The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-02-25

space for a bret discussion OF some OF
Governor Frear S suggestions which l
think undeserying of legislative sup
port.
The first of these is a recommended
tion to impose a special two per cent.
income tax. chiefly intended to assist
European immigration to this Terri
tory.
1t appears that the planters are short
of labor, with still greater shortage in
prospect, as result of suspended Jap
anese immigration. 1t is therefore pro-
posed that an additional tax be laid
to procure ''assisted immigration, -
presumably for field labor. Let me
suggest at this point that if the plant
ers were willing to trim their plethoric
dividends to moderate figures, by pay
ing fair value for labor, either Jap
anese, Portuguese or Hawaiian, now
available in the Territory, they would
not need recruits from abroad. Instead
of this, they hold threats of arrest, in
dictment and criminal prosecution over
the heads of all who would publicly
discuss the project of increasing the
wages of japanese laborers. This re-
sembles nothing more than the fulmina-
tions of the Southern slave holders con-
corning the discussion of slavery,
"befo' the Wah.
|, And in this connection, the Governor
is so indiscreet as to argue that 'tmore
people are needed for the settlement
of the public lands,' while every local
resident who knows anything at all
about the subject, is we'll aware that
it is even now almost impossible for
present citizens of the Territory to ac.
quire land enough to yield a livelihood,
and the extremely ungenerous and il.
liberal administration of the public
lands seems more disposed to fitch from
present homesteaders their inadequate
holdings, (witness the malodorous
Judge Hapai case, at Hilo), than to
promote settlement by others upon toll
cradle terms. And, lest some Amer
lean farmers, (seores of whom are con,
stantly inquiring for our lands), should
actually come here and settle in small,
or even large, communities, the Gov
ernor gravely informs us that "the dis
posal of land to settlement associations
has been discontinued thereby, Tin
point blank defiance of existing law,
shutting the door upon the most intel
ligent and logical of all the methods
provided for the acquisition of Ian for
real farming. Judge Dole, who drafted
our present land laws, knew very well,
(as who does not know?) that if we
are to attract hither groups of Amer
lean farmers to live in our midst, we
must be able to offer them such advan.
tages, including the primary one OF
contiguous locations, as are provided by
our statutes concerning settlement as
sociations. Upon this topic alone there
remains much to be said, but the limi-
tations of space forbid further expan-
sion.
In this posture of affairs, is it any
thing short of farcieal for the Gov
ernor to talk about attracting settlers
from abroad, while the avid land-hun-
ger of our resident citizens is unap-
peased and ignoreda
And then, it appears that justice is
too cheap, and that the poor may still
have access to the courts. 1t is there
fore proposed to erect new barrier, in
the form of costs, the specific means
being to include jury fees, ($36.00 for
each day of jury triaD, for when the
losing party (and his attorney, under
a recent ruling of our Supreme Court,
will be liable. The proposed change is
all wrong, when measured by the pecu-
liar conditions prevailing in these Is.
lands, where the extremes of wealth
and of poverty are so greatly develop
ed. Laws that viii shut the poor man
with a meritorious cause from a jury
under pain of being pauperized, Gas
may well happen where a jury trial
lasts for weeks), in the event that he
shall not win q verdict. should meet
with no favor with Hawaiian legisla.
tors. Should this amendment pass, the
rich corporations and rich individual
citizens will have it in their mower to
further Cypress the poor, by brighten
ing them from attempting an enforce
ment of their just demands against
corporate and unineorporate wealth, i
not by the prosecution against pool
| people of sunmeritorious suits, ant
dragooning them into uncoSseionablt
| settlements. as the alternative of pos
sible loss, beyond their power TO bear
/ The jury. throughout many centuries
has been justly regarded as the palla
dunn of An.lo-Sa~on rights and iber
ties,-and especially so, in controver
sizes between the rich and the poor
Therefore, let the poor man have cas-.
access TO the iurv through an opel