The San Francisco call., 1897-10-17

The maxim that "eternal vigilance is
the price of llberty" has never been more
apropos than in the question of Hawaiian
annexation. The history of all time is
that governments have always been neg
ligent and frequently traltorous in their
treatment of the common interests. The
result has been that where the vigilan ce
OF the people themselves has Iapsed they
have either sunk into a state of complete
subjection or they have been forced to re-
write their liberties in their own blood.
1t is also characteristic of history that
no great encroachment upon the people s
liberties ever succeeded in the open field ;
that where such has been tempted it
has been in the insidious guise of public
benefit.
We are told that annexation will be a
good thing for Trade" That talismanic
word, the sound Of which has so often
drowned the pleadin gs OF humanity, is
shouted on every hand. We are asked to
risk the liberties of seventy millions OF
people N order to improve our trade with
one hundred thousand semi-savages in an
ocean atoll! This feature of the business
recalls the action OF certain cattle e-dealers
during the Revolutionary War. In the
critical period of that struggle, when the
treasury was depleted and even the veins
of the Continental forces were running
dry, these men demanded to be paid and
even ravished the pregnant hour with
their cries of "Beef! beef! beef!"
Now, in another struggle, but equally
potential, the CRY is Trade! trade
trade" A mother allurement of the occa-
sion is the promise of military power.
This conceit mirrored before the Ameri-
Can people is better designed to expand
the chest than broaden the view and may
possibly result in the fate that befeII the
aspiring frog.
The claims made on behalf of trade and
military power are baseless, because in the
first place the trade of the islands is al
ready In the hands of the United States
and will remain there just as long as that
party offers the best terms and no longer,
and secondly because the island will re-
quire more military protection than they
can give in return. But even if these
claims were valid in themselves there is
one objection that greatly outweighs
them, namely the status of labor. In dis
cdssing this phase of the question l as
sumo that Il annexation is accomplished
the result, so far as labor is concerned
will be the esta blishment of a precedent
to which labor in other parts of the United
States may be conformed. The labor on
the islands-thatis, the la Dor on the land
exists in a state OF legal slavery.
There is neither public conception OF
individual liberty nor constitutional in
hlbition OF involuntary servitude. On th =
contrary, labor is employed under con-
tracts specifically enforceable, as the fol-
lowing will show. l quote from the Ha-
Naiian statutes:
Section 14l9. If any person, lawfully
bound 10 service, shall wilIiully absent
himself from such service Without the
!eaVe OF his master, any District or Police
justice OF the republic, upon complaint
made, under oath, by the master, or by any
one on his behalf, may issue warrant TO
apprehend such person and bring him be-
tore SAID Justice; and, if the complaint
shall be maintained, the Justice shall
order such offender 10 be restored to his
master, and ne shall be com PEELED 10 serve
the remainder of the time for which he
originally contracted.
''Sec. 1920. Ii any such person shall re
fuse 10 serve according to the provisions
Of the last section, or the terms of b;s
contract. his master may apply to anv
District or Police Justice where he NAV
reside, who shall be authorized, by war
rant or otherwise, to send for the person
SO refusing and, if such refusal be per-
sisted in, to commit such person to prison,
there to remain at hard labor until he will
consent to serve according 10 law.
land in case such person so bound as
aforesaid shall have returned to the serv-
ice OF such master in and obedience to
such order of such Justice, and shall again
willfully absent himself from such sery-
ice Without the leave of his master, such
District or Police Justice may fine such
offender not exceeding $5 for the first
ot1ense, and Tor every subsequent offense
thereafter not exceeding $40. and in de-