The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-07-13
SECOND LEGISLATURE

hu+ they, will find deserted halls. Thelr
dav has ended, they are in eclipse
and il is safe TO say that many never
will emerge from the umbra.
The Legislature, at its special session
| lust finished, passed 20 bills, mad
one vetoed and one pocketed, rather
I fair averase as to acceptability, out
II could be bettered as to time, when
u ono realizes that the average was one
hin To each three days. Some of the
measures took hardly as many min
utes. as witness the supply bills, which
went through with a rush, every time.
| But it is not for its bills that the
! LEGISLATURE will be known, rather Tor
its resolutions and utterances. OF the
| former only two may be classed as
| want of confidence" resolutions, these
being directed against Deputy Audi
tor Meyers and Assistant Superinten-
dent of Public Works Campbell. This
indicates a material change in the
Legislative habits of mind. Accustom-
ed from birth to a responsible head or
government, with ministers holding
| office at the will of the throne, 1T is
easy to see why the members of the
initial law making body should fulmin-
ate against the executive head. That
the members have begun to appreciate
their responsibility is one of the best
signs for the future. The enmity
against Marston Campbell is incompre-
| hensible to some. Yet it is not too
hard to fathom, perhaps. One of the
most implacable enemies of the en-
! gineer would have accepted a contract
| to build bridges which the Department
constructed itself more cheaply.
former official had been cut out Of
profit. an outsider was prevented from
getting in, all of which meant that
Campbell, being in their way. must
go. The attack on Meyers fell of its own
stupidity.
OF the many utterances of the menu
bers of the House none will be so long
remembered; none will ever be given
such wide publicity, as Speaker Beck
ley's declaration in effect that each
incoming American jeopardiZed the
future rule of the Hawaiians, and that
consequently they were not wanted.
Purely political, the reason, spoken with
a passionate devotion to his own race
and an absolute forgetfulness of his
new national relations, it weighed only
with those who, like him, confess that
they do not want to encounter the COM
Of nd IA
follow the influx of immigrants.
The errors of the Legislature, though |
many, were not all of the lasting kind, |
of course with some exceptions. 1t
seemed to some of them right ana
proper that they should abolish an Of
flee, where the need was clearly ap |
parent to a reasoning or reasonable |
mortal, simply because the incumbent
did not please them, yet they thought
it entirely correct to give an assistant
more salary than the principal. Homo |
lulu's harbor, which must be ready to
carry the greatest ships of the western
ocean, might well do without the mini |
mum appropriation suggested by the
official who studied the question, but
the Hama physician must have raise
in salary or Wailuku a chemical fire |
engine.
Perhaps, however, there were les
sons taught by the Legislature itself
which will not be forgotten. Men who
sat in the body, who voted for inter-
prefers, now declare that had the Eng
ha g.
sion, as was the very evident intention
of the Congress, all the work could
have been finished in sixty days. Not
! only was there great waste of time
with TRANSACTIONS but men talked in
Hawaiian simply to hear themselves
| talk. 1t would be clearly in public in
terest If English only" was made the
language of the law makers. And then
too it would shut out Kaniho.
Political parties spring from the de-
sire CT men to give weight and strength
| to their concerted action. Republican
ism in the United States stands for
| something. During the 120 days now
closed, men elected on the ticket back
| ed by Republicans, urged by men of
that party and endorsed by the high
est rank of leaders, saw fit to throw
allegiance to the winds and paddle
| their own canoes. OF such are Kuma-
lac, Aylett, Kali, Pulaa, Nakaleka,
Lewis. 1t would appear that such a
thing as party loyalty does not enter
into their equation. Instead Of work
ing with their party majority they go
off on their own route, disrupt party
and consider that they have done wise
ly. 1t is common talk that If they re-
turn to the Legislature it will be upon
their own nomination. after fight
made on their own responsibility. Sup