The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-09-04
THE HOW DUCK AFFAIR.

The only points made by the Adver-
tiser in the How Duck matter were first,
that he and his associates were re-
fused permission to land at this port,
and were driven back to China, with
out being informed that they had the
right to appeal to Washington, and
without being allowed TO see counsel.
All of these men say SO emphatically.
The Special Agent, Mr.. Brown, could
not permit them to land and be set
free, but he could have detained them
in quarantine, and forwarded state
ment of their case to Washington,
where upon the application of the Chi
nese Minister the order of the Treas
ury Department regarding immigration
was declared at once not to include
Chinese with return permits.
AS for the reasoning on the subject
offered by the organ of the Concatenat
ed Order of Hoo-Hoos, it is quite SINH
lar and as unanswerable as that of the
lunatic in the story that appeared the
other day in one of the journals. Ex-
amining physician, to person supposed
to be a lunatic, You said a few mo-
ments ago that you were Napoleon
Bonaparte. Now. you say you are the
Duke of Wellington. How do you ac-
count for that" Supposed lunatic,
"Oh, I'm the Duke by a different
mother
The statements and reasoning of the
Organ are equally coherent with the
statements and reasoning of the lunatic,
and it it. quite out of the question to
argue a point which the dormant facul-
ties of your opponent does not see.
In the matter of How Duck, it was a
matter entirely with the jurisdiction
OF the Federal authority, but Congress
had failed to give the Federal Agent.
Mr.. Brown, any means or power for en-
forcing his instructions. In every State
and Territory, excepting Hawaii, there
are Federal courts and a Federal Mar
shall, who can call upon the Federal
army to aid him. Special Agent Brown
had nothing but his own fists, feet.
and teeth with which to execute his
orders or instructions. He could not
summon man from the large garrison
here. So he asked the Territorial local
government to aid him with a police
force. AS an act of comfy it did so,
inst as the sheriff of county in
State aids the United States Marshal in
arresting a criminal, although the State
Sheriff has no power to execute Fed
eral law.
Here is where the Cats Paw comes
an. After the local government had
used force in executing the Federal
agents requests, and How Duck and
Others were driven back to China, and
these Chinese ask for indemnity for
loss, the Secretary of the Treasury re-
plies: "Oh no. The Federal govern
ment did not stop you His exact
language is, stopped you "by reason of
the action of the Hawaiian govern
ment He refuses to admit that
Special Agent Brown did it.
Why does the Secretary of the Treas
ury throw the responsibility of the de-
tention of the Chinese upon the local
government? Either the Secretary Is
grossly ignorant about the facts, or the
Special Agents of the United States
have informed him that they had moth
ing to do with the detention. Because
the local government, without any
directions from Washington, chose, as
a matter of comfy, to aid the Federal
Agent, who did not have even pop
gun to enforce his order, it is saddled
with the expense Of the detention oil
the Chinese in the quarantine station
and the Federal authority refuses tc
pay the bills in a purely Fedora
matter.
The comedy of the Cats Paw began
when the local government engaged
in assisting a Federal officer at his re
quest. Special Agent Browns position
was an embarrassing one, because hs
had no physical means.of enforcing HI;
directions. He is not to be blamed fo1