The Hawaiian gazette., 1896-06-16

1 sA&0 AtS ktSt NAAANA3@t&It tEN uUlN vi
the Legislature of watching their inter-
ests. and assuring 20 them as far as
possible the protection Of our laws.
tSigned] SANFORD B. DOLE"
Rep. Robertson moved that the bin
be reconsidered. and asked the Seere-
tary to read the first section as passed.
First section. providing for duty OF
50 cents per gallon. was read.
Minister Cooper--This matter has
been given great consideration by the
President. and this morning he noti-
| fed the Cabinet of his intention to veto
the bill. believe his views are sound.
would say that I am prepared to in
troduce a bill changing the percentage
Of alcohol from IA to II. This has his
consent. so that II passed he viii sign
II. at once.
Robertson Insists.
Rep. Robertson-It is certainly the
prerogative of the President to veto
any bill he sees fit. but IL is also our
prerogative to pass bill over his veto.
and. with all due respect to the Presi-
dent, l now move that the bill pass
over his veto. AS | understand the
message that has just been read. the
bill that has passed will discriminate
against sake. the only beverage the
! Japanese use. Let us see IL the bill
really does discriminate against sake
when that beverage is placed in its
right position. He places sake in the
same category with lager beer. But Is
it right to put sake alongside of lager
! beer? l say mol We all know the bad
effect sake has upon that portion of the
community who use II. Perhaps the
Japanese who are accustomed to It may
use sake without injury. but to the ma
tives the result cannot be questioned.
i The effect is such that submit we have
a right to treat it as we do opium. II
we put sake in the same category with
stronger liquors, where 1t belongs, ii
i will be seen that 1t is not being dis
eliminated against Sake has a clear
advantage of from one to six cents a
gallon over other liquors made from
grain. The wine has been compared
with lighter drinks. which submit is
wrong, not for its alcoholic strength
} but for its evil effects upon the people
Sake may be the only drink of the
Japanese, but submit that we have a
J right to protect our Hawaiians. have
no desire to discriminate against sake
because 1t is Japanese beverage. but
: I contend that 1t should be. placed in the
: category side by side with the stronger
liquors. where it belongs. We will not
} be doing our duty to let this bill be
vetoed. and I must suggest that we
pass the bill Notwithstanding the Presi-
: dents veto.
President had any other reasons thar
those given. The answer was in the
: negative.
President Endorsed.
Minister Cooper take it from tn,
words of Rep. Robertson that there /:
no intention of the House to discrim
mate against the products of Japan. i
/ that is correct, then some better rea
/ sons than those advanced by the hon
| orable member must be given for tn,
: passage of the bill over the veto. There
!, must be some criterion by which We
should formulate basis for the pay
; ment of duty in case of spurious liq
fuors. Alcoholic liquors have been con
sidered a foundation to formulate g
schedule. II is unsafe to go into a dis
] cussion as to whether the liquor in
question is detrimental or beneficial tt
public health. II the Legislature is dis
cussing law prohibiting, not regulat-
ing. this question would be pertinent
. but as il is a measure regulating its
, Importation there should be no dis
J elimination against it. In view of the
fact that the Legislature has put pro-
duct of one country on the free list and
in the same session put higher tariff
on the same class of product from
Japan, while it was not intended as an
act of discrimination, Japan might so
construe il. Sake has been imported at
the maximum strength, and the duty
is less than on other liquors. / have
heard of some beer being imported at
ga per cent Of alcoholic strength; the
duty on this is high. Some sake has
been imported at very low alcoholic
strength, but this is used only for cook
ing, the average percentage being about
i6. In the United States sake is classed
as still wine in contradistinction to
sparkling wine. Whisky imported here
pays from six to seven cents per de
gree, and sake is placed on the list with
whisky, which sometimes carries 40
per cent alcoholic strength, the dis
elimination is in favor of sake. The
President would be satisfied If the per-
eentage was increased to ~, although
under such regulation the greater
amount Of sake would be admitted un-
der the rate Of so cents per gallon,
thereby increasing the present duty
four fold I believe the basis Of the
sake imported to this country is rice,
so that the ingredients of the drink
are not injurious to health The bin
passed by the Legislature Is one open
to criticism. and do not believe any
thing should be done which would in
volve us in difficulty with foreign
powers. do not say this would fol-
low, but the bill is surely discrimfna-
ton.
From an Authority.
Rem Rvcroff-Tf cacnnc tn me fhof