The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-25
IN THE MATTER OF BOSSES.

+.
1t is perfectly natural that Journals
which admire Mr.. SewaH should also
admire the late Walter Murray Gibson.
The records of the two men, except in
ability-Gibson's strong point-are very
much alike. From the essay In regard
TO Samoan and South Sea politics, read i
to a few invited guests short time ago
by it's author Mr.. H. NJ. Sewalf. we
learn that Mr.. Gibson's talents for
political adventuring made him the
most dangerous figure in the Poly.
nesian world. He was the incarnation
of self-seeking; he had rare faculty
for deceiving the credulous; he gave
advice which led those who trusted him
into courses as crooked and Shiny as
the trail of an angleworm in the
mud: he was failure in the end.
So far as these characterizations go the
parallel between Mr.. Gibson and his
biographer, Mr.. Sewall is all but COM
plete.
The Advertiser recalled Kalakaua's
scheming Warwick from the shadows
of the past, partly to remind the people
of what they must expect when they
accept a political boss. 1t is no longer
possible to get rid of our bosses by
revolution as Hawaii got rid of Gibson.
We cannot give them the alternative
of exile or the rope; and knowing this
the bosses are likely to be more audac-
ious even than they were in the old
days. In their cases the ounce of pre-
vention is easier to apply than the
pound of cure BY being careful not to
accept a boss we can the more surely
save Hawaii from the disgrace, the ex-
travagance and the humiliation which
always attend boss rule.
The whole theory upon which Mr..
Sewall has proceeded since he came to
these islands is that Of private political
ACKNOWLEDGMENT leading from and to
/ the control of Hawaiian politics. AS
United States Minister he intrigued in
partisan way in the affairs of the
/ country to which he was accredited.
Nor was this the worst. With the same
bad taste that led him to follow such
a policy while Democratic Consul Cen
eral to Samoa that his Government had
no alternative but to remove him from
office, Mr.. Sewall openly conspired dur
ing the period of his Ministry here
against the political undertakings OF
Mr.. Dole and his friends. He set up 6
machine and had it running so wei
that the moment annexation came u
pass it ground out an Endorsement o.
his candidacy for Governor. Then HI
became Special Agent of the United
States and in that capacity he left M
wire unpulled to make himself para
mount in Hawaiian politics. For what
For the good of the country? MI
Sewall never did Hawaii even a CRATE
full turn. For the benefit of the natIv
Hawaiians? Mr.. Sewall always ignor
ed the Hawaiians until, in recent polit
les, he found that he must have thei
votes or go to the wall. Everythin
that was done was for the benefit c
Sewall himself. BY the grace of tw
native delegates TO the Philadelphia
convention and not with the assent c
the party, he became Republican Ma
tionaI Committeeman and now he
: here to boss his betters. He tells til
4 party whom to nominate; he order
i it to advance this man and retire tina
: he permits people to go to CONVEX
I tions; he decides the personnel of ticl
y cts; he advocates measures that ma
. ruin the taxpayer but which he wan
enacted, even at that cost, for the ,,oli
- zeal Denent or SeWall. w nat max
i the whole matter worse is that he do
IL not live here and does not intend to
u so if he can get something out of Il
IL administration. He will be an absent
boss, which is as bad as an absent
&c landlord; man who would use Hawa
&c as a pocket borough, coming back he
now and then to brace up his lieutel
u ants and then going away to enjoy Il
W rewards of Hawaiian pull" Gibst
y was able to get enough support to Ike,
him at home; Sewall must go but
u hopes to rule like choice spirit of "a
/ tiquity from his urn
The Advertiser in it's long fight f
good government will not accept an
thing for the Republican party but r
publican principles. 1t knows the par
! to be great enough and wise enou,
to manage it's own affairs without ]
or hindrance from individual self-see
ers. 1t abhors the boss and points
the fact that nine-tenths OF the disa
ters which the Republican party ev
met, were due to bossism challengi
decent public opinion. What bossis
leads a country and a party to the hi
tory of Walter Murray Gibson show
and viewing that, Hawaii wants
more Gibsons. big or little, wise
otherwise. Its one order to them