The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-10-25
ACADEMIC POLITICS.

4
A Republican is man who adopt
means to ends. meeting new situation
with new adjustment of the law ant
by it moving things ahead. If a mo
the Spanish war it would have give1
I'D the territorial spoils on the GROUND
that all governments derive their JUS
! powers from the consent of the gov
I erned, and that a republic could not
rule a conquered and unwilling people
The Republicans. however, gave Ameri-
can rule to the captured countries thus
enlarging the sphere of American ideas
and preparing the way, through ex-
ample and education, for a wider diffu-
I sion of liberty. The one would have
! scanned the letter of the Declaration;
4 the other acted upon the spirit Of our
people. There was nothing in the Con-
/ stitution forty-five years ago 70 prevent
/ or suppress slavery. The Democrats
stood by slavery because the Consti-
, tuition permitted it; but the RepubII-
cans brought on a war to change the
Constitution and abolish slavery and
the whole country thanks God for it
+ today.
1t needs this resume of Democratic
policy to put one in the point of view
of Chairman Kinney as shown in his
attack upon Governor Carriers 'tusurpa-
tons at the Orpheum meeting Satur-
day night. Mr. Kinney is what used tol
be called strict constructionist." for
getting how often in politics as well
as in the Interpretation of the Scrip
lures that the letter killeth and the
spirit giyeth light. Because the fathersl
of the republic. dealing with small
Anglo Saxon community. were inclined
toward government by a debating So
cfety of the masses, Mr.. Kinney would
so decentralize the administration in
Hawaii as to prevent the Governor
from controlling the officials for whose
acts he is responsible and leaving them
free agents-as Wright and the Boyds
were-in our Territorial affairs. But
good as the New England town meet
ing used TO be in New England it could
not provide safe government here.
That is because of our different condi-
lions. Since the fact was established
at Appomattox that the United States
is not a group of cousins but a Nation,
one and indivisible, the American idea
has tended towards a wise centraliz-
alton of authority. The President has
more power today than the King OF
England; far more power than Wash
ington or Adams or Jefferson had, and
his personal sppointees in office, re-
at his will and pleasure, num-
Der tens of thousands. The idea Is to
make one official responsible rather
than hundred; for in the case of the
it was found that everybody's
business was nobodys business and
good government had suffered. All the
modern city charters in the United
States, especially the charter Of Greater
New York, are based upon the princi-
of such charters makes it impossible,
or nearly so, to have any more Tweed
rings; and the more the principle is
worked out the better satisfied are thoseI
who have to pay the bills. Here in Ha-
waii the Organic Act, as framed byI
Congress, has given the Governor real
authority and the President holds him
responsible for good government. Thel
Governor cannot bear that RESPONSE
bility if the men to whom are given
the offices that carry out his plans,
are free agents, permitted to act as
they please. To secure uniform resultsI
they must act. in administrative meth
DDS, as he pleases; and if his pleasurel
takes an unlawful turn there is a wayI
to punish him.
What is needed in this Territory is !
what we are getting-the vigilant,
strong, frm-willed management of a {
man who interprets his mission as thatI
of giving the people good government.
So far he has uprooted plenty of evil,
made vigorous reforms and violated mol
law. If his methods are not those of
the Jacobin dreamer who filled the ,
Declaration full of glfttering generall-