The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-02-13
H|LO TRIBUNE DOUBTS
MUNICIPAL LEGISLATION Il
CHALLENGED.
Questions the ACCESSIBILITY of 1t Under
Present Conditions and at the Present
Time-Editorial Utterance.

Under the heading, "a Reasonable
Doubt" the Hlo Tribune thus expresses
it's views editorially on the subject of
county and municipal government.
I'VE are looking forward with con-
siderable interest, to the first session
of the Territorial Legislature now close
at hand, and to the results in the way
of law making, repeating, and amending
which will be brought by our victorious
friends the Independent members elect
of this Legislature.
THE corner stone of all the party
platforms in the last campaign was
without doubt Local Government In
fact any party that had ventured to
construct a platform without this piece
of building material, would have found
that it had erected a gallows instead,
destined like that of Haman for it's own
private and personal use. Nor was this
without good reason, for there can be
no doubt in the mind of anyone who
has studied that basis of American ma
tional and political life town and coun-
ty government and its primary Organi-
cation, the "town-meeting," that Ha-
wall can never approximate to a state,
or even to the condition of a real Ter
ritory under the centralized system
which has proved so impracticable here
in the past, and gives even less prom
Use for the future.
"On the other hand. the question ma
turally arises whether our population
and other attendant conditions are such
that we have in us as body polite the
raw material of real statehood or even
a true territory; and so, whether we
can introduce the machinery of local
government which has always been the
very essence Of political life among the
Germanic races.
THE grounds for the rising of this
doubt were made the more apparent at
the last election, in the conclusive evil
dence at the polls of the existence of a
majority whose knowledge of political
principles in general and of the parti-
Cular issues at stake, was so much on
the minus side of zero that to call it
ignorance would be rank flattery; nor
was the doubt rendered the less by the
attitude of these same ballot casting
infants toward the the only ones who
were qualified to guide them.
THE caliber of the men elected is for
the most part on par with that of the
electors. Many of them are now in
Honolulu working on projects fearful
and wonderful in their scope. AS to the
principles of local government In it's
real working they have as clear an idea
as a well preserved wooden Indian who
fills the humber though more useful
role of tobaconist's sign in front of a
cigar store. They do, indeed, as nearly
as we can learn, seem to be sincere in
their purpose and are willing to learn
from the few Caucasians whom the ma
tive Hawaiians condescended to elect
to a like position. But as one of these
wrote a friend in Hilo, they are like the
veriest school children; the whole
framework of the principles involved is
as strange to them as the doctrines of
TheOsophy. Even the simplest propo-
sitions must be explained again and
again, while their knowledge of the
English tongue is so limited that eXpla-
nation often but increases their confu-
sion. A state of affairs, by the way,
which causes us to wonder how closely
that part of the Organic Act will be
followed which requires all legislative
proceedings to be in English.
with these facts in view we can but
doubt the practicability and wisdom of
proceeding with new and radical legis-
latiOn on this most important question
of local government, which improperly
formulated is as great a curse, as it is
a blessing when following its legitimate
course. The present system is ba&
enough, but it is better to live under it
for two years more than to inaugurate
a new one that is worse and which 1t
will take years to eradicate. We have
great hope that the next election will
show much better results in the capa-
city of the legislators elected to take up
this most necessary task of localizing
the government. For by that time we
believe that the proportion of citizens
who really know what they are voting
for will be greatly increased, and also
will be the number of native Hawaiians
who will be willing to vote for the Best
men without regard to color, or the de-
sire to work off old grudges.