The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-04-13
AN INTERLUDE WITH SINGING.

The County Government act, which
should have been discussed early in the
sessions, say the first week in March,
has only reached the stage of discus
sion in the House. April IL, with mighty
little time in which to settle its pro-
visions. Had those who were engineer
ing this bill been of the most ordinary
ability, it would have been under dis
cussion and have passed both House
and Senate long ago. There was moth
ing to prevent the bill from passing.
1t was distinct party measure, and
the party had a clear majority in both
houses. But when the bill came up
and was ordered printed, it was found
20 be such a mass of undigested rub
bish, such a farrago of nonsense in
many sections, so utterly unntelli
gible, so insulting to Hawaiians by
CHASING them as colored people, that
a committee had to be specially APP
pointed to get the miserable and abor-
tive effort into shape.
1t took some time to do this The
form in which the bill is now before
the House is very much superior to
what it was before. 1t is at least in
telligible, and it is possible to trans
late it into Hawaiian, so that some idea
can be formed of what it really means.
Before, it was .unintelligible, though
that would not necessarily be a stumb-
ling block to the House, for there is
at least one bill, already passed, which
will prove abortive since no one will
be able to interpret the meaning of an
important section.
The majority of the House seems to
be utterly oblivious of the necessity
for accuracy in the language of bills,
and accuracy in the details of bills.
1t is all very we'll to pass bills before
the august body of wiseacres who sit
in the old throne room. The majority
may force them through, and they
might pass the Senate, where there is
also a majority, and they might even
be passed over the Governors veto, but
none of these things would make them
workable. If the bills are unintelligi-
BILE they will be unconstitutional and
will be so declared by the courts There
IS another tribunal beside the majo
rity of the Legislature. The courts will
not enforce freak Legislation which no
sane man can interpret. In point of
fact we have a display of the most
childish and foolish attempts at legis-
lation now before us. There has been
the most Wilful waste Of time, there
has been wilful waste of public money
for no good purpose, and the result will
be nothing. II is a big noise, the cack-
ling of laughter, which the psalmist
compared that of fools to. Said that
sage the laughter of fools is as the
cracking of thorns under the pot 1t is
an admirable smile, the swift burning
of the dry thorns, which blaze up, die
away, and the contents of the pot i'm
no way benefited. When the whole of
this session is completed, what will
be the net result. 1t will be well re-
presented by a book of many pages
upon which no word is printed. Prac-
ticaIly the session laws of the Legisla-
ture of 1901 will probably be summed
up in one act passing $4,000 for ex-
penses. 1t will be a heavy expense for
a very little result, or practically no
result.
a poem by Kipling, slightly altered
seems about to fit our solons. 1t is the
work of a young man and runs as fol-
lows:
THE BANDER-LOG'S SONG.
Here we sit in aaHing's saloon,
Ready to look at ,..t sun or the moon,
Don't you hear tic SANDERS preach?
Don't you catch the eloquent speech?
Wouldn't you like to think as We?
Nothing so great as fiddle-de-dee.
Always go forward, never behind
Brother, you have a sapient- mind!
Here we sit i'm a law making row,
Thinking of beautiful things we know,
Dreaming of deeds that We mean to do,
All complete in a week or two,
Something noble, and grand, and good
Won by merely wishing we could.
Always forward, never behind
Brother you have a sapient mind!
Cram we all the rubbish we can
Into sixty days Careful" plan,
County, municipal hold no tether,
Job it up quickly and all together!
Excellent! Wonderful! Once again!
Now we are talking just like men.
Always go forward, never behind
That is the way with the law-making
kind
Brother, you have a sapient mind!
Then join our screaming row, join the
merry, merry show,
Join us cheerfully, where tunefully the
gold purse rings
BY the rubbish in our wake, and the
cacklng noise we make,
Sure, brothers, we are bound to do