The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1904-07-15
DEMOCRACY BAD FOR HAWAII.

Even Mr.. w. A. Kinney. skillful al
he is in argument, cannot find gooo
reason for being a Democrat In Ha.
wall. In his speech at Emma Square
he said many things in favor OF the
National Democracy but except In one
reported instance he did not apply then
| locally. The one Hawaiian advantage
he could think of was that a Demo
cratic majority here could get things
OF n Democratic administration al
Washington. But this was an argu-
ment chiefly directed against the Home
Rule party which has and can have nc
standing at the national capital and
1t answers a Republican purpose quite
as well as it does a Democratic one.
Surely Democrats In power could not
do more for Hawaii than the Repub-
licans in power and the chances are
that they would make times vastly
harder for us than they are.
For instance the Democratic party
is committed to the gradual removal of
protective tariff. That means, in the
final analysis, the free importation of
sugar, measure advocated on the plea
Of making the food of the masses
ruin Hawaii. 1t would PROSTATE the
industry by which, in one way or an
other. all Of us live. OF all sufferers
the natives, dependent as they are on
the wage-paying capacity of the white
man, would suffer the most. His in
terests are vitality wrapped up in the
protection of the Hawaiian staple. To
be sure Hawaii may safely look to the
hold-over Republican Senate for econo-
mic protection in the next few years
but 1t cannot afford to give aid and
comfort to the enemy, nevertheless.
Again, the Democratic party draws
the color line Its position. through
out the South, is distinctly for a white
mems ballot. Hawaii is the only place
in the United States where colored
majority commands a free ballot and
1t does so by grace of the Republican
party The rights of this majority have
been specifically threatened by Tillman
and are menaced by the general at
titude of the Democracy on franchise
questions.
Finally the Democrats who constitute
the major portion of the party's
strength in Congress are dead set
against large aggregations of capital.
incorporated wealth is the only lever
age big enough to handle the sugar
industry of Hawaii. This is, peculiarly
the place of large financial undertake
ings; 1t gets little strength from the
small capitalist save as he is multiplied
and the resources of his class combined
to achieve great end. II the radical
Democratic element had it's way our
island corporations, including
some that Mr. Kinney Is interested in,
would be so curbed and harried that
they could not do business advantage
ously. Their safety lies in the policy of
fair play towards men who do business
on great scale as well as those who
move in a small circle-a policy to
which the Republican party is COM
mitted and under which the nation has
gained more financial strength in thirty
years than 1t did in the previous ninety.
The Republicans gave Hawaii reci-
procity and annexation. They propose
to fortify this group so as to make it
a stronghold of that eXpansionist policy
which the Democrats oppose. Without
their protective tariff the population
here would fall to $4,000 and poverty
would be the social rule Our chief
danger lies in the application, to our
economic system, of Democratic party
views