The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-12-04
MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT.

ne inH.DIky OF dJllNe IbilltldHh y
this city appear to want a. municipal
government On the ether hand tAt
responsible property owtors, as 9
class. show uLanimous aad inteas,
feeling against 1t, and base Their o..
jections upon the following lronGds.
/. A municipal charter would nsoc5-
sari y and greatly increase .aXatiOL
The Territorial tax would stay as IL rs
or be raised, and the municipal tax
would be adued to 1t. Sh- uld a COZ. T.
be formed, thu ee sets OF taxes wo-Il
have to be paid, and these, wncn yUt-
ed by men hot charged with the duty
OF paying them, could hardly be other
wise than high. High taxes always
TIN eaten pl osl Gritty ny driving home
Eeekers away; they retard or repel Ia
yestmeLt AID, by adding TO reAts AID
to the price OF goods sold in IeAled
stores, they make the cost of lSi &
greater TO the masses. Already im-
POI aIt building projects in Honolulu
are held in allegiance because Oh the
fear that city and county taxes may
check local development and make
real estate improvements less protita-
pie than tney nave DGen.
IL. A municipal chan ter would null
tiply offices; county government wJu
add still more. Mark Twain once
compared the official plant Of Hawaii
to the machinery of the Great Eastern
packed in a sabine box. Under tle
plan of government which the active
politicians urge, the sardine box wou d
have the machinery of two or three
f,n a n
pressure would split the box. 1t is, of
course, urged by those who want the
charter that many OF the officials
would work for nothing, but none OF
these theoretical souls are wiling to
pledge their services on those term L.
We must expect, if we set up new ofii-
ces, to be confronted with tae diCtum
that the laborer is worthy of his hire.
The refrain of every offiCe-holder will
be that of Kipling's ballad-pay, pay,
lay!
III. Municipal government presup-
poses an intelligent electol ate with
mutual interests and respon Utilities.
Such ~ electorate does not exist and
will not exist for many years to come.
The majority will pay but sight
percentage of the taxes they vote; and
we shall be confronted with the same
conditions as between taxelter and
taxpayer as those which were found
in most of the Southern States just
previous to the time Senator Tillman
calls "the Overthrow"
| In the South this situation was
changed by the shotgun and the tissue
ballot. In Washington, ID. c., by al
most unanimous request OF the non
ofiice-holding citizens, municipal gov
eminent was abolished ard the rule OF
a commission organized In its place
These are the alternatives of RELIEF
which, if the plans of the ofIice-seek-
ers carry, must yet be chosen here.
We hasten to say that Honolulu VII
not resort to the gun or the tissue
ballot; neither will 1t endure inetii-
cient and eXtravagant municipal gov
eminent In the end such a condition
will have to be dealt with as was pre-
scented by the road board law of 1890
That law provided for elective road
boards in almost every district of Ha-
wall. The most incapable men were
chosen; losses through ingompe,ency
and fraud we common, and when the
next Legislature met, the system was
abandoned. Viewing the electorate a:
it stands in this city, the responsible
public could hardly he expected tc
tolerate its rule for more than two
years. Are we not inviting trouble
and costs, and futile experimentation
by urging a municipality row? Is it
rot wiser to wait until Hor oil In grows
in the number of responsible citizens
to an extent which viii assure govern
ment by those fitted to exercise It,
rather than by those who lack every
essential qualification except citizen
ship?
1t Is no argument to raise the cry
of majority ru'e. Often m jorities are
wrong. and they need. for the common
welfare. to be sharply curhea. The
voting majority of Greater New York
is curse to it; the pro-savery ma
jority of the South he'd to be put down
by force of arms; history before and
after Calico is full of examples of n
minority that was right and ma
stubbCrnly wrong. The test of good
government is not the fiat of a ma
jority which is obviously disqualified
to rule, but that of the men. what
ever their numbers NAV be, who are
obviously fit. Upon that principle
government l. carried on in Almost
every part of the United States whore
the irresponsible classes have the
most votes.
4-
EP( WITH pETApDED