duty to the public to present them
without fear, favor or affection. Ii he
fails in that duty after his sweeping ac-
! cusations he will stand condemned as 9
slanderer, unless complete proofs are
| placed in the hands of the Governm ent
| to be dealt with as the circumstances o.
each case may demand
Every fair minded man will recognize
the justice of our position. The news
paper press all over the world has be-
come the guardian of popular rights, and
! incidental thereto, the exposer of crook
edness and wrong doing in high and low
| it must be precise. 1t is not enough tC
declare that wrong has been done; the
wrong must be proven and brought
home to the guilty parties. How often
| this has been done by American news
papers especially is known to our read
ers. 1t is we'll known to them also that
it would have been impossible for the
Executive of either city, State or Union
to grapple with the corrupt rings that
controlled expenditures if it had not
been for the splendid detective work
and fearless and explicit utterances Of
the newspaper press. Let our evening
contemporary therefore do it's duty in
the premises, and then call upon the
Ministry to carry out reforms. Until ii
has acquitted itself honorably and man
fully we shall continue to think that Ha-
waiiar Government officials are not less
honest than their neighbors and &C
quaintances who may be engaged in pri-
vate pursuits.