Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1895-07-26

is as ridiculous canard as the previous
one that Thurston wanted to restore the
monarchy under Kaiulani. Ones curiosity
is excited to learn who invents and man
ages to circulate such preposterous false
hoods, and with what motive 1t can pos
sibly have been done.
Joseph Cooks Criticisms.
The distinguished public lecturer. Joseph
Cook, LII. D., is here for fortnight, the
guest Of his Yale classmate Chief Justice
Judd. He expresses the highest admiration
Of President Dole and his associates in the
government. and thinks they have ability
and character enough to govern six king
ooms. DR.. Cook. however. holds extreme
manhood suffrage" views, and Is some
what stumbled at our limited suffrage for
eiecting senator's He cheerfully admits
tnat our present conditions may justify
such departure from sound political prac-
tee as to order an income qualification CT
$500 for senatorial electors. But he doubts
whether New England can consent to ad-
NIT to state fellowship a Commonwealth
with such illiberal Institutions.
He also shrinks at finding such a lack of
conformity to sound republican principles
as what ne regards as extraordinary pow
ers given to the senate. First, the senate
controls tine election of the president. Ar
ticle "a, section of the constitution SAYS:
For the purposes of such election the
senate and the house of representatives
shall sit together. The election shall be
1ority vote Of all the elective members to
which the legislature Is entitled. which ma
1ority shall include a majority Of all the
senators. shall be president. for the sue
ceeding term" etc.
Power of the Senate.
mere majority of the senate can thus
prevent the election of any president they
deem unsuitable, while no majority of the
house can do so unless the senate majority
jc L.,
the existing president holds over. 1t was
considered Indispensable to the public safe
ty to prevent the election of the president
from falling into the &C ntrol of the incom-
petent majority Of the native voters. DR..
Cook finds 1t hard to reconcile his mind to
the admission of state so far away from
sound republican principles.
Again. the senate has a somewhat similar
power In respect to appropriation bills In
case the two houses fail to agree upon the
appropriations, then the old appropriation
law of the previous period holds over or
continues in force. 1t thus becomes impos-
sible for turbulent lower house, chosen
by en- ignorant majority. to block the gov
eminent by refusing the ordinary supplies.
The appropriation bill has also to be first
presented to the senate. a really, unimport-
ant matter, but which DR.. Cook finds re-
pugnant to his republican principles as he
does the lest of it. While admitting that
our social conditions probably make these
provisions indispensable to the public safe
ty, he thinks them repugnant to New
England principles of freedom. We are too
much Of an "oligarchy'' to come into the
free and democratic Union.
On our part we fall to see the justice of
being called an .oligarchy. We point to the
great amount of power and influence ex-
erted by the lower house. Notwithstanding
the superior control lodged in the senate.
We show the senate to contain no charac-
teristic of an oligarchic body. by reason of
the fact that 1t is chosen by a body of
electors, the large majority of whom are
artisans and others dependent upon their
daily labo--the Industrious, hard-handed
men who earn two dollars day and over.
Few artisans earn less than three dollars
day in this country There are some
thing like one thousand natives possessing
the $500 income. so as to vote for senators,
and that thrifty, intelligent class of ma
tives will usually vote fer good senators.
A Temporary Arrangement.
Besides the foregoing reply to DR.. Cooks
objections, 1t may be pointed out that the
present arrangement may be Viewed as
temporary one. 1t is en- the road toward an
enlarged suffrage. to be adopted as fast as
the conditions render 1t safe. 1t should
especially be noted that there has not been
the slightest retrogression away from free
Institutions. Former voting provisions I'M
der the monarchy were far less liberal.
Then the common people chose the repre-
sentatives, but had no voice whatever in
choosing the mobiles. Those were always
appointed by the king until 1887 when the
present system Of choosing the upper house
was adopted in the liberal constitution then
forced upon Kalakaua.
Neither. the native rulers or any one else
had ever regarded the mass of the native
people competent 10 exercise a controlling
power in the government. The principle Of
manhood suffrage" has not even yet be-
come thoroughly applicable to them. When
they were made voters in 1851 their man.
nn6nvnlnnad hint
children, not full-grown men. The majority
of these voters are still but children in in
telligence and character. More time needs
yet to be given for their attainment of
capable manhood. 1t is safe to assume that
such maturity has been attained by most
OF those who possess the $500 income The
rest need to wait while longer The wis
dom of the old chiefs and their white help
ers who refused to commit government con-
troll to these masses is not recklessly to be
discarded In compliance with an abstract
principle of manhood Suffrage" unquali-
fiedly applied. Nor Is Dr. Cook to be I'M
derstood as demanding 1t, although he, per-
haps. fails to recognize how earnestly we
are seeking to approximate to the desired
goal Of complete democracy.
What Annexation VIII Do.
But what will the most rapidly and effec-
tually facilitate the desired progress to
complete manhood suffrage will be annexa
ton itself. Nothing can be more certain
than that annexation to the United States
would Immediately be followed by large
and continuous immigration of Americans.
These white immigrants would speedily
constitute large majority Of the voting
population, far outnum bering the 1900
native voters AL apprehension would cease
of the ignorance and incompetence of that
class proving disastrous to the government
of the country. The average capacity Of
our voters would rapidly, become equal to
that in other American states. The pres
ent necessity for a property qualification
would cease to be indispen sable to the pub
lie safety, and such limitation could be re-
moved In the meantime, sholld we, in
obedience to a theory prematurely abolish
limitat ions to suffrage could we expect to
commend ourselves to our American friends
by exhibiting to them a commonwealth in
a con sequent state Of disorder, under the
rule of worthless demagogues, placed in
power by the ignorant native majority? 1t
would seem probable that your statesmen
of all sections are more likely to respect
our little state, and to welcome it into your
grand partnership, If we continue our past
course of prudence and moderation, moving
with caution among the reefs and shoals
in the dangerous passage from monarchy
to democracy.
Since writing the above I have listened
to what Sc emed in most respects dis
eliminating address by Dr. Cook at todays
celebration, in which he explicitly exoner-
ated us from the charge of being an oil