The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-08-14
THE HUMAN ERROR.

mr. II MAN EhROR.
1t is to be regretted that Judge Rob-
inson. in working for "A worthy cause,
the repeal of the Hawaiian land laws,
brought forth a statement which, the
way 1t reads, applies to an honorable
class of immigrants. the Portuguese, in
every respect the best of all the diff
ferent nationalities that have been
tried by our planters. some epithets
which they certainly do not deserve.
| 1t they were poor and uneducated-
| many were educated at least in their
own language-when they arrived here,
| no sensible man makes them crime
| or even dishonor of this deficiency.
But all, with very few exceptions.
were certainly honest, moral, religious,
| law abiding sons of the Catholic
church.
But are they fit material to make
American citizens? The courts of jus
tice have had very few cases on their
| calendars in which a Portuguese was
the defendant. And when they had,
| they astonished the world, at least in
| one case, by the very remarkable SEN
tence meted out to the unfortunate
"Pariah." 1t is the case in which Gov
ernor Carter very properly exercised
| his power of clemency on last Christ
| mas Day. Joao Cordeiro, convicted on
November 81, 1902, in the Circuit
Court of the Fourth Judicial Circuit,
| by Judge Little, of the offense of
| larceny in the second degree, for
stealing from the estate of w. H. Rich
| ard one steer, valued $25, in the dis
trict of Hamakua, Hawaii. He was
| sentenced to imprisonment at hard
labor for 20 years, say twenty long
years.
This seems to me a very effective
medicine to ward off moral leprosy'
at it's first appearance.
1t we consider our Portuguese i'm
migrants as a class, not belonging as
such to the upper strata of society, 1
defy anybody to produce a similar
number of the same people of any other
nationality (Americans included) to
compare with them in their moral
character. Unfortunately, the younger
generation, which has learned to read
and to write is rapidly degenerating
from the good old stock of their par
ents such as the ("anomalous" gov
ernment of Portugal has produced
them. If moral leprosy" be found
among them, they found 1t here in the
sunny land of American liberty and
enlightenment. We need not down
America to put Portugal up, but If the
fruits show the quality of the tree. our
citizens Of old Portugal can very well
stand the comparison.
If the Individual did exist for the
benefit of the State or the Society-a
notion which seems to underlie the
educational hobby so muchly praised
up by today's poiticians-it would be
right to teach and educate all the citi-
zens in order to improve the stock
owned by the Society or the State.
But this is a misconstruction, Society
exists for the benefit of the individual.
The State Is formed in order to help
the individual to attain his aim Of life
in accordance with the notions the in
dividual has a right TO have for him.
sea- OF his lies aim.
If only those are fit material for
American citizenship that know how
to vote intelligently, well, I declare
there are but few who answer this re-
quirement, not more, indeed, than are
actually able to run the machine Of
the government by themselves. The
common voters are satisfied to believe
in their party leaders and feed and fat
ten on the promises of the candidates
and graft
Now, whatever may have been the
shortcomings of those individuals who
incensed Judge Robinson during the
johnson trial. he is certainly wrong in
accepting them for the whole people.
His exaggerated statement is certainly
offensive to the Portuguese. But 1
must deprecate, also, similar exagger-
ations on the part of many of those
letter-writers who have appeared In
the press at this occasion. May all re-
member that exaggeration hurts the
cause 1t would like to defend.
JAMES C., BEISSEL.