The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1893-05-10
pOIIIICAL MlXINS AND The
BALLOT.
Ry CURTIS J. LYONS.


(Rearah ;dIren's Society, May 6, 1881
re ever seeking for the formulse
''.a We want statements of prin-
% Us and of duties that will cover all
- and the fewer exceptions, we
the better. Proverbs, maxims,
s,ob.words we have, stored away like
.ocket weapons always ready for use.
Po,i,ical truth, especially, men think
can be crystallized into gems of utter
moo that always have their full mar
tet value; especially if secured or
as,abIished by some great struggle.
Thai hattie, we say, has been frought
once for all, and its decisions are not
20 he reversed. Perhaps so, but we
must not be too sure.
The fact is that some of our idols in
this line get rudely broken. We used
IN saw "AlI men are born free and
eouaI;u "Vox populi, vox Deli" "Gov-
eminent of the people, by the people
ond for the peopIe.u These are all
GOOD embodiments of truth, as good
probably as we can get.
We used to say that America was u
home for the oppressed of ali nations;
a home in fact for all who chose to
come there. The writer OF these lines
believes that he once wrote for this
society feeling article founded on
similar principle. / need not inquire
whether we all think that today.
There are somewhere fundamental
principles, but they are as hard OF
Identification, segregation and deter
mination as the elements in chemls-
trv. and as difficult of statement as
the definition of a simple object, say
map. They combine, too, like chemi-
cal elements and form hitherto unseen
and unheard-of compounds.
We doubtless fail of fully under
standing these maxims which do in
deed express truth, but not just what
we seek to get from the words tbat
are usad. Men indeed are equal in the;
sense of the golden rule, but not in
the sense of what they should be
allowed to do. / may demand no more
of nv neighbor than he may demand
of me, but the great equities may die
tate that some may demand more
than others, because they need more
i'm order to fulfil that mission upon
which a wise and beneficent provi-
dence has sent them. The words
"eaual rights" have, we perceive,
wide range, and a variety of applica-
ton which admits of great deal of
discussion. This statement now leads
as on naturally to the question of
how much of actual truth there is in
the idea of an equal right to vote.
There is a time-hOnored formula
which we hate to call in question. 1t
IVES {. splendid watchword in the days
gher, America crystalliZed into being,
and as in the relation then existing
between her and the mother country
was undoubtedly correct: "No tax
alton without representation" We
have accepted this as an axiom in
sound politics, bedrock statement,
a part of the politicians and states
mans bible. Let us look into it.
We do certainly tax unrepresented
property. Surprising an Englishman
owns a miIlion-dollar farm in Dakota.
Dakota taxes that farm, representa-
ton or no representation, and no one
finds fault. The fact that A and Il
have each paid poll tax may or may
not bear on the question as to whether
A and b shall vote. 1t is, of course,
not sound to bring it to bear If there
is no logical connection between the
tax-paying and the voting.
Government is primarily for the
purpose of maintaining justice and
that are necessary for peace. 1t is, as
DIR. Hopkins of Williams College
rightly held, a power from without,
from above, we may say, that IS the
essential element of government. 1t
is something besides the contract or
mutual consent of number of lndIvl-
duals. That far-seeing philosopher
uttered this doctrine in republican
Massachusetts. 1T was only few
words that contained the sentiment,
but those few words meant great
deal. They meant that the warrant
for government is in right and not
Technically and finally in the will of
the majority. Perhaps in this dis
tinction is to be found the solution of
the problems that now confront civil
iZation.
Government in this phase of its
constituted existence protects US,
makes us better, and helps us in at
tanning the true ends of our life, and
is entitled to a return. 1t is entitled
to support at our hands, that is to the
payment of taxes. We the taxpayers
on the other hand are entitled to its
protection, and to justice enforced be-
tween man and man. "No taxation |
without good government might |
perhaps be a motto of an advanced |
The voting privilege may and may
not secure good government. 1t tends |
to secure peace inasmuch as the party |
who are in the majority know that |
they have only themselves to blame |
if the government is bad. 1t tends to |
action because there appears |
good government as an end to be |
secured only by such action. 1t tends |
to intelligence-to worthy ambition. |
But taking men as they are, it must |
be confessed that it tends to as many |
things that are bad. 1t certainly has |
not brought peace, but sword,
here in Hawaii. The minority feel |
that somebody else is to blame, not
they. The energy is misplaced, the |
depraved, and the ambi-
ton unworthy in the highest degree.
1t may not have occurred to many |
of us that the vote was originally
merely a method of counting bayonets
or swords; and that this counting, !
from preliminary, came to be sub
stitute for fighting. The king, with
only ten thousand, makes terms with
him who comes with twenty thous-
and. And how did it come to be sub
stitute? Because the right to bear
arms was general in homogeneous
and, on the whole, an equally pre-
community. The minority,
finding that it was such numerically,
knew as well first as last that it must