The Daily bulletin., 1890-06-26
SUMpTUARY LAWS AND the
LlQUUR TRAFFIC.

WIltlUSS Va We A' SASbuinOhNt AN'
D., upon the above subject, 10
which you have 80 kindly directed
the attention Of our Legislature in
your issue Of the 18th inst.
1t is thing to be regretted that |
writer's of Mr.. Hainmond's stamp, |
should not aim more to enlighten
their readers than Mr.. Hammond has |
done in this case, judging from what
YOU have given US of his writing on
"Sumptuary Laws" He uses the
woid Liberty in such sense that
l am led to exc!aim with the martyr,
"Oh, Liberty, what crimes are COM
mi,ted in thy name!"
Mr.. Hammond's declarations
sound pretty, being uttered in the
defense of personal liberty, hut
when stripped of their coloring, they
don't sound so pretty.
In that country where the 'wick-
cd cease from troubling" etc. where
''every man in every place shall
meet brother and friend"
neither sumptuary nor criminal laws
will be necessary, and the greatest
personal liberty could be allowed.
But in this world, where men will
murder, rob and stea,, get drunk,
quarrel, fight and kill when drunk,
sumptuary and criminal laws are
both necessary to set bounds to per-
sonal liberty and Sc; up in its place
civil liberty, and thus protect the
lives, the property and the happi'
ness Of the people from the personal
liberty men.
Mr.. Hammond has quite over
looked civil liberty, which is the
safeguard OF society, in his zeal for
personal liberty. the only danger
that society mas to fear. In this de-
generate world, a hermit or wild
man of the mountains, that never
viaits the haunts Of men, is the only
one that can safely be trusted with
personal liberty, save perhaps The
man that is willing to ''do rs he
would be done by" Neither civil
| liberty nor the rights Of others need
be considered by the hermit who
never visits the haunts Of men. At
home he can get drunk, go naked,
run his horse, shoot rife ball around,
etc., but down here 10 the streets Of
| Honolulu, where "ciyil liberty"
reigDs, he is not allowed to exercise
any Of those personal liberty antics.
Our personal liberty is so
hampered by "ciyil liberty in Homo
lulu that we are not permitted TO
build wooden house on some
streets, nor fine brick house in the
street, nor to burn All old diseased
shanty, nor dig holes in the streets
without permission. But the hermit
in the mountains could build and
burn his house, or spend his useless
life digging holes; no one would
object. la the exercise Of personal
liberty, where there is no Que to get
hurt, you may throw around your
loaded fists with the skill of \ prize
| fighter, but you undertake that same
thing in crowd, Knocking some
sprawling, mashing the ear off one
and the nose off another, etc., no
plea OF personal liberty would save
you. Civil liberty would bind you
hand and foot and for time at least
put an end to your personal liberty.
Mr. Hammond would not feel like
arguing up personal liberty, for q
timG at least, If he happened to be
one that was hit. Yet drunken men
often have both wounded and killed
in their personal liberty" fights,
But Mr.. Hammond says they must
not be deprived OF their personal
liberty by law, because that would
bG incompatible with that degree
of freedom Of will and Of action
which is inseparahle from the indi-
vidual in ali communities, founded
upon what We call liberty" Even
in civilized communities, men can
enjoy the fullest personal liberty il
they only do the right thing, but
when they interfere with the rights
Of others they ran. against the civi
law and their personal liberty is
checked.
The business of the police Nnt
other criminal courts, the drinking
women and the drunken men that
are seen here, ought 10 admonisl
legislators TO enact come wise re
strictive law which may check ,heil
personal acts before they forfeit
their civil rights and get into prison
Those now in prison are there be
cause they used their personal rights
too freely. Would it not be The
proper thing to do, to restrict sucl
Wild personal acts before theil
authors get into prison. Such law
would injure no one that did right
and restrain only the possible wrong
doer. "Civil liberty" would not be-
interfered with and "personai iiber'
ty" only in wrong-doing.
One thing more, Mr.. Hammond
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