The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-07-22
NATIVES AND THE SUFFRAGE.


Prof. Bernard Moses has made state
! ments about the capacity of Hawaiians
| for self-government which are In Keep
| ing with the utterances of sociological
| students at the Lake Mahonk Confer
| ence last summer and with the fears
of the Committee on Credentials of the
Republican National Convention early
this month. The same statements are
made at washington, though mainly In
conversation, by public men of both
parties; and various great papers, the
New York Sun and the New York
Tribune among them, usually take the
view adopted by Professor Moses. the
latter. it should be said, has visited
here. has studied the reports of our
Legislatures has himself been mem
Der of an insular government and Is
highly qualified to deal with both abb
stract and concrete questions of popu-
lar administration.
Prof Moses says that to trust the
Hawaiian with the ballot was very
unwise thing from his point of view.
So IL was from the point of view OF the
Hawaiian kings and chiefs, who did
not permit unrestricted suffrage here
in the elections for both houses of the
Legislature and who did not approve
the creation of counties or municipal
tiles. Indeed it was the policy of the
natives of the upper class to rule by
oligarchy in which the king and chiefs
participated with leading white men.
Kamehameha V. frankly explained his
participation in this form of govern
ment by saying that he could not trust
his fellow countrymen with financial
responsibility.
With annexation came general suf-
frage except as to Asiatics. 1t cannot
be honestly said that the experiment
at the start was good one in leglsla-
tive sense though IT served to keep the
peace. The first Legislature was prob
ably the worst one ever gathered I'M
der the American flag; the first dele
gate in Congress was failure. The sec
ond Legislature swung like a pendulum
between weakness and ignominy, ex-
cept in special session where credit
able record was made. For ourselves
we choose 10 TeSdIu blldl ltNoiu as e'iC
turning path of the Hawaiian legsla-
tor. 1t showed him in a new and better
light.
So if Professor Moses IL inclined to
regard the native as hopeless case
we must disagree with him. There are
signs already that Hawaiian pride has
been touched by the bad records of the
past and that some Hawaiians, hitherto
careless in such matters, are honestly
trying to advance their best and not
their worst men. We take 1t that the
Oahu HaWaiians would not again name
such backsliders as kumalae and Enoch
johnson to any Office but that they
would delight to honor such men as
Kepoikai or Mark Robinson. Another
thing that augurs well for the Hawai-
ian future is that the white carpet
baggers who came here to exploit them
and lead them astray are gradually be-
ing frozen out and that some of the
worst of them have gone for good.
They were the brains behind native in
discretion. For them the Hawaiian
was merely of use to pull political
chestnuts out of the fire. To be sure
il was not creditable to the Hawaiian
that he should become n catspaw, but
let us admit, for the sake of the Veri-
ties, that he is learning not to be one.
In his case there is certainly some
progress. For one thing he is begin
ninS to distinguish between the selfish
friendship of the carpet-bagger and the
natural good will of the man who lives
beside him with common interests and
will die beside him in a common home.
All this must count in the estimate of
the future value of the Hawaiian as a
voter. Even Professor Moses would
not despair of the natives if he could
see them turning down at the polls men
like Ashford and giving their aloha to
an island administration which has not
II single native in its official family and
represents, in its standards, all that the
missionaries contend for. When the
natives do that; when they show them
selves willing to work with rather than
against the better class of white men;
when they cease crying Hawaii for the
Hawaiians" and substitute 'Hawaiians
for Hawaii" when all these things have
come to pass, surely there is hope. Is
it not possible, despite his surviving
faults, that the Hawaiian is becoming,
slowly but steadily, "A trustworthy mem
Der of the American voting body?
We should like to have Professor
| Moses views on that point after he had
| returned to the islands and studied the
| new conditions-especially the causes
lying behind the disintegration of the
Home Rule party-for at least six
months.
Small farming in the suburbs of Ho-
nolulu cannot be profitably done on a