The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-08-25
HAWAII AND THE
ANTI-IMPERIlLISTS

The following is a leading article
from the New York Tribune:
= Governor Carter OF Hawaii fnrnisbe.
he New York Evening Post text fol-
characteristic diatribe against IFS conn.
try. 1t rejoices TO think that AmericaI
citizenship may be a curse instead of :
blessing. Governor Carter. in an inter.
view at Sacramento, said The annex.
ation of the islands TO the United States
has not been a commercial success. SC
tar as the islands are concerned" This
was because the laws were not suited tc
conditions in the islands. The United
States land laws were in force there
and crops could not be prohtably grown
under the short term leases permitted
by them.s Consequently the revenues
from the government lands were small
He also declared:
Annexation has cut off all our inter
nal revenue On the other hand. from
Uncle Sans point of view. annexation
has been a decided success. Over So
100000 has been paid into the United
States Treasury from the islands. The
whole cost of annexation was only
81. 1000"
This brings much JOY to The Post.
which doesn't seem able to remember
its own immutable principles, and in
great glee over the troubles of the Ha-
waiians it shouts:
This shows what clever business
head Uncle Sam has. As a federal Off
cial it is Governor Carriers business to
consider his employers interests first.
Furthermore, if he goes on talking that
way he will encourage the Home Rule
party, which is foolishly enough de-
handing Statehood and all the privi-
leges of State. Just as if we could
give to them what we are DENYING to
Porto Rico and other Territories! Real
ly, that great and warmly admired friend
of the Governor who sits in the White
House ought to take George Carter in
hand. What! admit in a Presidential
campaign that our first plunge into ex-
pansion is dead failure from the point
OF view of those upon whom has been
conferred the highest honor ever be-
slowed upon man, the grandest blessing
the civilized world can offer'-American
Indeed it shows what foolish head
The Evening Post has. American citi-
zenship for islanders was its pet hobby
The Hawaiian trouble is due to the
policy which ii and the rest of the anti
imperialists have been demanding-th in
clusion of our OUTLYING possessions with
IN our domestic system 1t ehowled like
mad that we must make the islanders
American citizens, extend to them our
tariff laws and put them on the same
basis as our continental Territories. In
the name of liberty and the Declaration
OF Independence and Plymouth Rock
and Faneuil Hall, it tore passions to
tatters over the proposition to govern
Porto Rico as separate estate, with
its own revenue laws. and predicted the
of the whole structure of con-
stitutional government if the Supreme
Court allowed such an Outrage" And
now the silly old scold is cackling with
glee over the bad results of the very
policy which it wanted to drive EN-
peror Mckinley" and the Republican
Hdespots" into outer darkness for not
applying in Porto Rico and the Philip
pines. What Governor Carter says has
happened in Hawaii is just what Re
publicans said would happen in Porto
Rico and the Philippines if the senti-
mental notions of the anti-imperialists
were followed. The laws in force here
are not adapted to the islands, and the
attempt to govern them as an integral
part of the nation. under a uniform sys-
EN- of laws, results in hardship
When Hawaii was annexed this was
lot well understood. 1t had so long
,een under American influence and en-
Dyed trade reciprocity that complete in
seemed a natural transition. |
The Hawaiians wanted it, and anything |
Use would have been denounced at home |
IS tyranny" just as it was little later |
when the need of special provision for |
Spanish islands utterly untitled to our |
avs and methods of government was |
called. Accordingly. Hawaii was IN
into the Union as a Territory, |
the precedent OF what Demo
ratio platforms call Democratic ex-
,ansion" as contrasted with Republican
1t was brought under the
and the uniform revenue
aw clause of that instrument applies
here. What is the result? Why, the
stands are deprived of their internal
evenues, Just as The Evening Post
insisted that Porto Rico should be. The
United States collects for its own use,
S it must under the Constitution, the
ustoms duties on foreign commerce and
he same internal revenue taxes that it
objects in New-York Of course. this
hard on Hawaii 1t is the price it
avs for the Constitution and freedom
rom tyranny" 1t would be better off
s one of those subject provinces" so
etested by The Evening Post which are
GENEROUSLY allowed to pay no federal in
erna1 taxes. but to reserve that source
f income for their own local govern
lent What we are denying Porto Rico
nd other outlying territories is just ex-
city what burdens Hawaii, and State
God would not improve the situation.
he drain of the federal Treasury would
ontinue.
Governor Carriers statement is a per-
act demonstration of the folly OF the
nti-inperialism demands for the incor-