The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-21

We do not concur in the views OF
the majority nor in the conclusions
reached by them with reference to the
following bill:
THAT seventy-fve per centum of the
customs and internal revenues collect
ed each year within the Territory of
Hawaii, for a period of twenty years
from July first, nineteen hundred and
six, shall be segregated and held apart
in q separate fund by the Secretary of
the Treasury to be designated the Ha-
waiian fund and to be expended only
for public works, including educational
and other public buildings, harbor i'm
provements, and military and naval de-
lenses within the Territory of Hawaii
as the Congress may from time to
time specifically authorize and appro-
pirate
The committee recommend an amend
ment limiting the period of segregation
to five years instead of twenty.
This bill, if enacted into law, will
divert about $500, 900 annually from the
General Treasury and make it applica-
BILE for uses in Hawaii only as a spe-
,cial fund. If the fund is diverted for
twenty years, as suggested by the
President in his message, the amount
gate fully $4,000. O0O If the bill is
amended, as proposed by the commit
tee, then it would segregate $4,000,O00.
1t is argued that because the GUS
toms duties collected in Porto Rico
are retained by Porto Rico for its local
uses that Hawaii should have por-
ton; at least, of the duties collected
at Hawaiian ports; that Hawaii should
be treated as Well as Porto Rico. There
is some force in this suggestion, but
if it serves as a precedent at all, then
it is the duty of Congress to turn over
to Hawaii all the customs duties and
internal revenue collected there for the
uses of the Territory and to be con-
trolled by it. just as in Porto Rico.
We do not believe the Territories are
on equal footing. nor that we should
accept the treatment of Porto Rico as
criterion of action for Hawaii. but If
/ the precedent is to be accepted, we in
sist that 1t is Hawaifs right to demand
all the customs duties and internal
revenue for use under the direction of
its local government.
The bill, on that theory, should read
something like this:
THAT the customs and internal rev. /
enues collected within the Territory of /
of collecting. be paid into the treas
4ury OF the Territory. to be disposed OF
as its other revenues"
Such a bin would, in our judgment, be
far preferable to the present and !
would certainly be more defensible: it |
would fully concur with the views of
the majority, as expressed in these
forceful words:
"A fiscal policy that is sound for
Porto Rico should be sound also for
Hawaii. The mere fact that a greater
breadth of political rights has been
given Hawaii does not relieve her finan-
cial strain Nor does it seem just that
a country which voluntarily gave over
its own sovereignty to enter the Union
should be made to labor under harder
financial conditions than one acquired
by conquest
AS to the financial condition of Ha-
waii we think the statement of the
is misleading. At the time
these islands We're annexed to the Unit
ed States there was an indebtedness
hanging over them of about s4,O0o,oo0,
IS o00, 900 of which was assumed and
paid by the United States The re-
rgaaining obligations exist in the form
of Territorial bonds at the present time
and amount in the aggregate TO sS22,-
100 Hawaii began after annexation
with this Indebtedness.
There was an unusual confa grafton L
n Honolulu on account of an attempt
10 prevent the spread of the bubonic
oIag que which resulted in the destruc-
ion of a great amount of property own
I'd by the Chinese and Japanese; the
he loss was dealt with as an obliga- 4
ion to the citizens of Japan and China,
md was paid TO them, S1.000,0O0 out OF V
he Treasury OF the United States and Il
he remainder, s315,000, by the Hawai- (
an government. The Territory now !
las an outstanding Indebtedness OF
315 900 on this account in what are u
,nown as the ''fire-claim bonds
The Territory has voluntarily is
ued 81, 600. Geo in bonds for public i'm
movements in the islands. and this q
las been expended as follows: &
Fharves and harbors. ......s 81 27S14 cl
,ublic buildings ....... 2o2 Stops =,
!