Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1907-05-27
(ObD CITIZENS
OBEY THE law
Stirring Address B,
ChaS. E. LittlefieId
Of Maine

The representative audience which
comfortably filed Central Union
Church listened Sunday evening to a
very interesting and instructive adj
dress on Good Citizenship" by Con.
gresham Charles f. Littlefield of the
State of Maine
Mr.. Littlefeld spoke extemporane-
ously and gave local application to
his texts which proved fully his asser.
tion that he had not tried this ad.
dress on any other audience before"
Mr.. Griffiths, President of the Civic
Federation, under whose auspices Mr..
Littlefield spoke, presided at the open
ing service assisted by Rev. Doremus
Scudder. Mr.. Griffiths in introducing
the speaker said that he represented
citizenship of the country which is
thoroughly Independent and stands va.
liantly for personal conviction regard
less of the howl of the crowd.
Mr.. Littlefield in opening his I'D.
dress reviewed briefly the character Of
our American government. He noted
wherein it is not pure democracy be-
cause the right of franchise is confin.
ed solely to male persons over
twenty-one years of age. Women have
no active part in the government. Con.
sequently our government is, in its
final analysis, a government of laws,
and the people accept by tacit con.
sent the government of the great"ina.
jCrity of persons by the minority OF
male citizens twenty-one years of age.
Special emphasis was made of the
fact that in all references to good citi-
zenship and national conditions the
Territory of Hawaii and its people
were considered as being a part OF
the United States-not a possession.
but as much of the United States as
any State or Territory. In this con
nection 1t was pointed out that with
the exception of the appointment OF
Governor and the election of members
Of the National Legislature, the people
of these Islands have all the rights
and privileges of government pos
sessed by the people of the State OF
Maine. They elect their own legisla
tors and make, their own laws. The
Governor, though appointed, has the
same and no greater power of veto
than the Governor of his State.
And following out this authority of
the Governor and executive authority
he made point of the fact that
should the Legislature enact laws or
appropriations in spite of executive op.
position it is the duty of the executive
as a good citizen to carry out this
law. The executive must obey the
law, else there is failure in good
citizenship.
The duty of the Judiciary is to in.
terpret the law. Courts should not
legislate, although courts have legis'
lated. The duty of a judge as good
citizen is to interpret the law as he
finds it. In so far as he attempts to
create law he is overstepping the
bounds of good citizenship.
Having reviewed the province of the
various departments of government
Mr. Littlefield then returned to local
conditions and noted the great dispar
ity Of property-holders in the voting
population. The property holding
people constituted a very small minor
ity of the voting population. Thus a
greater responsibility for good citizen
ship falls upon the people of this Ter
ritory than upon the citizens of any
ether municipal division of the cOun-
try. Not only is the voting power in
the hands of minority of the people
resident within the Territory, but the
large majority of the voting population
is not of the property-holding class
The ideal condition would be for the
lroperty-holding and the nonproperty
holding voting population of about
equal number.
Mr. Littlefeld said that he under
stood the laws of the Territory are
fairly good laws and the legislative
authority exercised with very good
judgment If this be true, it was a
great tribute to the sense of response
Lility of the citizens and the legisla
tors of Hawaii, The speaker said that
he did not know of a Legislature of
any State which could be fully trusted
to legislate without prejudice under
similar conditions.
Speaking of the country as land
of the free and the home of the
brave, Mr.. Littlefield pointed out that
freedom was absolute within the law,
but every citizen must abide by the
law and not allow liberty to become IL