The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-01-19

4
| or at the other end of the line, So as
not to endanger the whole act and so
as to make it as far as possible repre-
sentative of public sentiment.
| Now, in accordance with the sugges-
ton made by the President, will take
! up the-act section by section. / might
say, however, that the act suppose it
| has been printed here, but / do not
| know whether it has been printed in
full or not--is not at the present time in
quite its final condition so far as I have
had to do with it. I filed brief after
my oral argument before the Senate
| and House committees suggesting sew.
eral changes in the printed form and
since then I have left other changes
! with the Delegate to be presented in
case it should seem best
Section No. I.
| The first section, as you know. is of
| rather q blind nature It amends Sec
ton 5 of the Organic Act, which is the
!, section which extends to Hawaii the
constitution and laws of the United
States but only so far as applicable and
which expressly excerpts two sections of
the Revised Statutes of the United
|
| that other portions of the laws of the
United States should also be excepted
for the purpose of removing uncertainty
as to whether they apply to Hawai-; or
! not. A commission was appointed in
pursuance of an Act of Congress some
years ago to codify and revise the laws
of the United States. This commission
has made final report and it has recon-
! ,aa,1a 1 hot Il
| gress should provide that all of these
laws should be deemed not to apply to
Hawaii. This section was framed in
| this general way partly for brevity,
because the list of these laws is long
enc, and partly for convenience, because
! they are all collected in this one place
/ IN the report of the code commission
and it can readily be seen Just what
they are and partly because it calls at
| tention to the fact that disinterested
lbody was of the opinion that these laws
should not apply to Hawaii. But there
is this objection to that form, namely,
that that report is not as widely distrib-
uted as might be desired and some peo-
pie might find a little difficulty in get
ting at it. And so, especially at the
suggestion of the House committee, I
prepared a more definite form, stating
expressly what laws of the United
States should be excepted. These laws
are, in general. sections 1S41 to 1890
of the Revised Statutes, which relate
to the organization and powers of the
three branches of government-execu-
tive, legislative and judicial. 1t in
cludes also certain other statutes re-
lating to bonded indebtedness, local
government, special laws. and the hold
ing of land by aliens. These parts of
the laws of the United States, I think,
would probably be held not to apply to
Hawaii. but there is great uncertainty
as to whether that would be the case.
DR.. Cofer's Case.
To illustrate: you remember that in
July question was raised as to the
validity of DIR. Golfer s appointment as
president of the Board of Health. Tt
was claimed that these general provis,
ions in the laws purporting to apply
to all territories, but passed with special
reference to Arizona and New Mexico,
prohibited a Federal officer from hold
ing a commission under the Territorial
government. Our own Organic Act had
provisions upon the same subject as to
what officers should hold4other offices.
Ny own opinion was that the specific
provisions of the Organic Act were ex-
elusive upon that subject and that the
general provisions did not apply. I
wrote for an opinion on that in Wash
ington and was sustained in it. But at
the same time there is room for diff
ference of opinion upon that and there
is no telling whether if DR.. Golfer, for
instance. should be reappointed presi,
dent of the Board of Health, some law
yer might not raise the question and
bring it into court and the court might
decide adversely. The same situation
applies to a number of other officials IN
this Territory. Dr. Norgaard, for IN
stance. who is serving under both gov,
ernments. That is just one instance.
Territorial Bonds.
Again, the subject of Territorial
bonds is covered by the Organic Act.
Suppose some one comes along and says
.sthese other laws relating to Terri
torial bonds that were passed with
snecial reference to other Territories
anplv also III Hawaii We can't sell
onr bonds. and so on. The object OF
that section is to remove uncertainties
of this kind, and to have 1t definitely
determined by Congress that the pro
visions of the Organic Act are excIu-
sive upon the subjects to which they
relate.
Legislative Salaries.
The second section raises the salaries
,, of the legislators from $400 to 5000 for
each regular session, and at the same
time provides that there shall be nc
salary for any extra session. Three
kinds of sessions are provided for