The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-06-04

INf tNfh thliNhffhmtNi tue MUS
countries, like Hawaii, whore all the
social machinery could BE- seen. were
startling object lessons What the
drink habit would DO for q Hawaiian,
whose mind was uniformed, whose
conscience was undcveloped, and whose
will was unframed. was 70 clear that
everybody could see and understand IL.
Gradually, in every country, thought.
ful people realized that precisely what
the drink was doing in Hawaii IL was
doing more and more among the liz.
n0rant and weak and poor OF Europe
and America.
A vague but general horror Of the
business fastened itself in the public
consciousness, and the great court of
public opinion tried and condemned it,,
as a corrupter Of the youth, n violator
Of the home and fouler of the springs
Of civic power.
Then the high.license policy was
adopted and the liquor business became
an escaped convict in America, and be-
gan to apologize for its existence. That
marked the point of its departure from
the world of legitimate business and
booked it for criminology, without n
return ticket.
II continues to exist and TO thrive,
but on terms that no self.respecting
enterprise would accept for a moment.
1t is not for me to deny that the liquor
seller has conscience. He certainly has
ability and industry. But his pride is
gone. The first step he takes toward
opening up his place, is to confess that
he is not to be trusted like other mer.
chants, that what he proposes to do is
beneath the dignity of n free man;
that as citizen he is to be suspected
and hampered and watched; that to
accommodate his output, additional
police and more jail-room will be re-
CURED; that his location near a school.
house would be contamination; that
his location near church would be an
insult to religion; that his location in
the market would be an outrage on the
poor; that his word, to obey the law,
is not good without n bond; that, for
the right to call himself business man
| among business men, he must pay heavi-
ly, and come up every year like n ticket
ofleave man, and submit himself { be
checked off on the roll of dangerous
citizens. He makes his money easily,
but his business pays an awful price
in money and in reputation, for recog.
milton among its betters.
While the liquor business was reap.
ing its first repulsive harvest in Ha.
wall, the missionaries came; and from
that day to this, the Church has led
the forces of decency and progress;
and the saloon has led the guerrillas of
indecency and failure.
The missionaries were by no means
perfect, and the liquor dealers were by
no means destitute of good impulses,
or barren of good deeds. But by so
much as the Church has been success
full, the Hawaiians have been uplifted,
and by so much as the saloon has
prOspered, the Hawaiian people have
been debased.
Before the missionaries came, the
common people were nothing; the kings
We're everything. But, under mission,
airy teaching, the kings have been made
common-people, and the common people
have been made kings And if in the
old days when the kings word was
law. the public good demanded sober
subjects, how much more now, when
the government is upon their shoulders,
should citizens abstain for their own
sake, the sake of their families. their
territory, their country, the worldf
j am not intimating that the Hawai-
ian people have made little of their
opportunities. On the contrary, they
have done wonderfully well. But, in
common with the older nations whose
culture came earlier and whose oppor-
tunities were greater, they have been
content to see the strong make all the
progress, while the weak went to the
wall.
Relatively, these islands have made
as good progress as the mainland to
which they now belong, in individual
sobriety. But both the islands and the
mainland have put too little accent on
the protection and elevation of the
masses, and thus, have left the weak
and the defective in the lurch.
Three-quarters of century ago,
when Kuakini was governor of Oahu,
native temperance society was organ
bers, under this pledge:
First We will not drink ardent
spirits for pleasure.
"Second. We will not deal in ardent
spirits for the sake of gain.
"Third. We will not engage in dis
tilling ardent spirits.
"Fourth. We will not treat our rela.
tives, acquaintance, or strangers with
ardent spirits,
"Fifth. We will not give ardent
spirits to wOrkmen on account of their
labor"
1t is an excellent pledge, in sub,
stance and in form, so far as hard liq-
uors are concerned. The beer-keg had
not then become the throne of the liq.
quor world. But naturally, it is a
pledge for the well.disposed and the
strong. The people were not then the
rulers of the nation. The government
was the king; and the king was at
the mercy of the drink,selling nations.
The abstainers did set good ex.
ample, and they have left their mark
upon the community, in prosperous es-
tates and capable descendants. But
more than that was necessary. The
shore was lined with men who set a
bad example, and the saloon, more ag-
gressive than the temperance society,
gathered to itself the waits and strays
and hayward of the people; for it was