The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-10-18
wKlNLEY TO FIRST VOTERS.

M'KlNLEY TO FIRST VOTERS.
First voters. and in this new Terri
tory there are many who may be SO
ciassed who have passed their MAORI
ty by many years, have ever been an
object of interesting study by men who
aim to control political action. In the
line of advice given by men of expert
ence come the eloquent words of Pres
ident Mckinley. in one of the last ad-
dresses before his death, to body OF
young men about to exercise the fran
chise for the first time. In the course
of long speech the President said:
Born in the sos, you have enjoyed
the most marveloas advantages Of the
ninetesnth century. You have witness
ed the greatest progress of science, me-
chanics and material development OF
any period in our history. You have
enjoyed the advantage of the free and
higher schools of learning. You have
lived In period of the greatest oppor-
tunity for moral and intellectual
growth, and enjoyed most favorable
conditions for forming right opinions
and you have escaped the extreme Bit
terness of party divisions and the PAS
sions of a fratricidal war.
You witness now, as you come to
your sovereignty, a reunited country
under the old flag, blessed in natural
resources beyond any other country.
You approach the exercise of your SOW
ereignty under the most advantageous
circumstances, free from any past pre-
affections and prepared, in calm judg-
nlent, to consider, without bias, the is
sues on which parties are divided.
Perhaps some of you who have al
ready started out for yourselves, have
had in the last three or four years,
some valuable personal experience,
which Isl equally as good a school in
politics as in anything else. You are
given the ballot at a time when it's use
for good or evil was never greater. You
assume this responsibility at a period
fraught with grave problems,
Every young voter. who has his
spurs yet to win; his career to make;
his fortune to build, will hesitate be-
fore he will give his ballot to a party
which seeks to create hostility between
classes and sections; between the rich
and the poor; between the mechanic
and the manufacturer; between the
producer and the banker. He will cast
mis- ballot to continue the equality of
citizenship. of privilege, of opportunity,
of possibility which has been the boast
of our citizenship and which is the very
corner stone upon which our free in
stitutions rest.
mo young man will want to place
weights upon his own shoulders, to
raise barriers to his own progress,
which hitherto have never impeded the
progress of the industrious, honest,
clean and ambitious young man. Away
with caste and classest Such doctrine
is un-American and unworthy to be
taught free people. He who would
incuicate that spirit among our people
is not the friend, but the enemy of the
poor. but honest young man, whose
soul is fred with worthy ambition
for himself.
The ballot of the young man, as well
as of the old man, the ballot Of the
first voter as we'll as that of all voters,
should always express the views Of
truth and conscience. It should repre-
sent theicalInf and unbiased Judgment
of the voter. 1t should embody the
highest welfare of himself and his
home, his community and his country.
1t should never be false to his convic-
tions. or opposed to. justice and honor
either in public or private concerns. 1t
should express on it's face his best
hopes and highest aspirations as an in
dividual citizen, and always represent
the greatest good to his fellow country
men.
May your votes be always given to
preserve our unity. our honor, our flag
our country, and to save our blessed
inheritance always from lawlessness
dishonesty and violence. May your
votes always be given for a policy thai
shall give US the widest development il
our resources; the widest incentive t
the invention, the skill and genius o
our citizens; the largest reward to A
merican labor; the highest welfare o
the people and to promote the bes
ideals in American citizenship"