The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-10-19
MACHINE OR pEopLE-wnIcn :

II Is a fair question whether the re
suits have been such as to commen'
rha machine system TO the taxpayer
| and Justify another vote of confidence
in it2
when the machine began business i
undertook TO prevent the choice foi
Governor of Sanford 3. Dole and make
| good the selection OF any available
politician or carpet-bagger in his place
Happily it failed. It also undertook Il
capture the courts and it aided in get
ting commissions for Humphreys. Gear
Gaibraith. Little and EGings- For Con-
| eress it named Sam Parker and foI
member of the National Committee
Harold NJ. Sewan All the selections
| were blunders and some of them were
worse than blunders-tlney were crimes
Then came the first legislative cam
paizn in which the Republicans met
the Home Rulers with the Democrats
as a third party. The Home Rulers
practically swept the board. Why did
they do so2 We say uniesitatingly
that il was because the Republican Ter
ritorial Committee put the large sums
OF money contributed by the Republican
business houses for the legitimate ex-
penses of the canvass into the hands
OF a man who openly and shameIessly
used them to pay the bills of the Home
Rule campaign Afterwards that COM
nsittee rewarded this perfidy by endors-
ing the same man for high place un-
der the Republican Territorial admins
tration-a post which he left with the
clutch of the sheriff on his collar. OF
two other well-endorsed worthless one
is now a refugee and the other is under
ten years penal sentence. Machine rule
or influence in these cases cost the tax
payers at least $4,000 of stolen money.
In the first three years of its ex-
istence the machine was responsible,
though its endorsements, for nine en-
The second political campaign result
ed in the choice of Kuhio for Con-
with a strong working majority. An
incident of the same period was a con-
certed effort to remove Governor Dole
and put Sam Parker-without his trus-
tees-in that important place
The lower house of that Legislature
contained as arrant lot of rasc;.ls
and inconpetents as could have been
scraped together in the political pur-
Iieus of San Francisco piebald aggre-
CATION of knaves and freaks with here
and there a respectable man who had
got in without machine help. The Sen
ate was mainly safe: the House was
run by a Solid Thirteen. so shameless
q compact that the honest men were
forced to summon the aid of Home
Rulers and Democrats, venturous as
hat departure was, to prevent the cleo
son of the Thirteen's nominee for
spealer-the now indicted KumaIae.
As Governor Dole's term neared its
end some of the machines most power
full influences We're ranged against the
choice of George Carter for Governor.
Only by the hard work of reputable citi-
cents was McCants Stewards resolution
OF protest against Carter kept from
legislative passage. Plotting also be-
gan to secure the control of the SUI
preme Court. Who for. God knows.
Today the machine is in the field !
II, -x-ifJ, n rt,,-e,.. ~ +so4-,+ .,-.4
competent, one part incompetent and
one part rascalIy and it insists, as it
did in the cases of Eumalae, the Boyds.
Wright and the rest of the branded
crew. upon the support of honest men
because. and solely because. the ticket
stands Cor party regularity.
What is regularity to the taxpayer if /
it means bad government
What is party worth which accepts
and recommends nominees whom it |
knows to be unworthy?
Finally if government by the machine
after a four years trial is shown to be |
weak in the selection of public SER
wants; if it is shown to be careless in
its adoption of policies and regardless
of the vital principles of good legisla-
ton and deficient in public spirit, then
is it not right that the taxpayers who
PAY THE BILLS, should begin to
choose for themselves So far, good
citizens have delegated their right of
selection in a way to do themselves a
wrong; now they propose to take back
their misused powers of attorney and
put Hawaiian legislation in the hands
of the best men, Shall they permit
themselves to be called down by party
managers whose eonsciences have been
so obscured by ambition that they hold
up the Mahelonas and Ayletts as men
1T to be elected?
Does a bad nominee become desirable
because another party is running
good nominee who may beat him?