The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-06
LOCAL ADMINISTRATION.

II Honolulu last year had been a mu-
nicipality of the kind now proposed,
the expense of fighting the plague /
within city limits might have fallen on |
our own taxpayers; yet the rest of the |
Island population was as much con- !
cerned as we in all precautionary |
measures. To have borne the cost !
locally must have meant city debt of |
nearly a million dollars. 1t was our |
good luck and that of the entire group !
that the general government of Hawaii |
was vested with the duties and chars-
ed with the expenses of safeguarding
the public. The work was better done
on that account and it left no unjust
burdens. Furthermore it strongly
argued for the virtue of centralized
power In a land like this.
Precisely the same rule would apply
to Hilo or any other community on
these Islands where plaques could get
a foothold. To deal with such inva-
sions. wherever they occur, a central
authority and a central treasury are
best.
1t is advisable. Furthermore, to have
internal public works looked after by
a central power to the end that they,
particularly road systems, may be uni
form and be so directed as to secure
the greatest utility to the greatest
number. In the East it is now pro-
posed to take highway improvement
out of the hands of counties and VIII
lagos and vest 1t in State boards. This
Is because the system of local control
has resulted in good roads in one town
ship, Indifferent ones in the next and
bad ones in the township further on;
or. more often, in variation of road
values in a single township, as be-
tween the sub-districts worked. If we
leave things as they are in Hawaii the
group will be gridironed with uniform
ly good highways; If. on the other
hand. we insist on the New York or
California plan, our road system will
be a failure. Once let a rural neigh
borhood have a county, township and
village payroll to meet out of its habit
ual scarcity of funds and nothing will
be left.-unless a big bonding scheme
is resorted to-for needed public works.
Nor will there be much left for ade-
quate police protection. On these ISL
ands, infested as they are with Ash
atics. the village constable or deputy
sheriff would be no safeguard what
ever. There must be a large and we'll
trained force, acknowledging COM
mon head and capable of being concen-
trated at any threatened point. This
may look like extreme Capitalization
but where the elements of anarchy are
present, as they assuredly are where
Asiatics make a majority over whites,
Capitalization of police power is a safe
guard to be coveted, not a danger to
be feared.
Let US compare Capitalization with
decentralization in the light of a cur
rent example. when the Island post
Office system was headed by Mr.. Oat,
every hamlet in Hawaii had it's mail
delivery. Now that each hamlet is ex-
pected, in a way, to support its own
post office, a large number of offices
have been given up. II the country
people were to vote on the respective
systems the old one would carry by a
big majority, especially IL it included
the centralized postal savings bank
idea which has now been discarded.
Take again the matter of education.
Hawaii now has a uniform system sup
ported by the Territory and the results
are a theme of pride to every good citl-
zen. The system is highly and benef-
icently centralized. To change il
might, indeed, be of some advantage to
Honolulu where so large a percentage
of the aggregate school tax is raised
but II would be ruinous to the schools
elsewhere in the group. When taxes
mount up the average villager hires
cheaper teachers and thereby makes
his schools less desirable. 1t Is better
to have them provided for him.
All the illustrations go to show that
our Government is well enough as 1t Is
for the taxpayers in especial. II
gives the greatest efficiency with the
least friction and at the least cost and
that is the true end of public admins
tration. To change 1t according tc
the schemes Of the Purchasers. would
be to jeopardize efficiency and double
treble or quadruple expenses. No one
among the office-making group has
shown where there are any false notes
in this argument; all that comes in re-
ply is cheap repartee about "Ameri-
canism" and about would-be ''monar-
chies." Yet we have shown over and
over again that the American idea is a;
clear in the District of Columbia sys-
tenn as II Is in any other; and as fol
the monarchy" nothing comes so neal
II as the latest thing in American lnu-
inequalities where .one-man power sits
enthroned in the Mayors chair. "A city
charter like the new one OF San Fran
cisco, would give Honolulu a loca
King; and any charter less centralized
in its terms would give us the rule Of
the local boss. To really earnest op'
ponent of monarchy" what can there
be attractive in either plan?