Evening star., 1902-03-08
The Hawaiian Situation.

With the arrival Of Governor Dole In
Washington President Roosevelt will be In
q position to judge the Hawaiian situation
accurately and justly. He Is confronted
with a peculiar problem of executive ADJUST
ment and unquestionably Governor Dole
experience and personal character will give
great value to lis advice. In another part
OF The Star today will be found an inter-
view with General A. s. Hartwell Of Homo
lulu an old resident and one Of the foremost
members of the bar of the islands. he
gives an estimate of Mr.. Dole which re-
veals clearly the upright character of the
man and the honesty of his motives as
president of the island republic and as gov
eTnor of the American territory. The other
day The Star also published an interview
with Mr.. George Carter of Honolulu, who
has come here for the specific purpose OF
advising the President upon the insular sit
uation. In the course of that talk Mr.. Car
ter paid high compliments to Governor Dole
and described the predicament which the
extension of the suffrage to the natives
without sufficient qualification has caused.
A mistake was made at the outset in
giving in spite Of protests too broad vot-
ing power to the natives. 1t is to be pre-
sumed that this mistake will not now be
act Congress seldom moves backward in
such matters. One consequence Of the
mistake was to enable certain carpet-bag-
gers in Honolulu, who went there for what
there was in the political game for them
to misead the natives and to use them for
their own selfish purposes. Much Of the
disorder and incapacity Of the native-ruled
legislature chosen at the first territorial
election may be attributed to this element,
Just as much of the friction which now ex-
lists In Hawaii between Gov. Dole and the
natives is to be traced to these men.
The problem which is now to be solved
Is to adjust administrative affairs In the
islands to reduce to minimum the
friction between the territorial organiza-
tion and the natives and also the power Of
the scheming whites to make mischief.
The President can materially promote
Hawaiian welfare by causing the resigna-
tion Of those Hawaiian judges who have
been perniciously active and conspicuously
offensive disturbers In Hawaiian poll
tics, and have taken advantage Of their
judicial powers to play the petty despot In
political quarrels. In respect to the
controversy between the governor and the
home-rule native legislature the slightest
examination of the propositions and acts.
or rather antics, of that remarkable body
will produce the conviction that inability
to assent to it's proposals and to harmon
ize with 1t is no discredit, but rather an
additional evidence of intelligence and in
tegrity in the governor. whose veto was
all that saved Hawaii from manifold dis
asters The pressure which Is to produce
republican harmony will evidently be
wisely applied to the legislature and not to
the governor. The statement which has
produced the greatest injury and demoral-
tzation in Hawaii, and the greatest encour-
agement to the enemies of good government
there. is the untruth which represents the
President as having decided in advance
against the missionary party and In
favor of the royalist natives In or out Of
the legislature and the carpet-baggers on
or off the bench of Hawaii: