The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-07-18
THE w. O. SMITHS
WERE MIXED UP
tMail Special to the Advertiser

WASHlNGlON, ~. ", July o. lhe
cable dispatches Of few days ago
about Gov. Carter's resignation con-
tanned paragraph that Hon. w. o.
Smith was among those mentioned as
the governors successor. The enter
prisiRg Washington correspondent of
the Pittsburg Times, unaware of the
fact that the Governor of Hawaii must
be a resident of the islands, took it
to mean that Representative w. D.
Smith, of Punxsutawney, Penn, was
the man in mind. He played the story
up as something very big and as
, though Smith of Punxsutawney was
about to receive very nice plum.
The Times printed Smiths picture
and observed that Smith probably had
good chance for the place.
w. o. Smith, of PunXsutawney, is an
unusually good fellow. He used to be
printer by trade but he has risen
gradually by his own efforts till he is
now the editor and owner of pros
porous newspaper, The Punxsutawney
Spirit, and also member of the Ma
tional House. He has made two or
three speeches in the House, full Of
wit. AS soon as he read the Pittsburg
Times, Mr.. Smith took up his pen and
wrote this editorial for The Spirit,
designating it "Mixing the Smiths. !"
1t said:
"Press dispatches from Washington
last Saturday announced with head
swelling comments that w. o. Smith,
editor of The Punxsutawney Spirit
was likely to be chosen governor of
the Hawaiian Islands. This was start
ling news to us, as we never had the
slightest ambition to be successor of
the Kamehamehas or Queen Lliuoka-
lani, and would decline to accept the
commission if rendered to us with
blue ribbon around it tied in a bow
knot.
"'Despite the fact that Hawaii is
a sort of earthly paradise, the climate
being IDEAL and the physical features
such as to defy the cunning of the
painters brush and fill his soul with
despair, this knowledge has never
| weakened our allegiance to the hills
of Pennsylvania. Better twenty years
of PUNK " than a cycle of Hawaii.
"But this proposition of the WASH
ington newspaper correspondents to
make the editor of The Spirit governor
| of the Sandwich Islands was, in all
human probability, the result Of con-
| fusion of names. There is man
| named w. o. Smith in Honolulu, who
was prominently identified with the
formation of the Republic, and was it's
| first attorney general. He has been a
conspicuous figure in Hawaiian affairs
since its admission as a territory of
the United States in 1898, and visits
Washington annually to look after
| legislation for the Islands. Last win
| ter letters and papers addressed to
him were /persistently delivered to us
and several amusing incidents occurred
rs the result Of the confusion of the
| identity which were ingeniously told
by the writer Of Capitol Chat in
the Washington Post.
cone day during the recent session
of Congress, this Hawaiian w. o. Smith
came up to the Capitol and sent in
a card bearing the inscription: 'Wil-
liam o. Smith, Honolulu, III. L. Upon
going to the door we met middle
aged gentleman If affable manners,
who greeted us with Jrc inquiry:
Are you w. o. Smith,
"We entered plea of guilty.
WE'LL he said, beaming with
smiles, Il merely wanted to see the
man who has been receiving my wife s
letters and most of my official CORE
spondence all winter. All I wanted to
say he went on good naturally, is
that after va have opened and read
my mail, if there is anything that
dlesn It interest you o. that you think
l had better look after personally, you
may continue, as heretofore. to turn it
over to me
"As the request did not appear to
be unreasonable We readily agreed to
il. and after a pleasant conversation
regarding the need ant destiny of the
Hawaii1n archipelago we shook hands
and partci.
"Now it appears rhat there is dis
position on the part of the Washington
newspaper correspondents to rob the
w. o. Smith, of Honolulu, of the gov
ernorship sought by him and turn it
over to the w. o. Smith of Punxsutaw-
ney, which, we submit, is carrying the
matter of mistaken identity just a tri-
f1e too far"
ERNEST G. WALKER.
~