The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1898-06-07

toner will have the money refunded
to him.
The interesting part of the afternoon
session resulted when House bill So. re-
lating to the poll tax, was taken I'D
for consideration. 1t was well known
that the House was about equally
divided on the measure and that made
the consideration of the bill so much
more interesting.
Rep. Kaai was the first speaker He
moved the bill be passed without fur
Their ado. 1t was certainly a good
measure and one that every one of the
members should vote for. A poll tax
was certainly out of date. Some of
the members had advanced the argu-
ment that a repeal of the poll tax law
would work to the advantage of the
Japanese and Chinese. This was Ger
tainly a wrong light in which to con-
slider the matter What about the
Hawaiians? He certainly would not
like to be buried with the thought that
there was a tax upon himself.
Rep. Pogue was in favor of the in
definite postponement of the bill as
recommended by the committee. The
people on Maui had told him they
were against any such proposition.
Minister Damon said that he was
surprised to hear Mr.. Pogue speak as
he had. The only reason the people
of Maui had spoken as they had was
very probably on account of the fact
that they were afraid of the member
and did not dare to express their hon
est opinions. One of these days the
people of the country would rise up
and protest against tbJ poll tax and
then what would happen. They would
refuse to pay the tax and nothing
could be done to them for they were
on the side of the right. Why should
a poor man be made to pay poll tax
while the rich were not being taxed
in proportion to their respective
means? Here were people wearing
fine clothes and going to foreign places
to spend their wealth while, on the
other hand, were men struggling along
and making just a bare existence. The
latter were forced to pay as much as
the former. Money was being appro-
priated for state entertainments and
other kinds of entertainments and
more money was being spent on hos
pitality. This was all coming from the
people and many of the contributors
were unable to purchase decent clothes
for themselves. Was such state of
affairs right? The wheels of readjust-
ment had been set in action and it
was to be hoped that they would con-
tinue in action until the poll tax, the
road tax, and the school tax had been
taken away and the money gotten out
of the soil in another way
At the conclusion of the speech by
the Minister of Finance there was ap-
plause on the part of the members of
the House who favored the passage of
the bill.
Rep. Loebenstein said that it was a
lstrite saying that "A late conversion is
better than none" The policy of fin
ancial regeneration as proposed by the
Minister of Finance came at a late
day. The poll tax was certainly
just one for it gave equal rights to the
poor and the rich. Rep. Achi called
! the attention of the speaker to the
report, of the Minister of Finance in
which he recommends the abolition of
the poll tax. The poll tax should GER
| tainly be removed. 1t no longer need
| ed. In olden times it was for the ex-
press purpose of the payment of the
| salary of the reigning monarch. 1t
was very hard at the present time for
the poor man to make a living. The
! time would come when it would be an
easy matter for the rich man to make
money while it would be very hard
job for the poor man to even make a
living.
Rep. Isenberg objected to the use of
the word poverty as applied to the
natives. There was no need for them
to be poor. There were many men on
| the Islands who would give the first
! preference to the natives as laborers.
For himself he would be willing to
give a native $40 a month instead of
! SIS to a Chinaman. The fault how
ever was all with the natives them
selves. Rep. Isenberg said in closing:
Let US leave the Japanese and Chi
nese in their own countries and take
our natives to work"
Rep. Robertson stated that there ap-
! peared to be two reasons for oppo-
sition to the bill The first was to
/ the effect that the poll tax of one dol
lar was in consideration of the voting
right. In the first place the matter
of voting was not right but a privil-
! eye so that the argument fell to the
ground Immediately. Again there
were many men on the Islands who
had to pay their taxes without being
allowed the privilege of voting. The
second argument was to the effect that
! the Government was in need of the
revenue produced by the poll tax. This
was certainly very rich to come from
men who had voted against Schedule
E. The House represented the masses
as distinguished from the classes,
Certainly the members should not
halt in the removal of 81 from the
poor when the majority of the mem
bers had not long ago voted for the
removal of thousands of dollars from
the rich. The argument was advanced
that there was need of the revenue.
! The question was how ought it to be
raised. Should the S. be taken from
Tom, Dick and Harry whether they
had the privilege of voting or not or
should it be taken from the people
who could well afford to pay. The
members of the House would not be
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