The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-11
NOT STEP
BACKWARD
What Proposed New De-
partment Means for
Hawaii.

= 1T is all nonsense to talk about AM
2 loss of status as Territory, or any
x going backward to follow the creation
. of a Department of Insular Affairs al
z Washington, and the putting of the
concerns of the Territory into the
} hands Of that department, with man
of the Cabinet class in control of it,
! said Acting Governor Atkinson yester-
} day.
The term Department of InsuIar
D Affairs does not exactly fit the de-
} partment that it has been proposed to
create. Department Of Territories
, would fit it better. but the depart
, ment would have charge of the affairs
, of the Philippines, Guam, Alaska, Pa
mama, Samoa, after it had attended to
those of Hawaii and the other Terri
tories.
} But, whatever the department is
called, the plan is not new. 1t has
been discussed by the President and
his Cabinet. by Congressman, and by
the mainland press for months past.
| ture of the Advertisers story of Sun
! day morning was the stand that Cen
| eral Smith took upon it,
HAWAII WOULD GAIN.
| Hawaii would lose nothing at all
| by the creation OF department of that
kind in the Cabinet, and would gain
| much. Do You know what the con-
| dition is now with reference to Ha-
iar fToi
| ments at Washington? When an Of
fetal a citizen wants to find out
anything about. this Territory at the /
departments, he is sent down a small /
side corridor of big department |
building into a little, dark room with
the label reading. perhaps, Patents
and Miscellaneous on the door.
And the Hawaiian matters that he .
is looking for will be classed with the |
Miscellaneous. All that would be
avoided in the proposed new depart
ment. Hawaiian concerns would re-
ceive the treatment that their import
ance warrants. All informa ton rela-
tive to the islands would be readily
accessible to congressman citizens
and visiting officials, the secretary in
charge of the department would have
the ear of the President at all times
and voice in the Cabinet council, and
he would make it his business to be
informed on the needs of the sections
of the country under him, and to ad-
vance them in Congress and with the
Executive.
WOULD GAIN IN STATUS.
1--WE would not lose status. We
would gain, in the public eye and in
the convenient dispatch of public bust
ness. We would reach statehood as
quickly under the present haphaz-
ard system-and would stand a chance
of reaching it more quickly Certain
~ our progress would not be hfndered
have never found that public bust
ness is hindered by convenience of
Dispatch
And that is the common sense view ,
of the whole business. The news point :
in the Advertisers story of Sunday
morning, as the Acting Governor says, s
was the adhesion of next Governor {
James T. Smith of the Philippines to
the pact of the Governors of Hawaii I
and Porto Rico to bring about the S
creation Of new department in the l
Cabinet. This plan has the approval 1
of President Roosevelt. The alliance c
of the three Governors does not put {
Hawaii in the same class with Porto :
RICO and the Philippines An alliance =
Of thirteen Governors could not do it.
And the adhesion of General James F. r
Smith is a distinct gain, because he I
is man of commanding influence,
whose word will go for much in Wash Ii
ington v
SMITH A POWER
Gen Smiths adhesion to the plan b
is a distinct gain also because the p
h irya5T1 ~.
War Department, under charge of r.
Colonel Clarence Edwards one of the V
best men in the army, who has the j
most all-alive bureau in Washington. l
1t he wants anything. he goes to Con- 2
sress and gets it. He does not hesi- il
ate He has the affairs of the Philip
pines at his fingers ends and speaks t
oy the card every time. L
The Philippines get all the money p
they want, get. all the troops they -
want, get everything they want They
nave never been turned down in Wash
ngton, save on this tariff business.
And there is no assurance that that 4
will be a permanent turn-down. e
The affairs of Hawaii and of the a,
other Territories. departmentally. are 1t
grouped in the Interior Department. II
lnder Secretary Hitchcock, with the tr
rlSIh WHO mas III MS charge 1aIentS "
and Miscellaneous" 1t is not even Il
bureau. And he sinks our affairs to a Vi
secondary place after patents. There oI
IS no complaint to be made of w B. ~
Acker, who has charge of this office. &C
But he has too much to do If there
was a man there who had nothing TO =,
attend to but the affairs of Hawaii, 81
and he wanted to accomplish any par pr
ocular thing. he would keep hammer Sc
ng away at it every day until he got a
'esults Acker is a good man. by all nf
accounts, but what he says about Ha- 20
vail when he has time to say any ia
ming. filters through his chief TO the c
president o,o1-L = - sc
1 may ne II SelS tiCles nj
ina may De II does not. Anyway, re- 40
suits are very slow for Hawaii and III
-. =. de