The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-02-15
A.pRooeAm or PLUMBER.

" the Home Nulr Legislature under.
takes ~ burden the Taxpayers ~ this
country with the obligation w. pny un
adiudicntud claims 10 an amount nearly
equal ~ the national debt ~ Hawaii
when the Republic came TO an end II
win only have itself TO blame N the
business interests combine to ask Con
gtess FOR such a modification Of The L.
land franchise rs viii make the election
Iof native Legislature Impossible here
after
The Advertisers Washington CORE.
spondent has told our readers that one
of the first things Delegate wilcox
heard at the capital was that the ex-
pertinent Of home rule In Hawaii was
on trial and that to have II succeed the
dominant party must go slow Since
then Mr.. wilcox has been conservative
I'm his advice TO friends Mt home. He
has even expressed doubts as to the
wisdom of an essay in city government
He knows. as few native observers
know here. that what Congress has
given. Congress can take away; ana
that II the Legislature goes In for
carnival Of spoils and extravaganza. the
american lawmakers viii not have to
be invoked twice to relieve the sltua-
tion. They have handled things in
Alaska and Porto Rico In the spirit of
stern reform and they are capable of
doing so here. Whatever the business
interests of Hawaii may ask for the
welfare of these Islands, whatever relief
they may unitedly seek from abuses,
will be far more respectfully heard in
/ Congress than will the claims OF a tax
eating political organization which is
mot affiliated with any American party.
There is a plain proposal before the
Hawaiian public to pay the fire claims
of 1900. which aggregate in the mass not
less than 81 900 600. These are the
claims of men, occupying and maintain
ing the plague breeding shacks of chi
natown. for damages on account OF
either sanitary or accidental fires. Last
fall II was currently reported that the
Chinese merchants put up a campaign
fund for the Home Rulers on the un-
derstanding that, If the Legislature
should be carried, the claims were to
be paid in full. 1t now looks as If that
corrupt bargain was to be carried out.
But we warn the Home Rulers that IL 1t
is fulfilled, the reckoning will be with
Congress. which has not established
this Territory to be despoiled by it's alb
original inhabitants.
That there may be some just fire
claims we admit; but Is a Legislature
or a court to pass upon their quality?
Let the sufferers hire lawyer and get
Judgment, If they can, against the
power which lit the torch. After
that it will be time enough. either here
or at Washington. to talk about appro-
priations.
Touching the claims of the prisoners
of 1895 what has this Territory, as an
integral part of the United States, to
do with them? No court has passed
upon these claims. No order of court
has been fled concerning them. They
are being pressed by foreign govern
ments with which this Territory has no
official relations. Very likely. if they
are valid. payment will fall to the Unit
ed States as the sovereign here and as
a successor to the obligations of the Re-
: public. why should Hawaii assume
debts that may be purely Federal?
l The proposed gift of quarter of a
million dollars to Liliuokalani strikes
us as not being one Of those "rightful
5 subjects of Legislation not inconsistent
/ with the Constitution and laws Of the
3 United States" which is referred to in
Sec. SIS of the Organic Act. Liliuoka-
lani has no claim on the treasury OF
the Territory, whatever pretense of one
, she may have had on the treasury of
, the Republic. 1t was to Congress that
, she first and properly looked for the
sum misunderstanding that there is
any propriety whatever in her plea for
compensation. In any other country
than this her previous course would. as
John Emmeluth declared over and over
again to the Council of State in 1895,
have cost her her life. That boon was
spared to Liliuokalani, yet she wants a
quarter of a million dollars as salve
to her wounded feelings and as a pun
ishment to those who defended this
country against her. We insist that
this is a matter also for the courts
possibly the Court of Claims of the
United States-and not for the Legis-
lature of any American Territory. The
Queen declares that the United States
took away the throne. II that is so
the United States not Hawaii, is re-
sponsible to her. Arguing on her own
lines we may say: AS well ask Ari-
IONA to compensate the family of Gen
eral Santa Ana for any losses they
may have incurred in property there
during the war OF lS4S between the
United states and Mexico as well ask
Castro because of his dispossession by
American troops; as we'll ask North Da-
kota to compensate sitting Bull for his
osses at the hands of the United States,
as to ask the American Territory of
Hawaii to pay the late Queen OF the
late Kingdom of Hawaii cent for her
lawful deprivation OF the throne and
for her Imprisonment under judgment
| of a court.
! II these outrages upon the taxpayers
of Hawaii are carried as far as the
Territorial Legislature proposes to car
ry them, it may be the duty Of some
citizen To apply for an injunction re-
straining the Treasurer from paying the
amounts called for, on the ground II
no other presents itself, that legislative
votes cast by men who do not under
stand the official language are no more
Hnli a .l.g,