The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1894-06-09
AS THEY SEE US.
The U. s. Papers Congratulate
Hawaii On the Election.

|
Constitutional Convention took place
in Hawaii on Wednesday, May g
Returns have been received ONLY
from Oahu, the island upon which
the capital is situated, but if these
may be taken as criterion the cleo
tons were conducted with a degree
of quietness very fattering to a
country that has but recently thrown
Oft monarchial yoke, and where a
large number of the inhabitants are
represented as intolerant to the new
order of things and waiting an op
portunity to fly to arms to restore
the former discredited regime.
There must be a high degree Of
virility in the Provisional Govern
ment to conduct affairs with such a
marked respect for order and law In
| the midst of elections that try the
temper of states older In civilization
than the gem of the North Pacific.
and the circumstance justifes all
that has been said of the American
genius of the men now in control in
the islands and of the worthiness of
the new state to be made part of the
American commonwealth. AS to the
d
preventative of the President of this
republic listened. that those men be
beheaded to satisfy the ferocity of
their barbarous ex queen, one can
best judge at this time what the
world would have lost had the re
preventative been as weak as the
President who sent him.
There are several features connec-
ted with the elections that are in
structive because of the insight they
afford into the state of affairs exist |
ing in the islands. One of these is |
the discrepancy between the full vote |
and registered vote. The voting
citizens of Honolulu number $500, |
and of these 1900 registered. The |
failure of the others to do so may be |
in part accounted for by the strict |
adherence of the Royalists to their
policy of refraining from having
anything to do with the elections,
but chiefly to the law that requires
every voter who registers to pay a
poll tax of So; What effect such a
law would produce in New York
State, and the shrinkage it would
cause in registration may easily be
lie every non tax paying
voter in Troy had to pay SIS to vote
instead of beng paid as large or
larger sum for his vote what a
shrinkage there would be in the
number of votes castI In Honolulu
alone fully 1000 voters were barred
by this So tax prerequisite, chiefly
Portuguese and natives, leaving
about 300voter who were inf1uen-
ced by royalty to remain passive.
This should be reassuring to those
who lie awake experimenting that the
adherents of Lii, Will get up early
enough to restore her some fine
AS Honolulu is the royal
st stronghold there is nothing in
his show Of strength to afford to
sven the most timorous any occasion
.or fear. But, this aside, even if the
was comparatively light
he vote was heavy. Fully 80 per
,ent. OF those registered voted, show
pg that the ballot is regarded as a
desirable privilege in the islands of
he sea. There is no account of any
epeating, of intimidation or rioting.
t was like the town meetings in l
quarter of century {
go. Altogether it may be said that
he Americans In Hawaii have shown a
hat they can take care of themselves r
nd that the island paradise would Il
make an ornamental addition to the
United States Troy IN. W Ii
>udget. a