The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-09
THE ELECTORAL BASIS.

I'm commenting upon the municipal |
issue an evening paper said that city |
S6vernment could be made an admin
istrative success by the right kind OF
Votes. Given a sound and vigilant
;&SSforate, an honest and useful sys-
Fem of hQsne rule would follow. The
Iffeorry is lot to be disputed though 1t
Mflsyto ach the important question
of cost. undoubtedly, good men elect
ing good officials would secure good
EoyerifE0t-that is mere truism
(which, gd4s without the saying.
Z, characterization, not theory, meets
us he& IN Honolulu. The American
and Whine naturalized electorate is
Very small and the majority of its ac-
tive Politicians, led by the carpet-bag-
ger SEE{5l, are after spoils. OF the old,
constructive class which steadied
thinfsSfh 1898 we can no longer count
Germans and Englishmen
becau& they are not going to become
american citizens. What is left of the
CONSERVATIVES who are qualified to vote
fnake,,kt is true, very large majority
Of the 'Anglo-Saxon electorate here but
a .we4ik minority of the whole voting
classS The Latin element which can
yeaIst to come is small and it's conyic-
tons about good government as dis
tfngfJished from spoils government
[fnaysonly be surmised. The power just
Siio%H1ives in the aboriginal vote and
tEfs2vote, If wrongly advised and led,
Il &kpable of doing enormous mischief
to he taxpayers.
I'm View of the actual conditions, it is
I 10
/ ipal system of Honolulu finding safe
basis in the jealous regard for good
gayernment which is typical of an ad-
I vanced American community. This is
! onk technically an American COM
Smiihity; in the vital respects of polit-
! iM feeling it is a city given over to
/ gods which Americans cannot worship.
/ our majority would restore the Queen
!. LIT could; many Portuguese loyalty
4 fHng to the political institutions of the
.sFatheriand. AS to the Hawaiians they
kJ1pk almost congenitally upon politics
as a means of livelihood, not as de-
SIce for securing wise and economical
u government. We do not say this weak
/ Ness is without excuse, for the Hawaii
an aliis, for generations past, have
bshown scant respect for meum and
stuum. The spirit of the monarchy was
Distinctly opposed to the Anglo-Saxon
idea of good administration. So when
/ one Hawaiian leader welcomes the Gull
Iom suffrage on the ground that it
Hmeans seven years of plenty for the
:, natives; when another says XIII the
political haole; give Hawaiians a
lrhance" and when another seriously
proposes to band the native voters into
"a great piece club" so as to offer their
i Suffrages to the highest bidder, what
Have we but a hereditary condition, a
4 most alarming one to the friends OF
Mood government, it is true, but per-
xectly natural and logical in it's devel-
Shipment. To talk of a sound municipal
w resting upon the acknowledged
'N9reed of a hungry proletariat is to in
Qulge in vicious nonsense. Can mer
gather grapes of thorns or figs of this
; ties? Can a stream rise higher thar
Z it's source?
The time will undoubtedly come in
these Islands when the Anglo-Sa
: will be paramount in numbers as h,
: now is in education, business progress
) iveness and wealth. Short of tina
3 time there can be no good government
I which depends upon universal suffrage
e That was clear to the Congressional
. Commission few years ago and it /
: clear to every discerning man no
u hopelessly given over to the spoils sys
: tenn. Prudence as taxpayers and we'll
n wishers of the country demands tina
e the conservative white element shal
r resist to the last extremity every pre-
L mature approach to the municipal sys
9 tenn. Some day we may need to TAX
e that system but not now when peopl
trained in good government are so fe,
and the predatory political classes ar
so large. Possibly the conservative.
being in minority, may not be able t
/, carry their point; but if so it shoul
not be for want of trying. The job
. chasers have gained much which Nigh
easily have been withheld from ther
!, by united effort; let them not have
"walk-over" in matter so vital as tn
demarcation of county, city and villag
lines would be to the welfare of tn
taxpayers.