The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-16

Hall last evening under the auspices
of the Triangle Club, on Corruption in
municipalities" A large and attentive
audience greeted the speaker of the
evening Mr. Kincaid spoke as follows:
Ladies and Gentlemen: The old prov
erb says, knowledge is power" better
still Wisdom is power for wisdom is
knowing how to use knowledge. When
BCulton, the great English engineer,
went into the presence of George III. to
explain to him some machinery he had
invented, the King asked him contemptu-
ousiy what he had to sell. Boulton an
swered him, Sire, what kings are all
fond of-power." The intellect of that
one engineer made him the true sover-
eign, and gave England more power than
all the Georges put together had When
Martin Luther gave the Bible to the peo-
pie, schools sprang up all over Germany.
ment, and it has been blazing through
the world ever since. One of the Stu
arts said, This truth shall not cross
England's four seas" 1t not only cross
ed England's four seas, but the neck of
the Stuart that said it. A defiant oligar-
chy once said in this country, This truth
shall not have application to American
slavery But the truth lives, and Slav-
cry is forever dead American soil.
Moral ideas are mightier than all the ar
mics and weapons of warfare that the
they have place and power the stability
of government is assured. In Ameri-
can communities, where is sovereignty
lodged? Theoretically, at least, in the peo-
pie Theoretically, the people are king.
Whether for veal or woe, the American
Government is a Government ''of the
people, by the people, for the people. "
Therefore, if we would not have it per-
ish from the face of the earth, wisdom
and truth must be kept i'm the possession
of the governing power. In America the
90 afVU fc lngl. yx-ifh h.
masses. They cast the ballots, and rule
by majorities. Hence ballots in times OF
peace, like bullets in times Of war, tell.
And, hence, citizens trained in ideas of
morality and truth are as needful to
popular sovereignty as trained soldiers
are for victory. Not to know how to
fatal than not to know how to fly bull
let on the field of battle when you are
facing the foe. Ignorance or corruption
at the ballot-box, or both combined, sap
the very foundation of free government.
Popular sovereignty makes the people
king, but If the people are unfit TO be
king, We have the tyranny of a mob.
Where the people rule, the people need
to be enlightened. In these Islands the
suffrage is to be extended to the masses;
is il not of vital importance, then, that
intelligence and virtue and truth should
be extended also? Now, the subject to
which | desire to call your attention this
evening is crime and corruption in Amer
lean city life. l think every intelligent
and of the principles of human govern
ment will admit that whatever success
our representative government may have
met with in other departments of its
life, II is more or less a failure in our
cities. IT has been said by an eminent
authority that there are no cities on the
earth outside of Turkey and China that
are so poorly governed as our great
American cities. Ignorance, partisanship,
venality, corruption of every kind exist
they do not exist in a single city of
England, France or Germany, or. indeed.
of any part of Europe that claims to be
civilized. 1t is generally admitted that
in our great American cities the rights
and the welfare of the whole people are
almost never considered. 1t is generally
conceded that any great measure that is
brought up for consideration is rarely
treated on it's merits. 1t is generally con-
ceded that, If a man has a political
pull if he belongs to some wealthy and
powerful corporation, he is likely to get
what he wants. whatever may become of
the rights of the people at large Ii is
generally conceded that business princi-
pies, that economy and justice, are every
day tramped down, in the interests of
persons, in the interests of parties, in I'll