The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-11-13
AN ATTEMPT AT BRIBERY.

some light may be thrown upon the
subject by the story of the attempt, a
couple of years ago, TO bride the Attor-
ney General to nol-pros all the cases
of Chinese gamblers. Apparently the
Chinese thought it would be cheaper
to deal with the Attorney Generals
department than with the police. AS
a matter of fact the man who came to
buy Attorney General Andrews said
so. His plea was that he had been
paying two thousand dollars a week
to the police and that it was too
much to pay for the privilege of run
ming che-fa games and that $500 per
week or $4,000 per month would be
quite sufficient. For the sake of get
ting witnesses another date was fixed
for an interview and when the China
man came he was heard by several men
to repeat his offer, was caught, ar
rested, taken to court, convicted and
sent to Jail. The police department had
then the same mana cement it has now.
SOME OLD TESTIMONY.
Upon the testimony of Adachi,
member of the Ten Dollar Club, L shall
not particularly dwell, because, in an
other case, Adachi was proved to be
perjurer. I shall not even repeat what
he sWore to about the relation of the
police to crime; but I will say that
SO many of the grand jurors of that
time believed him that they came
within one vote of indicting q high
police official on his testimony. OF the
revelations of the Halter report l do
not feel like speaking because of the
fact that this report has not yet be-
come, and may never become, public
document upon which one is privileged
under the law to draw; but 1 do know
that the exposures made by Halter
were felt by the Governor to justify
the action he then took against the
head of the police department.
Returning to the episode at the At
torney Generals office, I must say that
many good people are not prepared to
admit that the Chinese gamblers could
afford to eXpend $4,000 or even $500 per
week upon police protection. But why
not? There are on this island many
thousand Chinese, most of whom like
to gamble and see no moral wrong in
it. Japanese, many Hawaiians and
some Portuguese and other haoles
gamble, making a very large number
indeed. But if only 5000 out of a total
island population of perhaps $4,000
gamble and these invest but 10 cents
a day per capita, We have an income
to the gamblers of 5000 a day or $4,000
a week. Two thousand dollars a week
for protection would leave the gamblers
$4,000, about thirty per cent of which
goes for expenses and losses. l am
told by men who assume to know that
the business is much larger than this.
AS TO PROTECTION.
Now how can protection be given?
Let me tell some circumstances upon
which you may frame your own opin-
ions. All, or nearly all, the che-fa
and pai-kau gamblers are clients of
one lawyer, a former police official,
whose business it is to get them clear
in court. The Governor has been told
that the Chinese gambling firms have
each subscribed $50 a week to pay for
these legal services. The records will
show that the police have made arrests
enough to keep the lawyer employed
to enable him to earn his large week
ly income; but invariably the police
have supplied witnesses against his
clients who fell down-who either swore
that they knew nothing or that the
games were harmless. Sometimes only
81 dominoes are discovered when 80 are
required as evidence of an unlawful
game. Thus by hook or by crook, the
gamblers get off, some without punish
ment, others with nominal fines. Now
I do not charge that the apparent CO.
operatio of the police in freeing these
offenders has secured for it a share
in the fees earned by the lawyer. l
do not assert that this lawyer
divides with the police officials, his old
chums, who make it SO easy for him
to serve such an army of clients and
serve them so well, but I do say that
if such an appearance of combination
turned up in the police government of
New York or Chicago or San Fran
cisco, that you would have but one
opinion of it-you would know pre-
cisely what it meant
MORAL ASPECTS.
Now about the moral danger of open
gambling in any town. When you read
Henry Kapea's confession that the
money he stole from the Hawaiian
Trust Co was taken because he hal
lost so much in one of Moore's garo-
bling places-the one which he con-
cealed from the police by placing it at
the corner of Fort and Hotel streets,
at that time the busiest corner in Ho-
noIUlu-you meet a condition when
ought to cause vigilance among en-
ployers as to the moral standards OF
employees. But Henry Kapea was not
an exception. As d victim of the hu-
man Yultures he does not stand alone
in the list of convicted felons. have
heard the authorities say that of all
our public and private embezzlers dur
ing recent years but few were not
among the losers in the halls Of chance
BOYS ARE CAUGHT
One of the worst features of this case
from a moral and economic standpoint
is the recruitage of boys into the ranks
of the gambling dupes. In making III
uuiry some time ago Mr.. Williams, the
nhn+ncrr.a r,har found that MANY TOnllg