The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-01-04
POLITICAL REFORMS.

: Union. County and municipal admir-
4 istratfons have been hot-beds of COZ
= ruption and it is to them that pan
ticuIar attention is directed. 1t ma
be observed that the job-chasers an
small politicians in Hawaii. who see
to extend and perpetuate grating b
the adoption OF cumbersome syster
of county government for the benef
of 1000 inhabitants, more than two
thirds of whom are ineligible to citi
zenship. will derive very little com
fort and no support from the main
land. There the endless multiplication
of petty offices is mcompromisingl1
opposed by the business community
and by the industrial classes generally
and in municipalities and counties
the tendency is strongly towards the
concentration of power and RESPONSE
bjIity in few officers, who are within
the control of voting citizens, alive to
their duties as well as to their priv
ileges. President Roosevelt, in his an
nuaI message, insists that Washington
shall be made a model capital, but he
does not propose that this result be
accomplished by changing the present
system of government, administered
through Commissioners.
In California, there is a fixed deter
mlination that both administration
and elections shall be clean, and the
head of the proposition that all citt-
gems shall lend their personal assist
ance to this end is the Merchants AS
ISOLATION of San Francisco, composed
of substantial men, who have already
proved the controlling power of or
ganization, irrespective of party. There
were two elections in San Francisco
within the past year. AT the first. |
Fairfax Wheelan and his son, with |
some assistance, exposed palpable
frauds. and secured the indictment and
punishment of some of the guilty /
rascals, by whom they had been CON
fronted at the polls. At the November |
election three hundred of the best eiti- I
zens attended the booths during the /
entire day. and it is generally +
acknowledged that, in that election.
the intelligent will of the voters was
honestly expressed.
The primaries are receiving special
notice and it is intended that, when
primaries are held, the stores and
banks shall be closed Above all, that
numerous class of citizens who pre-
serve d sort of pharisaicaI respecta-
bility by taking no part in politics and
even by refraining from the exercise
of their election franchise are un-
mercifuliy dashed, as traitors to their
country and a bad element in the
family and TX society. This drastic
criticism was most severe and album
dant at the late annual dinner of the
Merchants Association, when its own
energy was strengthened by the tesri-
rnony of invited speakers Of great poiit-
ical experience. The subject discussed
was "The Citizens Duty at the Polls
and there was general expression that
party should be subordinated in munic-
iral politics. In his Introductory re-
marks President Symmes, who is all
ways plain-spolxen and intelligipIe,
said: I'VE have temporarily suspend
ed our interest in street sweeping and
we have taken up the sweeping of the
polls H. d. Loveland administered
a remarkable castigation to the alb
sentees at primaries and elections. he
told them distinctly that they were
ARE in politics for what there IS III
it, and who knew that, at the prima-
ries which respectable citizens
were too busy to attend, they neipeu
to arrange the tickets that you (the
respectable" citizensJ were about to
vote He also put this trenchant
question to the subjects of his ex-
eorration. Are you aware that it
costs more to run the city government
of New York than it does the civil
of the United states?'
James d. Phelan. formerly Mayor of
San Francisco. said that the Greeks
had made partial success of their re-
public because their citizens particip-
ated il the government" and objected
vigorously to that civic indifference
which too frequently causes the flag
Of our country to be thrust aside by
the red flag of the political auctioneer
He declared that citizens who go fish
ing and hunting on election day .'are
not entitled to the protection of the
laws Gavin MeNab, deeply versed
in party management but of unsus-
pected integrity. was full of pith.
When all men vote at the primaries"
he said, fthe practical politician viii
be without practice and the profess