The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-04-29
NEEDLES AND MuDDLES.

NN1DAAAHbA VI A--N--@@--
might have blushed. II he were not
past the blushing stage. when Lieut.
Cen. Schofield. in his testimony before
a committee OF the House. called Con-
grass "a fountain OF error" For Mr..
Robinson is precisely the sort OF
man to whom most Of the legislative
biunders OF Congress may be attribut-
ed: a man who draws bills vitality af-
fecting matters which he does not I'M
dc-stand and upon which his want OF
knowledge may visit a grave injustice;
and = member OF a considerable group
in Congress that passes bills nolens
voIens. against the general tenor Of
which Investigating committee have re-
ported.
Mr.. Robinson has interested himself
in the reform OF the land laws OF Ha-
wall. He has never been here; he
probably does not pronounce the name
81 the Territory correctly; and we
doubt that he could tell precisely where
The Territory Is without studying the
Zap. Yet he starts In with more than
Esndon assurance to alter our land
system. .the6growth OF many years, and
. u, anful Its administration until Con-
gress shall otherwise direct. whenever
that may be- In Mr. Ropinsen's be-
lief. our leases are all wrong. although,
strangely enough. they satisfy the peo-
pie who live here. promote agriculture
and, at much disadvantage to specu-
Iators, feed the Territorial revenues.
~ ne were to ask an expert. like Land
. 90 or
land official VINO is now in Washing
ton. or any other capable Hawaiian not
in politics to annoy and embarrass
Governor Dole. Mr.. Robinson would
find that Hawaiian land laws are
as well-fitted to local conditions as are
the land laws OF the United States to
mainland conditions: and that to sus-
perd them would do grave harm to
public interests. But asking experts is
rot. IN his line; Robinson draws bills.
and Is quite as ready to draw them for
Hawaii. or Porto Rico or the Philip
pines as he Is for his district. In fact,
ne is as eager to legislate. even in his
ignorance, as a certain youth was to
fire the Ephesian dome.
That sort of thing is the bane and |
menace of republics; a constant refiec- |
ton On the wisdom OF popular rule. For |
twenty years boosters from Indiana |
and jaybawkers from Texas Joined /
with their like in Congress and refused /
to give the country forts or a navy, all
because they had no seacoasts in their
own district. The water development
III the farther west has been prevented
irrigation IL not understood. Massa-
chusetts laws are being proposed in
Congress today for the government OF
the Philippines. When the organic act
of Hawaii came before Congress in the
FORM proposed by a commission which
mad studied the subject on the ground,
il was deliberately altered to suit the
Iastes OF men from Nevada. Colorado
and Maine. Our country Is SO big. our
interests so complex. and the tenure
Il the average Congressman so brief.
hat expert statesmanship cannot be
always expected In Congress; but 1t is
It least the duty OF the men who pro-
rose national laws to consult in ad
rance with the men who know the sub
ect covered Colorado should have
iielded something TO the seaboard
states long before she did. In the mat {
- OF defence; and Massachusetts,
houId post up on the possibilities OF ;
rid land before fiouting irrigation bills
- Western grab games" And like
rise we who live far from the main
md boundaries. in an insular terri I
,ry. should be able To feel the assur- =
nee that people 5000 miles away will
OF try to regulate our domestic con-
rms as they have been left US by the
rganic law. We know what we want
nd what We need; we are morally.
entaily and legally competent TO run
H own farms. our own schools and
r own water systems; and to do so
but to exercise the American right :,
local self government. As for the
obinsons ct al. surely there Is enough
keep them busy In the special needs
their own bailiwicks.
NO HULA HULA.