The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-10-31

Civic federation IN no sense poiii-
ical body except m The larger sense
OF havlag an interest In civic welfare.
aud again. the enforcement OF the law
u placed by the spirit OF our institu-
lions ana the common consent OF our
people. In the hands OF the constituted
officers, and every agency In the COM
munlty should be first directed to an
enforcement through the constituted
officers, II Is only when this fails that
there is warrant for the employment OF
private detectives or the Interference
OF private individuals In the enforce
ment OF the law to the exclusion OF the
public authorities.
only speak for myself. and not for
other members OF the Federation In
saying that 1 have full confidence In
the Governor of the Territory, In the
High Sheriff. in the Board of Super
visors, and In the representatives OF
the various legal departments.
l might add that while am satisfied
that Sheriff Brown will find II prac-
tically impossible to enforce the law
against the criminal element in view of
the facts that he was removed by Gov
ernor Carter when High Sheriff be-
it was impossible to enforce these laws,
that In his election he had the united
support OF the criminal classes, and that
campaign fund OF several thousand
dollars was raised by the criminal
classes and the allied interests to be
used specifically for his election, and
the further fact that when High Sheriff
before and as Sheriff now he has al
ways taken the position that notorious
grating in the police force was no
ground for removal, but that he re-
quired to be convinced of the fact (and
this convincing practically turned out
to be an impossibility) before he would
interfere with the private graft of
members of the force, yet 1 feel bound
to regard Sheriff Brown as free from
the charge of being himself graft
err" since In all the numerous scan
dals, which convince any reasonable
mind of the prevalence of graft in the
department, no one has ever brought
any clear or satisfactory evidence
against the head.
1t would not seem then, that our con-
dition is so desperate that private de-
tectives employed by private societies
ought yet to be resorted to.
The position of the Civic Federation
is well defined, 1t has numerous lines
of action. The work of one of it's COM
mittees in the interest of parks under
the leadership of President Griffiths has
been productive of very marked results
with the prospect of much greater.
The work of another committee, par
ticularly by Dr. Wood, is of equal value
and has entailed much labor. The
Committee on Law and Order, which
deals directly with the anti-gambling
crusade took the matter up long be-
fore the Advertiser began an agitation,
caused thorough investigation to be
made, and laid the facts before the
authorities. Since then, the Advertiser
commenced its crusade, and has occu-
pied the field. For one, l think II has
done a splendid service in awakening
public interest to the gravity of local
conditions, for after all the great prob
lem is not the suppression of gambling
or the publication of the police sys-
| TEN, but 1t is the awakening Of the
| public conscience to the responsible
ties of civic duty, and the revelation
of n belief on the part of the criminal
classes and their allies, that the ad-
ministration of the law is for them
and not for the public; and a CORE
| spending belief on the part of the
members of the police force that the
influences which control it's admins
tration are the vicious ones of the
community. The paralyzing influence
which this exerts on the enforcement
of the law is self evident.
DAVID l.. WILMINGTON.
l