The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-08-21
NEEDS OF
HONOLULU
Some Suggestions For
Reform.
MANY SANITARY EVILS
Communications From Anna Award
Telling of Conditions
Elsewhere.

TENS of Honolulu there is no suspen-
sion of admiration for the probity and
excellence of the present government. {
Manifestly there have been imperative
questions, notably the question Of ex-
istence of an Anglo-Saxon government
here, which would take precedence OF
questions of public works, etc. The an
nexation of this country to the United
States, however, relieves the tension
along some lines, while 1t increases 1t
on others. The world has never form
ed the habit of making allowances.
The great centers OF civilization estab-
! lish the standards in municipal
achievement, and the city which may
be clean and sound and beautiful, but
will not, is despised accordingly. In.
considering the various systems Of
municipal government in different cit
/ les Of the continent. Great Britain and
America as related to the needs of ma
waiian cities, IL is not proposed to sug-
gest the adoption of any chimera or
any scheme of municipal achievement
not already demonstrated to be both
practicable and desirable. Nor does 1t
necessarily follow that "hordes of para
sitical Office holders" are in direct pro-
portion to the magnificence of munich
pal attainment. The magnitude of the
payroll is prescribed by the code, be
this voted by the people as charter in
an American city, or enacted by the
legislature as In France. Under the
French system councillors, mayors. adj
juncts, are all required to serve with
out salary.
That county, municipal, township and
village organization is not precisely
question at issue in considering the
need of an aggressive system of pub
lie works for Honolulu is demonstrated
in the case of Paris, which has always
except for the brief interval of the
first and second republics, been admin
istered by the central authority. The
project of the department of the Seine,
who owes his appointment to the Min
lister of the Interior, Is in fact the
mayor of Paris, with complete
executive authority. Hordes of
salaried office holders do not spring
up in a night without a moments
warning, nor In fact, without special
provision for the same, either In laws
or municipal organization enacted by
: the legislature. as in France, or by
ratification by the legislature of char
ters which have received a majority OF
, votes in their respective cities, as in
) America.
The great capital cities OF France,
I their magnificence in a great measure
{ at the expense of the national treas
g ury. THE French nation at large Is
/ not conscious Of any feeling Of hostility
towrad Paris" says Mr.. Albert Shaw,
land has not other policy for the capt.
tai than one of ambitious liberality."
The French capital has unflinchingly
accepted the doctrine, that broad.
smooth and clean highways are a wise
= investment from every point of
view. And that so long as the work Is
done in thorough and scientific man.
ner, with an honest and skillful APP
plication Of means to ends, an aggres-
e sive system of public works, which has
r for its end broad, well-paved. clean and
e beautiful streets, Is worth having at
: any cost. The mortality of Paris is
steadily decreasing-notably deaths
, from typhoid. At the present ratio of
> disappearance of this disease, typhoid
will soon be extinct in Paris.
1t is not proposed that Honolulu shall
n by one flying leap endeavor to bridge
, the chasm which separates her from
. the beautiful modern city. a fraction
of the sum expended last winter fight
= ing the bubonic plague would, however
a have made a fair beginning.
The first great crying need of this
= iridescent dream Is clean city; and
n with this is inextricably involved the
v question of street and building i'm
2 provement, because the population is
congested, and there can be no intelli-
e gent move toward better sanitary con-
ditions until the people are constrained
O by building and health regulations tc
a proper houses, on proper sized lots, In
: proper streets.
. In your editorial headed, Good, but
e not Tor u.s., you say, Downing seven
!, tenths of the property are white mer
= VINO are satisfied with the efficient and
e economical government the Islands
n nave now. They want the Islands tC
; grow In population and wealth, but
|. tney know that II these fine municipal
10 plans are adopted taxes will mount st
3. high level white immigration will
halt. When taxes rise rents do also
- and with these the prices of commod
tiles, so that the man of average mean,
y could not maintain an existence in Ho
e nolulu."
y In the original work of opening ant
l. paving streets the usual practice, a
n everyone knows, Is to assess the cos
10 OF paving against abutting property
a 1t would of course rest with the own
- ers Of the "seven-tenths Of all tn
le property whether the prices Of rent
, would be raised, thereby increasing tn
= cost OF every known commodity. Elk
It perience proves that owners of block
IN or dwelling houses ask what they cal
:, get, and that extortionate sums ar
only obtained for inferior dwellings
q Wnen proper dwellings cannot be had
Living high In Honolulu? So it Is Il
London. Where all beef and mutto
comes from Australia and America
- and retails at twenty-eight and thirt
! cents per pound. '. here fresh vegeta
lie bles must cross the English Channel
n where fresh fruit comes from Franc
D and America, principally from Califor
IN MIA; where nothing can be had at
"A bargain but good servants, and We
=, London receives into her Golfers year
ly vast sums from American traveller:
oI There Is no surer nor more effectua
IS way of calling halt to white immigra
l. ton than to go on just as we are now
If The sort of immigration honolulu de
=, sires. people of culture, refinement an
= wealth, will not stop for greater or les
y taxes, IL they find satisfactory invest
a, ments and the possibilities OF an order
ID ed life. In city abreast with the mod
ir ern spirit of enterprise and advance
IA ment. The theory which Emerso
;. voiced years ago, that with our wi
or against our will we externize our
u selves" Is voiced as eloquently by til
walls Of q city as by the philosopher {