The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-06-01
UN.AMERlCAN ELECTORS.

If Congress does not know the real
feelings of the aboriginal voters to
whom 1t committed the destinies of
these islands, 1t Is not the fault of the
Home Rule and vernacular press. The
newspapers which represent the Wilcox
party are forever running over with
contempt for anything American. 1t is
but a few months since the leading
Home Rule organ of English print said
that the sympathies of the Hawaiians
were with Spain insethe war of 1895;
and yesterday the Independent, speak
ing of "a sentiment of honor to the
Stars and Stripes, expressed by the
Memorial Day orator, said:
Mr.. Fitch is a newcomer and he does
not know the country yet. If he did he
would see what American citizenship has
meant to the Hawaiians and he would
understand why the Hawaiians can never
say Aloha nui to a flag placed above
them against their will by men who wan
tonly insult the name of liberty and JUS
tice of which they boast to be defenders,
to rob a country ofsits Independence, a
peaceful nation of its flag and name.
What have they got since the Stars
and Stripes were hoisteda here? We have
seen: the countrye everrun by men of the
worst type and by laborerss CT the lowest
class. We have been forced to buy new
locks for our doors which for years re-
manned unlocked. Wei have found our
living expenses Increased at an alarming
rate land we have been given lesson in
Americanism by the breach between Bar
and Bench and a clash between conflict
ing political parties.
No, Mr.. Fitch. we fan to see that the
American citizenship which we have
rot, \, hi tool itafo md
gross outrage can ever repay from the
happy conditions of the peaceful days
which We have lost for good through the
base treachery of selfish scoundrels mas
querading as missionaries
Mr.. Fitch naturally feels proud at his
flag and tribute to the Stars and Stripes
is natural eve presume he halls from
Ireland), but the Stars and Stripes
should only be reyered where that glo-
rious flag floats in honor, and 1t does not
wave here in that manner.
Add all this to the offer made by
Delegate Wilcox of his alleged sword
to Aguinaldo, and we have a condition
of things which Congress ought to have
anticipated when it organized the Ter
ritory-a condition which, we think, is
bound to last, and which will long
stand in the way of the Americaniza-
ton of the group. Yet by singular
irony of fate, the carpet-baggers among
us talk about using the aboriginal vote
to make US all so rabidly American that
we will be only too pleased to turn in
and elect them to office.
There is nothing more difficult than
the task of changing the political char
acter of an alien people. The creoles
of Louisiana are not assimilated yet;
the Alsatian is still Frenchman, the
Pole Is still a Pole, the anti-British
spirit of the Irishman is still at a white
heat Give any of these races COM
plete home rule and their national
characteristics become even more pro-
nounced We venture to say, as things
are running now. that the great mass
of Hawaiians are farther away from
Americanism than they were in 1898.
How great Is the damage done to the
Industrial and commercial interests of
Hawaii by having the Legislature IN
such hands cannot he computed in dol
lars and cents; but so long as the defin-
ition of the suffrage in our Organic
law is distinctively un-American there
can be no relief.