The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-06-20

NI| committee ON those mtiiNis VIII /.
meet with the unanimous support of
This convention Another attack was
made upon tbe qualifications Tor soma.
tors Well enough to throw open the fran
ghiso literally as to whom should vote
for Senators. but | submit when one Of .
the provisions about the qualifications .
for Senators was torn down that an. .
other assault was made by the delegates .
to this convention upon the security .
and upon the pr. lection Of the cause Of /
Gentlemen may say and .
believe what they will, we are all of one I
opinion; we are 1ll friends; there is no
government party here. no opposition,
no ms and no outs; we are all friends
working for one end; tut we forget the
condition Of the country outside We
forget our experiences after 1887, and !
submit we are making the same mis-
takes we made ,hen and making our
selves liable 20 the same consequences.
DO not understand me, however, on
this question Of suffrage for Senators as
desiring to here to the qualifications
provided i'm the draft am assured 10y
so many gentlemen of experience and
of a more thorough and comprehensive
knowledge OF the situation than myself
that we are going to be perfectly safe
with the il come qualification at six
hundred dollars, that | am inclined to
I l.. Ill LIT
at the same time the repeated assaults
| that have be- made upon these various
provisions lead me to fear for the pos.
| sible consequences. Although | am no
/ pessimist | am not afraid of doing my
| duty whenever it shall become neces-
| sary to take any stand for the good of
| this country. yet | do not believe in
| yielding to popular clamor or to the
disposition - throw the Government
into more general and more universal
popular control in this way. We must
be careful. We must be guarded UNI
less we want to repeat the last two ex-
perlences that we have had in revolu-
tons. And | submit, Mr. Chairman,
that we need not contemplate with
equanimity another resort to armed
force. Twice, to be sure, through the
timidity, and the fear, and the weak
ness of those in control of the affairs of
the Government, we have succeeded
without loss of life, but l submit
that the gentlemen need not eX-
pect another such resort with any
such result. We may yet if we show
now any tendency to weakness and a
disposition to yielding on these points,
have to face consequences far more seri-
Gus than any we have known hereto
fore have stated Mr. Chairman, that
, | believed in keeping the control of this
government in the hands of those who
had honestly and courageously won it.
That course has not been deemed advis.
. able by a majority of this Convention,
, but ! submit that the duty still remains
to see that those safeguards which aIe
left here will be jealousy protected. Ii
, may be that an income qualification OF
six hundred dollars is ample for these
. purposes with the other qualifications
and safeguards, but we have seen before
Mr.. Chairman, the attitude and the
abuse of authority and discretion
on the part of inspectors OF
I election. myself have seen
A inspectors OF election admitting men tc
[ vote whose only claim TO the incom,
was either because they had gambleC
and won the money or because they had
raised taro and eaten it themselves +,
the value oc $500 during the year be
fore And | submit to you, Mr.. Chair
man, we may again see those yer,
=, things. We Llay again see election,
like that which returned Male GnC
Hopkins to The House of Mobiles under
the late monarchy. What a monstrous
election that was! These gentlemen
who come from the other islands may
not realize what that experience taught
the residents of Honolulu as to the pos
sible abuse of the franchise Do they
realize that those two candidates re-
4 fused, prior to the election, to state
, what their IDEAS were as to the lottery
, That the secret ring which manipulate
that election had those men pledged t.
q support that measure long beforehand
A whenever i. should be their pleasure t.
4, bring it forward in the House? There arr
! gentlemen in this assembly who them
o selves were witnesses to the spectacl,
of the election workers on behalf O
:, those two candidates hustling mel
. down to these grounds and paying thei
taxes within fifteen, aye five minute
o of their casting their ballot. Can il b,
:, said that there was anything like fai
o resort to pure electorate which result
. ed i'll the election of those two candi
: | submit that, carefully guarded as tn
ballot is under this draft of the consti
q tuition, we may regret not having pro
s tected it in every possible way, and i
o we are too hasty in tearing down thes
y safeguards we may yet regret and re
! pent the day.
A just as ii was the people of the Soutl
p who suffered by the mistakes in tn
o method of reconstruction and not tn
people of the North, so it will be tn
Hawaiian and the laboring class VIII,
. will suffer if we blunder. The capital
#, list, the planter and merchant can ge
away with the bulk of his fortune il
y case of disaster, but the poor man vii
: have to bear the burden of want an,
!. suffering if our business interests declin
f in consequence of long continuation 0
. the struggle for good government an,
. annexation. The prosperity and peac
of the country depends on these thing
o and the man who tolls for his dali
bread cannot afford To wait for them