The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-10-16

sion. We have had quite experience
enough of crude and undigested efforts
az legislation, which have come to
naught. What we want lis the careful
ahought and study of able and well
trained minds to prepare legislative
measures that shall be Of advantage
20 the Territory as a whole, not to the
advantag Of any clique or party. and
which shall be the result Of careful con-
sideration. We do not want any more
scissors and paste bills, put together
an an incongruous manner, and passed
as "A sort Of shibboleth without discus
sion simply because they bore the name
of some measure that was sought after,
but the contents Of which il appeared
had no interest to the Legislature as
body.
We want 30 put ourselves upon the
true plane Of Americanism. As the
youngest Of the American galaxy Of the
states and Territories we desire To
avoid the mistakes m de by our elders
and to take the best of their expert
ence. That there have been mistakes
40 one can deny but the mistakes
have been rectiaed. From our position
there is no need to repeat mistakes only
TO have to 41ctify them afterwards.
We shall have plenty Of mistakes Of
our own 70 rectify, without copying
mistakes made by our elders.
We need thorough revision Of our
taxation system. Representative En-
meluth has been on the mainland
studying up the question and The Star
is willing to give the gentleman the
credit Of facing the question in an i'm
partial manner. If he does so. and
produces a bill which distributes bur
dens Of taxation equally. he will have
done a good work, and will be entitled
10 all the credit OF being an enlightened
statesman. If on the other hand he
produces purely partlzan or a purely
socialistic bill as the word socialistic
is now understood he will only make
confusion worse COMPOUNDED. The
Wisest course to pursue would be TO
publicly consider the bill before it goes
10 the Legislature. The new tax bin
should not be a party measure. il
should be a general measure, seeing it
is to be for the benefit Of all, if IT is TO
be Of any permanent value.
The taxation measures naturally
come first, because without proper re-
venues a territory or a state cannot
advance. The sinews of war are money.
The surety Of progress in public works
Is money. This territory for its area
is wealthy and can raise public funds
without inhicting undue burdens upon
Its citizens, but the burdens must be
distributed with judiciousness. There
is such thing as killing the goose that
lays the golden eggs, and other COM
munities have discovered that ere now,
The next most important measure is
mat Of county government That we
should have county government all are
agreed, but we want county govern
ment based upon carefully thought out
lines, and suited both to our popula-
ton and our peculiar position. To
reach such legislation requires careful
thought and careful study. 1t cannot
be reached by simply taking the bills
of couple of Territories or States and |
trying to make them fit into one an
other. Here once more there should be
public discussion, both by meetings |
throughout the Territory and by views |
expressed through the press County |
government again is no party measure.
To be Of value 1t must rest upon the |
general good OF all, not upon the tenn
porary political advantage of any one |
party or clique, When the foundations
of our Republic were laid there was
diversity Of opinion among the found
ers, but they rose above diversity Of
opinion and placed the foundations up
on the broadcast Of bases. No one can
read the words of the men Of that time
without feeling eleYated by their tone
of thought, without considering how
unselfsh and how grand they were.
Let us if we can reach after like I'M
aelfishness and like elevation of both
thought and action.
In these short comments The Star has
only touched upon two fundamental
measures, which must be met in the
near future. There are several more
equally fundamental and equally i'm
portant Would il not be better to lay
aside the unworthy pickering which
disgraced the LIST Legislature, and the
unseemly attacks upon private charac-
ter which canker too often political de-
bate, and try to rise to the true plane
of Americanism than which no higher
plane exists in this finite and frail
world, that plane which discards poll
tical greed, and works for political
good We want to reach that ideal
which Macaulay pictures of the time
of HOratlus when
"All We're for the States
When the great man helped the poor,
And the poor man helped the great
And Romans were like brothers
In the brave days Of old.
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RIG STA MERS PAY 8