The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-09-21
DEMOCRATIC GOVERNMENT.

The principle that territorial officers
should be appointed from the body Of
residents in the territory was not gen
orally observed until President Cleve-
land adopted it during his first admin
istration. Since that time it has been
closely followed. Previous to that time,
all Of the urgent demands Of the
residents of the territory that they
should be governed by one who was
familiar with their condition. were per-
sistently ignored in Washington. Every
member of Congress, every member Of
the Executive branch of the Govern
ment was a firm believer in self gov
eminent, but refused to extend the
principle beyond the State limits.
The theory of Government accepted
by the people at the time of the adop-
ton of the Constitution has been mod
flied by experience and education.
A hundred years ago, they were
guided by their racial and British us
ages and habits. Suffrage and office
holding were not freely open to the
people. They did not permit them
selves to elect their own judges, or the
President, or the Senators.
There is now a decided change in
public sentiment. The people on the
average are as competent to determine
public questions, as the representatives
they elect. The time has passed when
the electors are anxiously looking
about for wise men, statesmen" as
they are called, men who have made
political institutions a study. The av-
erage member of Congress is no wiser
or better informed than the average of
his constituents. If he is, he carefully
keeps his opinions to himself, and with
his ear close to the ground listens to
the "vox popui."
There can be no question that the
tendency in America is to broaden the
right of the people to directly admin
lister public affairs, excepting in the
government of the cities. Self-govern-
ment means this. Government by
democracy means this. Any govern
ment whose character is in it's average
above the average of the character of
the people is not a democratic govern
Thomas Jefferson and his school, that
Hamilton and Washington did not
trust the people. The present limita-
tions on the direct will of the people,
IN,
fact suggestions that the people cannot
directly govern themselves.
This tendency of the people towards
direct rule by themselves is marked
the confidence of the Anglo-Saxons to
rule themselves without any checks
or restraints. But it is also true that
the American Anglo-SaXOn has less
faith now than he had thirty years ago,
in the maxim that all people are COM
petent to govern themselves. The con-
duct of the negro, with the ballot in
his hand, has seriously modified the
opinions of the Republican party on
the subject. So long as the negro used
the ballot for the protection of his
rights, the ballot in his hands was a
safe provision. When he began to use
it so that property rights were i'm
parilled, even the Republican party
hesitated to strengthen his power at
the ballot box.
In dealing with the Hawaiian ques-
ton. there will appear IN Congress, a
tendency to broaden direct self-rule by
the whites or Anglo-Saxons, and a
tendency to restrict it among the other
races within the Jurisdiction OF the
United States. Even with this pre-
vailing tendency it is not safe to pre-
dict with much confidence what Con-
gressional action will be regarding our
local affairs. One thing may be count
ed on. There is now a very unsettled
public opinion on the subject.
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