The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-06-02
WOOLLEY HITS
RUM DEMON
CONTINUED from Page One.l


while cheating thousands Of native /
children of any possibility of such de-
lights.
1t has housed the Equor-seilers IN
comfort and elegance while it has co.
operated with the greedy money-lender
to cheat the native out of ms little t
kuleana.
1t has spared no rank or condition.
The history of the Hawaiian common
people is relatively less tragic, in the t
story of the drink, than the record of |
the Hawaiian Kings.
In every tribe and every nation the |
wilful or negligent killing Of the king /
is treason and the penalty of it is |
death. But the liquor traffic in Ha- |
waii was kingslayer almost from the |
first. Yet it has outlived the monarchy |
itself, and then the republic; and to- |
day, after the treason Of a hundred
years, it holds its grip on every island
In the group.
Nor does it spare the Gquor-seller.
He has money and he takes his ease.
But no money has such low purchasing
power as his. He can not buy wei
come for his fine house in the best
neighborhood. He can not buy off the
blush of shame that flies to his daugh-
tors face when schoolmate asks
her what her fathers business is. He
can not buy for his wife a happy pride
at the way he makes his living.
Eighty years ago the first criminal
| code was enacted in Hawaii. Note the
/ list of crimes that first and most
threatened the safety of the people:
murder, theft. retailing ardent spirits,
Sabbath breaking and gambling. Liquor
selling, in the midst of the crimes and
the accomplish Of them all
This statute put the liquor business
| into the same class with its authors, as
a convict; and the Queen Regent, Ka-
| ahumanu, and, later, Kamehameha ILL.,,
| togther with the best and greatest
| chiefs, did what they could to keep
| it in the class where it originated and
| belonged.
! But the thing that was crime in
| the Islands was one of the great COM
mercial interests of Europe and Amer
| lea. French wines and brandies were
forced upon the helpless community at
/ the muzzles Of French cannon British
| brewers and distillers left no mar
| ket unexpected. And even America,
| for every missionary sent into the Pa
| eife islands to eivilize and Christianize
| them, sent some thirty thousand gallons
| OF New England rum to impoyerish
| and brutalize them.
| But while the volume and the power
| of the liquor trade were increasing in
the eenters and outposts of commerce
| the character and trend of the business
| were showing UP more plainly and more
| plainly everywhere.
/ For such enlightenment the little
| countries, like Hawaii, where all the
| social machinery could be seen, were
startling object lessons What the
| drink habit would do for a Hawaiian.
| whose mind was uniformed. whose
conscience was undeveloped, and whose
| wall was unframed, was so clear that
| everybody could see and understand it.
Gradually, in every country, thought
| fuf people realized that precisely what
! the drink was doing in Hawaii it was
| doing more and more among the ig-
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 eorrupter of the youth. a vielator
| of the home and a 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 eriminology, without a
return ticket.
1t continues to exist and to thrive.
/ but on terms that no self-respecting
enterprise would accept for 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 a free man;
that as a citizen he is to be suspected
and hampered and watched; that to
| accommodate his output, additional
police and more jail-room viii be re-
quired; 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 bond; that, for
/ the right to call himself business man
among business men, he must pay heavi-
ly, and come up every year like a ticket
/ ofleave man, and submit himself t 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 reeog-
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 guerrillag Of
! indecenev 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
ful. the Hawaiians have been upllfted-
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