The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1894-06-12
AS THEY SEE Us.
The U. S. Papers Congratulate
Hawaii on the Election.

The elections of delegates to the
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 tlattering TO a
country that has but recently thrown
off 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 justities 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
proposition to which personal re-
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 refrainlng 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 S5i What effect such a
law would produce in New York
State, and the shrinkage it would
cause in registration may easily be
imagined. If every non tax paying
voter in Troy had to pay So to vote
instead of beng paid as large or
larger sum for his vote what
shriDkage there would be in the
number of votes cast! In Honolulu
alone fully 1000 voters we're barred
by this SIS tax prerequisite, chiefly
Portuguese and natives, leaving
about 300 voters who were intuen-
ced by royalty to remain passive.
This should be reassuring to those
who lie awake experimenting that the
adhereuts of Lii, will get up early
enough to restore her some fine
morning. As Honolulu is the royal.
list stronghold there is nothing IN
this show of strength to afford to
even the most timorous any occasion
for fear. But, this aside, even if the
registration was comparatively light
the vote was heavy. Fully 80 per
cent. of those registered voted, show
ing that the ballot is regarded rs a
desirable privilege in the islands of
the sea. There is no account of any
of intimidation or rioting.
1t was like the town meetings IN
Massachusetts, quarter of century
ago. Altogether it may be said that
the Americans in Hawaii have shown
that they can take care of themselves
and that the island paradise would
make an ornamental addition to the
United States Troy On. w.
Budget.