Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1898-04-04

| II has been a difficult problem al
over The w,fl 20 keep The maseel
from the evils 10 which bumat
nature IL 90 much exposed.
The Republic Of Hawaii il nov
fighting against the use Of opium
the excessive use Of liquor and al
other evils which are a menace &c
it, population
Should there be any possibility
Of keeping opium aud liquor en-
tirely out of the country. thu,
would certainly become the mos
Perfect nation II the world, but is
this possible | roget to say
that il is entirely impraciicable,
Other countries have tried thu
same or similar measures, and the
result has been the creation OF
some new evils involved in the
i'm porlatiou aud sale Of forbidden
articles Men that would have
been honest otherv Use have found
contraband such a profitable bust
ness that their honesty has been
touched and defeated by the love
of the almighty dollar.
Opium, liquor, etc, have gone
into those countries behind
the custom house inspectors
and been used by the people fl,
ly because they could obtain II
cheaper and, moreover, because
the masses, like child en-, enj "
very much the forbidden toy.
The prohibition and restriction
laws have even gone so far as TO
cau-e the corruption of officers
employed to enforce the very laws
that they find profitable to over
look.
Furthermore, / have seen in
other un'ries Congressman
strongly advocating such prohibi-
ton laws, only because they we're
paid to do so by the parties inter
e+ted in smuggling as a more pro
fitable busiu' So than impo' ting
the same articles through the
custom bousr, pa, ing duties.
The good viii Of tho Hawaiian
influential men cannot b. d,-pnt
ed. They are sincere in wishing
TO avoid the calamities of vi @ and
if they could succeed, no sacrifice
would DO too much compared
with the immense benefit of hav-
ing a model coun'ry, showing the
world all over that men Ar. hap
per without indul ling in liqu RS,
opium or otner pleasures, which,
il avoided eI tirrly, woulo almost
Brit G us to Lerfe ton. 1t is proba
bly, with This view that tue manufsc
ture of Liquors aud win is pr
hibited or, at least, so much res
tricttd tnat il pay S better TO buy
'sandpap-r giu" than to make
rum f,om the mola Ises and Il
plant. but /, the end wished fo'
arrived at Have the use of
Opium and liquor diminished or
have they in reased ?
We are buy ing very poor liquor
from o'her counties when W.
have the means of making not
only enough to supply our drink
RS, but also to Export. We are
granting a. limited number
of licenses for SALOONS, which are
making a few very rich, but with
out diminishing the c)utraband
sale Of intoxicating beverages.
Saloon keepers have such a good
tulug here, that they don't even
care whether coutrahaud goes GU
or not. The system of monopo
Ii ing busi,'ss of any kind has
proved fatal everywhere, Will.
the system of establishing limited
restrictions has always given best
abstraction.
My experience from what | have
aeeu in OH countries IS: if you
can keep opium. liquor, pros iru
sion aud ali other evils out Of
your country entirely, do
so by all means; but if
Instead of diminishing vice, you
OILY increrse il, by giving temp
tation for illegal trade, then let al
come in, let a ! be sold. subj .ct to
-u"h regulations that may prove
prac icab'e. 81
In tead Of limi ing the nombor
of saloons, inc cas- the price of
license aud say, Anyone paying
so much can open salo n" The
r. sult will be that the large pro-
fit going now 10 few only will
be then divided intn 40 nav that