The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-02-27
{, P, DOLE WRITES
FROM WASHINGTON
washington, D. G, Feb. 18th, 1904.

w GOtl. L. A--y en-. IOlI1, LSBt.
Editor Advertiser: It is almost tive
! months since I left Honolulu, it is likely
to be another two months before my
return, and this morning ~the spirit
moves me-" as the Quakers say, rely
| ing upon the courtesy of your paper, to
chat bit with my Island friends. Not
/ that I have anything of particular inn
! portance to communicate, but-you
know what Mark Twain said-"There
is no other land like that''-and I
don't see how one can live there for
T! years without having an abiding aloha
for the land and goodly portion of its
people, and without Ionging-even in
this beautiful city of Westinghouse
clasp this one and that one by the hand
and say, '.Howdy?"
| AS l write these lines Senator Hanna
/ is passing away. In some respects
! think his career has had few parallels
in American politics. He was a plain
| business man, man of large affairs
but unknown in the political world.
until he had past the meridian of life.
Then his personal love for William Nc
KinIey led him to devote his tre1nen-
dC0S ISetfAAZlilS, anu SASC0GiNS powers
to the Mckinley campaign, and he be-
came famous as chairman OF the Re
publican National Committee A rich
man and a large employer of labor, he
won the confidence of both labor and
capital to a greater degree than any
other public man in the United States;
not as strong with the masses of the
people as President Roosevelt, but
stronger with these two mighty fac
tors and also with the politicians. In
his old age, and without previous train
ing or experience, he developed the
qualities of an attractive and convine-
ing public speaker, and. which is high
er and rarer, the gift of stating propo-
sitions with the clearness of self-evi-
dent truths. 1t seems to be the COM
mon opinion here that, if his health had
been spared and he had wished it, the
next Republican nomination and cleo
ton for the presidency was within his
reach, and, certainly, he was the only
man in the United States who would
have had a ghost of a chance against
Mr.. Roosevelt. AS a lawyer can't |
undervalue the services of great law
yers in public life; but good govern
ment is not mere matter of legal |
knowledge, political tact and brilliant |
proposition. practical. business-Iike
administration of a public trust for the |
public benefit. and think it would be
improved by a larger number of honest,
broad-minded level-headed business
men in public life.
The business which brought me here
has taken me to Baltimore frequently.
l was there last Wednesday,. two days
after the fire. The burned district-14C
acres in the heart of the city-was~i
guarded by United States soldiers, and
within those lines was a great tract of
desolation, where property equal to the
entire taxable valuation of the Terri
tory of Hawaii had been burned up in
thirty hours. But Baltimore, with its
southern trade and its great industries
and its 100000 inhabitants, is immense
y rich, and has a future even brighter
han its past. The fire is not a knock
out blow.
AS the business which brought me
lere is in no way connected with poll
les or with public affairs. have not
net public men as much as L otherwise
naturally would; but, in so far as
lave heard Hawaiian affairs talked
about, there is a common expression
If regret that we have permitted fac
De carried so far. This opinion, wiretn-
r we deserve it or not, seems to pre-
all both in the executive and in the
legislative branch of the government
nd 1 think it hurts the good name and
he material interests of the Territory
more than most of it's citizens realize.
l have been interested in watching
he Panama debate in the Senate, and
specially in Senator TiIlrnan of South |
carolina. In some respects he is a
arger and stronger and more self-con-
rolled George a. Davis. At any rate,
lie is a character sui generis.
Most of the time the weather has
cen delightful here. The grip of Jack
Frost is a welcome change from mild,
ternal June. .
/ must close,
With aloha nui to all my friends.
E. P. DOLE.
-~%S