Evening star., 1903-08-31
APPROXIMATIONS Exceed Revenues.

his impartiality.
Appropriations Exceed Revenues.
Since my last letter of June@19 our terri
torial legislature closed its long biennial
session. The chief items Of work accom-
plished were the passing Of bill organic
ing county government, of appropriation
| bills amounting to s.. 423. .s5449 and of a
loan bill for s., ,SS97. .27O.75. The sums appro-
priated are considerably in excess OF any
possible revenue. This will leave 1t much
at the discretion Of the executive where to
apply the approximations. With the hon
esty and wisdom Of the present executive
this may be advantage rather than an
evil. On the whole. this Legislature may
be commended for good work. especially In
contrast with the disgraceful failure of the
"Banderlog' home rule legislature OF two
years previous There was this year
large amount Of the same element in the
lower house. with it's consequent obstruc-
ton and confusion. But the senate was
quite well constituted and serious mischief
was averted. Corrupt legislation was pre-
vented with aid of executive vetoes. The
representatives, however, managed to roll
up an enormous amount of session eX-
penses, the vouchers for which have been
made away with. 1t IS certain that tens
Of thousands of dollars Of exorbitant bills
were paid for tranSlating and typewriting,
the excess going into the pockets of repre-
sentatives, both home rulers and repub-
licans, the latter only nominally such.
The Fall Campaign.
Preparations have actively begun for a
vigorous fall campaign for the election of
the numerous county officials under the
new law Apparently no democratic party
will be active, the contest being between
the republicans and the home rulers. The
latter party appear to intend to make it
practically a race contest, Hawaii for the
HaWaiians." Home rule distinctly and
avowedly means that the native aboHgines
own these islands and are entitled to gov
ern them, and Hawaiians are summoned
to lay aside all differences and maintain
their own exclusive rights. Such is the slo-
gan OF Bob Wilcox and his irrepreSSible
wife, Teresa who is conducting a weekly
campaign paper called the County, in
English of a peculiar sort.
How completely the native voters will
let themselves be carried away by these
appeals Is not easy to forecast. There is
much ground for hoping that among them
Is too much Intelligence and too much re-
gard for influential and friendly whites
for any general folly of this kind to reach
an extreme. The majority of the natives
are kindly disposed toward their old and
tried friends among the whites and con-
scious Of their dependence upon their
guidance and aid, as well as of their own
deficiencies They will hardly be led into
any sweeping political war upon them, un-
less evil counsels become more successful
than one may anticipate.
Natives Not Financially Reliable.
A serious obstacle to the installment OF
natives in county offices must be found in
the very strict provisions for heavy bonds
to be given by most Of those officials. Prob
ably very few men Of native blood could
secure bondsmen. With all their good traits
and the advance they have made in ciyiliza-
ton the Hawaiians are still extremely weak
in their reputation for financial response
bility. The home and social life Of the Ha-
waiian has not yet ceased to be an easy
going one, devoid of civilized sentiments of
strictneSs in the care and handling OF
money. This, generally disqualifies them
for offices of trust without close oversight.
Probably no man of native blood and home
life could obtain irresponsible bondsman
for any large amount.
A japanese Murderer Hanged
An execution of ia Japanese murderer
took place here on the 18th. in which the
youthful criminal exhibited extraordinary
composure, exceeding the frequent Japa-
nese indifference to death. At the last mo-
ment he demanded q New Testament and
calmly read aloud the story Of the cruci-
fixion The Japanese evangelist in attend
ance made a short prayer. and at the
Amen the drop fell and all was over. This
cabin boy killed the captain with knife.
almost In the presence of his wife and
babes It is satisfactory that the criminal
fully confessed his guilt as deliberately
planned between himself and the cook OF
the ship. There Is an excess Of crimes OF
violence among the 10000 Japanese In Ha-
wall Much and very successful work is
done toward winning them to Christian
faith. KAMEHAMEHA-