The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-04-06
FEEBLE AND DiLATORY. 1870: .s......


be no doubt or uncertainty on TIL:
point, yet there is evidently CONSIDER
able. Individual members of the major,
lily appear to have no hesitation IN re
lpudiating it, and prominent Home Rui
lers men who must be regarded as the
LEADERS, II there are any leaders, denS
alike any knowledge of its origin or It's
contents. In. the House they are az
mute as so many oysters. NOW TINS
state of things is, to say the least Oh
lit, very peculiar. Either the Dill repre-
sents. in at least a general way, the
ideas and purposes of the majority Oh
it does not If it does, why is there not
some effort made to have 1t moved on
1T has now been before the House and
the country more than week anu
seems no nearer any dennlte aclloh
than when it was first introduced. IL
lit is not a party measure, or does not
fairly represent the ideas of the major
lily, why is not that fact made TO ap-
| pear clearly and the bill got out of the
way
AS matters now stand, this bill blocks
the way of every important measure
before the House. Until it is disposed
of in one way or the other, not one
Ificial, can be determined or even made
the subject of intelligent action. Pre-
posterous and impracticable as this bill
has been shown to be, silly and dishon-
est as the cry for it's immediate passage
in it's present form certainly is, the fact
remains, nevertheless, that there it is,
there 1t sticks, and until 1t Is either
passed, withdrawn or killed pretty
ii, II,
changes proposed in every branch of
public administration, in every depart
ment and bureau of the Territorial
Government, are so multttudinous so
radical, so minute, so complicated and
so generally involved and incompre-
hensibIe that they would necessitate a
complete reconstruction and reorganf-
cation of the whole public service
which in turn involves a revision Of
the whole body of our statute law.
Three-fifths Of the sixty days have
already passed and only two-fifths re-
main. What chance is there of our
Legislature being able in that time to
perform such an herculean task? There
is absolutely none, and every person at
all familiar with such matters realizes
it. With a Legislature embracing a
considerable proportion of the best-in-
formed and best-trained minds in the
Territory and earnestly devoting them
selves to business, the ground could
scarcely be covered in the time that re-
mains; and it is very doubtful If the
additional thirty days which the Gov
ernor may grant would suffice for per-
Torrance of such a task. With such a
Legislature as we have, and under the
conditions actually existing, the thing
simply cannot be done. Under these
circumstances the majority has a very
heavy responsibility on it's hands, a re-
sponsibility that, so far as can be judg-
ed from their words and acts thus far,
lis utterly beyond their capacity either
intellectual or moral.
The Home Rulers have too large a
majority in both houses tos make it
worth their while attempting to throw
the responsibility for their follies and
failures on any one else. They demand
ed that the legislative power of the
Territory should be placed in their
hands, telling what great and wonder
full things they would do if only given
the chance. The people listened to
their professions and promises and sent
them to the Legislature with an over
whelming majority in both houses.
Now, gentlemen of the Home Rule
party, the power is in your hands,
the responsibility is on your shoulders,
the welfare and prosperity of the Ter
ritory, to say nothing of the future of
your own party, are largely at your
mercy. What kind of a record have
you made thus far, and how do you
propose to meet the crisis now upon
you? The time for buncombe is passed.
vague and glittering generalities are no
longer in order; you ought by this time
to realize that the preparing of i'm
'portant and intricate legislation is a
task requiring high degree of expert
ence and training, and that it is not
safe to trust the formulating of the
most fundamental and far-reaching
measures to a fellow with no better
stock in trade than measureless assur-
ance and a scissors and pastepot 1t
will not serve your purposes much long
er to tell what you might, could or
would have done If things had in some
way been different. The time has come
to do something and to waste no time
about 1t.