The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-04-29
- CAPITALIZATION.

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! In his short address before the Re-
tsearch Club the other night, Delegate
Wilcox made this statement:
| The centralized form of government
which has prevailed in Hawaii, and
which finds supporters here, even by
| some who profess to be Americans
] would not be tolerated for single day
! In any State or Territory on the Main,
| land.
| Mr.. wilcox does not know much
about American institutions. IT he did
he would be aware that there Is no m
Istance on the Mainland where the alb
Original Inhabitants of the country en-
Joy a, 1.-THE of the rights which the ap-
original inhabitants of Hawaii have un-
| der the present Government OF the
islands The Capitalization on the
Mainland in the government OF the
aboriginal natives of the soil, is, gener-
ALLY speaking, more autocratic than
that of Russia.
Nor are white people wholly exempt
from such a system. No citizen OF
Washington, D. c., where Mr.. Wilcox
draws his salary, has any rights OF
local self government whatsoever. He
has no chance to vote for Legislature
or for city and county officials. He
has no delegate in Congress and no
vote for President. Federal centraliza-
ton holds him tight and. in the opinion
of the majority of the citizens OF Wash
ington gives him a better government
than he would probably confer upon
himself.
In nearly all the Southern States of
America, State, county and city gov
eminent is forcibly centralized in the
hands of the whites; and although the
Republican party protested against this
fact at the beginning, it has since
tactly given assent to the proposition
that the rule of the ignorant and de-
based is not morally justified by the
fact that such people are able to poll
the most votes.
How far Capitalization has gone in
the South may be judged by this un-
challenged statement of United States
Senator Tillman in, Frank Leslie's
Weekly, of some months ago, the orig
inal of which is kept.in the Advertisers
library.
The suppression of the colored VOTE
first by force and fraud and later by con-
stitutionaI methods, has been the subject
of much adverse criticism by those who
knew nothing about the horrors of car
pet-bag rule; but those who participated
in the struggle to wrest the State from
the band of robbers who had used the
ignorant and debased negro vote to
waste our substance and destroy or
civilization, have no apologies to make,
and will leave to the impartial historian
of the future the question as to whether
the end justified the means. The people
of South Carolina do not doubt what the
verdict will be, neither do they care.
What will be the outcome of the at
tempt to govern our new possessions
outside the Constitution, and whether
the colored races in them have any
rights Congress is bound to respect, is
left to be decided by the American eeo-
pie. In the South, where the race ques-
ton is best understood, there is little
difference of opinion as to not wanting
any more colored people added 10 our
population. or adding territory inhabited
by them. One result is confidently ex-
pected-no political party can retain mold
on power which faces both ways. There
will be no liberation Of a policy which
demands one course to be followed IN
the South and another in Hawaii and
the Spanish islands. The Stars and
Stripes will mean .ne same thing in
Porto Rico and the Philippines as 1t does
in the United States" or 1t will be
"hauleo GOWN by order of the Ameri-
can people.
That is Capitalization of very siren
uous kind; but it has saved the South
from a kind of misrule which must
have soon destroyed it's credit, it's man.
hood and it's prosperity.
The time will come when, with large
accessions Of intelligent people in the
body polite of these islands, the pres
ent form Of local government must be
80 amended as to include county, city,
and perhaps township systems; but ev-
cry taxpayer knows that if such
change is made while the men who
elect the present Legislature are in
majority at the polls, Hawaii will be
plundered and degraded. There is
nothing in the Ills of Capitalization
quite so intolerable to honest and re-
sponsible men as those which would fol-
low the introduction of a Wilcox gov
eminent.
-H