The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-05-31
COLONEL ALLEN APPEALS
OLD CITIZENS PROTEST UPON
THE OPIUM BILL.
A Ringing Appeal Against Passing the
Act to Increase the Use of the
Juice of the Poppy.

Colonel Allen makes the following
appeal to the Legislators
You are about to vote for or against
the bill to license sthe sale of opium.
Be sure you give this bill the careful
thought it is worthy of, for, as you
decide, it will be power for good or
evil in these Islands.
That the advocates of the license
are good, conscientious men must be
admitted, and they no doubt think
licensing the drug the best way to
control its use. Others only look at
the financial gain to the treasury.
and others hope it may be a means of
checking the smuggling now going
on. All these arguments have more
or less weight with some who use and
those who hear them. The same ar
guments were used when the previous
opium license was passed, but the
facts did not bear out the arguments.
1t did not control the use of opium:
on the contrary, more opium was us
ed and especially by the Hawaiians.
1t was the evidence of all the mana
gers of plantations that when the
drug was licensed the users of it were
more and more untitled for work on
Mondays and Tuesdays from its eff
fects, and on those days most of the
trouble with men occurred.
When not licensed the men get it,.
but they use it in very guarded
manner and are careful that it does
not incapacitate them for work.
The argument that the treasury
will be benefited has two sides. 1t
was proven that when the license was
running the cost of court trials, police
expenses, the insane asylum and hos
pital expenses were largely increased,
so that the amount received for the
license, although large sum, was by
no means all on the credit side.
There are two sides to the argu-
ment that with license smuggling is
checked to some extent. 1t was not
so proven before. If the demand in
creases with license, then snug
Cling will increase also. The holders
of license will be very apt to buy
where they can get the best rates and
not question how or where it was OBJ
tanned. Another argument against it.,
proven when the license was in force.
is the fact that the native Hawaiians
in much larger numbers used it than
they ever did before. or have since
the license was abolished. Should not
this be a sufficient reason for voting
against the license? The Hawaiians
should be protected against great
temptation. 1t was also proven that
the strict laws with which the for
mer license was guarded could not be
enforced well enough to protect the
| licensees any more than the laws
against smuggling can prevent it.
| Do you law makers realize how the
passage of such license will be
construed in the United States. what
an argument it will be against annex
alton for which you are all pledged
This 30th day of May marks the for
| ty-eighth anniversary of my arrival at
Honolulu and in all these years the
good men and women of all national
tiles have done what they could TO aid
the Hawaiars to rise above their sur
roundings. Let me express the hope
that our present law makers will do
nothing adverse to the good that has
already been done.
w. F. ALLEN.