The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-04-03
BABEL IN LEGISLATION.

Coming nearer home we have a Ter
ritorial legislature in our young sister
Hawaii, and a majority of it's members
are natives who either cannot or will
not speak English. They insist on de-
batting in the liquid language of their
fathers with it's even flow of Vowels
seldom interrupted by a consonant.
This is disagreeable to the white mem
bers, who are accustomed to the cor
duroy course of English in which con-
sonants interrupt like chuckholes
across a speed track. The Speaker of
the Hawaiian House is half Chinese
and half Hawaiian, and is a sort of
polyglot megaphone, talking all three
languages fluently, so that he is not
disturbed by the situation.
Perhaps there is the same wise and
Providential purpose in this confusion
of tongues that appeared in that ORR
ginal parliament of man that under
took to get above high water mark by
building the Tower of Babel. That was
for the purpose not only of stopping
work. but to dispense man, each tribe
and kindred by difference of speech
from the others being compelled to go
by itself.
Maybe this modern instance is to
| teach the nations and races that it is
better each should flock by itself and
manage its own civilization and insti-
! tutions.-San Francisco Call.
LANGUAGE QUESTION IN HAWAII.
The native members of the Hawaiian
Legislature, in direct violation of the
act of Congress, insist on conducting
proceedings in the Hawaiian language.
| They profess to be unable to express
their ideas in English. If this excuse
| be truthful it brands with deceit the
arguments by which Congress was in
| duced to give that territory, manhood
suffrage. The Cullom commission, after
careful investigation in the islands, ad-
| Vocated a restricted suffrage on account
of the ignorance of the natives. This
| ignorance woe hotly denied, and it was
asserted that nearly all the natives
| could read and speak English. On the
| strength of these assertions manhood
suffrage was granted.
While white men controlled it's desti-
MES Hawaii was peaceful and progress
! i've. Even now, with the natives in
control of the legislature, and evidently
dominated by reactionary influences
the situation is not nearly so bad as
some of the Honolulu correspondents
represent. Their letters seek to give
the impression that Hawaii is about
to indulge in freak" legislation. Theil
specifications hardly support the gen
eral charge. They specify proportion
al representation, income tax, single
tax, and anti-quarantine bills as sam
pies OF native lIedhlSnntSS III leBlS'
lation. OF course Hawaii cannot be
permitted to interfere with natona
| quarantine regulations. AS for the
other measures, if Hawaii wishes to tr!
them, many Americans will watch thu
experiments with interest.
The language question, however, is
more serious, and probably viii have
to be dealt with by Congress i'm man
ner that once for all will convince tn
natives of their error. In Porto Ric'
we have to permit Spanish to be use'
in legislative and judicial proceeding
for the reason that the vast majorit,
of the people know no other LANGUAGE
For similar reasons we shall probabl!
have to permit Spanish to be used il
the Philippine legislatures when the!
come to be organized. 1t is the onl!
world-speech with which the peopl
are acquainted. 1t will serve until the,
can learn English. which the school,
are now teaching to the rising genera
ton.
Spanish has literature of high rank
and those who read 1t have access t