The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-03-01
MAJORITIEs AND Law.

| The following letteT Was ieCeifeo SeS
terday:
Editor Advertiser: The coming ques-
| ton" TO which you refer in an editorial
! paragraph this morning, can law De
enforced. because 1t is a law or must II
have, behind it, majority public sentt-
/ ment to secure enforcement" has arrlv-
| ed And as you seem to invite dis
eussion of it i offer few remarks.
i You raise no question as to the wisdom
of enactlng a law because it is right.
All understand that the law, Thou
shalt not kill'', should be enacted in
| community of murderers as the nrst
thing of Importance, were there such
community on earth. The laWmaklnS
power should set up the right standard.
of course, and the other powers OF the
State should be exercised to bring the
members of the community as rapidly
as possible up to that standard.
| But you ask substantially. Would the
community of murderers enforce the
law Thou shalt not kilr' till a major
lily thereof came to feel that murder
ought not to be tolerated any longer?
Well even murderer is opposed to be-
ing killed; and, for self-protection, he
might lend his aid to the enforcement of
the law He would not relish the idea of
abridging his own indulgence in killing.
possibly. This would be his main objec-
ton TO the law, unless there were some
other way or ways by which the killing
business enhanced his interests.
But let us suppose that thirty of such
] community of 800 chosen by the ma
h. " to carry out all the laws of the
community. should take a solemn oath
to let no murderer go unpunished; and
suppose these thirty oath-bound men to
| be sufficiently armed and equipped for
the task to which they have, under. an
awful oath, committed themselves; and
suppose further that 400 of the whole
community are openly pretending all the
time to be personally opposed to murder.
4 and at heart willing to see 1t abolished;
I 1 believe, in such an environment even,
4 the law could begin to be enforced
| Now let us. take another view of the
question. Possibly this is a more practi-
Zeal view. We have in the City of Homo
lulu a large Asiatic population, among
whom there Is very little sentiment in
1 favor Of good sanitary laws. They are
mot lawmakers. They are not even vo-
ters for those who make the laws. But
their sentiments against the enforcement
of sanitary measures are well known.
and the way in which they fail to in
form on offenders, refuse to tell the
whole truth and nothing but the truth
when called to testify against offenders,
sets them-a majority of our community
nightly against the enforcement of
sanitary rules. Shall we say that the
sanitary laws of Honolulu cannot, under
these conditions. be enforced? If any
man or any newspaper says SO, that
man or that newspaper will be found to
have reckoned without correct notions of
the minority in our community who are
in favor Of health.
Yours faithfully,
w. K. AZBILL.
We do not believe that, in a COM
munity of murderers, endowed with the
rights of a voting majority, and not
subject to military control or interfer-
ence, law against murder could be
enforced. Does Mr. Azbill think the
interests of justice would be subserved
in this city If the next man tried for
murder should be granted a jury of his
homicidal peers? Would not the muir
. derers in the jury box acquit the muir
derer in the dock. being more willing
to take the chances of future death at
his hands than they would be to create
a precedent which might react against
themselves as a class?
The Oriental parallel drawn by Mr.
,Azbill is hardly fair The Asiaties
| here are majority but not a voting
, one. Were they able to enact their
ideas at the polls, the enforcement of
sanitary laws here would be Impossible
to the white community: but as things
stand, such enforcement is possible be-
cause the controlling white voters are
unanimously in favor OF it. Suppose.
however, the whites were divided on the
u subject, their majority being favorable
to law permitting the Asfatics to live
as they pleased? Is Mr.. Azbill optimis-
/ tic enough to think that the wishes of
1.-The white minority, unsupported by the
power of the Federal Government,
could then prevail?
lat IA. +,
hypothesis about the effect of maiori-
ties upon the enforcement Of law is a
fact which might be attested by many
Authoritative quotations. One how
ever, being of undoubted local accept
ance. will do We quote from last
months Friend. the periodical edited
by Rev. S. E. Bishop, d. D.: "As to
Prohibition in Hawaii or in the city Of
Honolulu, The Friend is in favor of it
whenever the voters are ready to en-
act such a law. We feel sure that
Prohibition cannot be enforced here
unless a majority of our citizens favor
1t" Here is case where a law Can
not be enforced because it is a law but
mist have behind it a majority public
sentiment to secure enforcement" We
have personally seen examples In the
Eastern States of towns under local
option, voting in mo License" ticket
as an experiment and dropping the ex-
pertinent within three months because
the majority had withdrawn it's sup
port, liquor being sold for the remain
ing nine months of the year without
let or hindrance. There are hundreds
of such instances on record in the State
of New York all going to show that
the true enacting clause in any law
which has local application only must
be the willingness of the local major
ity, in whom the right of self-govern-
ment is lodged, to not only accent but
Co sustain such a law
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