The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1899-01-06
THE GOVERNMENT OF HAWAII.
Minority of the House Committee ON
Territories May Cause u Contest.


Washington, Dee. 30.-A sharp con
test will occur in the house over III,
legislation for the government Of lla
waii. rs the majority and minority o.
the committee on territories do not
agree To the report of the scnat,
committee on foreign relations. al
though the differences are not such "a
TO cause great difficulty.
rh- Majority Report.
The majority report of the house
committee changes the ttll introduced
by Mr.. Hit only slightly, with the ex'
ception of the qualifications for sena'
tors and representatives. The prop.
ertv qualifications are stricken out
and amy citizen who is a voter and has
been a resident of Hawaii for three
years is eligible.
Provisions or the Biii.
Those who were citizens OF Hawaii
on August -. 1895, are made citizens
of the United States. One house will
not be allowed 10 constitute the leg.
islature in Ease the other adiourns,
nor will it be necessary to have the
sanction Of three members TO intro
duce a bin in the legislature. The
delegate to congress shall possess the
same qualifications Us a voter. Bonds
issued on the credit Of the public do
main. shall be payable in not less than
five nor more than IS years. One
years residence must be proved TO OBJ
tain a divorce.
The Minority Report.
The minority report was prepared
by Mr.. III. Il. Ferguson, delegate from
New Mexico, who is a member of the
subcommittee. Mr.. Henry. OF Texas.
is also a minority mcmbcr. but is now
absent.
The report says the minority is un-
able 10 agree 10 some prominent feat
ures of the bill as introduced. and as
proposed by the majority of that sub
committee. and continues:
should be Governed with View to uiti-
mate Admission.
III Is important 10 emphasize the
fact that new territory rs acquired
should be governed as other territories
of the United States have been from
the foundation of the government.
with the view TO ultimate admission
20 statehood. Upon this theory we be-
licve that Hawaii should be given sub
stantially the same form of govern
ment as has been in other territories
of the United States. and the import
ance OF this view is increased rather
than diminished by the imminent
Philippine question. New territory.
which we feel is untitled. either from
the character OF its population. or be-
cause of its distance from our shores,
for statehood in the Union, ought to
be left alone entirely.
object to the Provisions of the BuL.
I'VE therefore object to the provi-
sion of the bill making the supreme
court of the territory of Hawaii Judge
of the memberships of the houses Of
the territorial legislature of Hawaii.
We believe that each house should be
the final Judge of the qualifications OF
its members. The innovation not only
fails TO preserve the constitutional in
dependence of the three great branches
of government. executive. legislative
and judicial. but tends to degrade the
court to the level of political squab-
bles and partisan bias.
TO increase the already dangerous
power of the courts in our system of
government.
Property Qualification Objected To.
we also object to the property quail
ification for members of the senate of
the Legislature Of Hawaii. This dis
qualification also extends to the voters
Tor members OF that branch Of the
legislature. This is an innovation rec
ognizing by law the right of wealth
tendency in a republic already threat
ened by the too great power of con
centrated wealth.
~ residence Of three years in Ha-
wall is also necessary for one To be-
come a qualified voter. As our desire
i or should be to Ainericanize those
islands, we think a residence of even
less than a year would be preferable.
Too NIsri, Power Gwen to the Governor.
Eve think. also. that too great pow
or is given to the governor, especially
we object TO his being empowered to
nominate part of the judiciary of that
island for life. We believe that all the
Judges. as in other territories. should
be appointed by the president. and
from the bona fide residents Of the
territory, for n term q four years. II
life Judges are TO be appointed at al.
they should be appointed by the pres
idcnt."
Other Points OF Difference.
There are other minor points OF diff
ference between the minority and ma
jority OF the subcommittee, but the
above are the principal ones.
THE minority make no objection to
the educational qualification for citi-
zenship.
a Wrong Impression as to Postage to
Hawaii.
Washington. Dec. 30.-The postmas-
ter al q Francisco. has called at
tention TO the large amount of mail
matter accommodating there under the
mistaken notion that domestic postage
applies 10 Hawaii. Letters for resi-
dents Of Hawaii still require the inter
national postage of five cents per half
ounce. fbuuoh all mail fn pa,rl, IN