The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-03-11
KAUAI IS SATISFIED WITH HER
ANSWER TO LIQUOR QUESTION

The county clerk OF Kauai, Hawaiian,
made statement that puts the blame
for the blind pigs upon the federal gov
eminent. 1.-THE trouble ISL he said.
''that the Japs and Chinese look ON
the possession Of a special internal reve-
nue. tax receipt as q license to sell liq-
uor. l found that several of my own
clients among the orientals had hung
up their special tax receipts prominent
ly and they told me that they had been
told that these gave them the right to
sell. had to warn them that they
were violating the law
The orientals were mistaken, of 4
course, in their statement that any i'm
ternal revenue officer had told them +
that the payment of special internal
revenue tax gave them the right to sell Z
liquor in the Territory, but the mistake h
is not so strange, considering the fact I
that the oriental's knowledge of the
laws and customs of the country in
which he makes the money he sends
home to Japan Is extremely limited.
The Question of Prohibition.
Kauai having solved the liquor prob
lem to her own satisfaction, at least,
! her people are not worrying themselves
1
hibition by act of the legislature. Their
lack of interest in the question amounts
almost to apathy. Ask resident of
the Garden Island what are his. views
on the prohibition question, and he
looks at you in surprised way as If
1t were something he had never stopped
before to consider. But he is willing
to consider it, for the moment at least,
if pressed.
The general belief expressed by those
asked was that Kauai might possibly
at the special election go dry by a very
close vote, but that the other islands,
being less virtuous and more addicted
to booze, would assuredly vote in favor
of retaining their saloons.
There are, however, some reasonably
ardent prohibitionists on Kauai. Rep
resentative Sheldon, for instance. has
always been listed as prohibitionist,
and indeed, he says now that he is In
favor of it. But he also says that he is
not taking any public stand in the mat
ter. 81 may be instructed by my con-
stituents if / go back to the legisla-
ture.' he said, $50 I'm not saying
anything on the prohibition question. y
Mr.. Sheldon's position becomes APP
parent when one considers that Wal
mea is the part of Kauai most liable
! to go against prohibition and is the
district which yields the most convic-
tions for the Illegal sale of liquor.
Commission Bugaboo.
The people are afraid that prohibi-
, tion will lead to government by com
! mission,' said Mr.. Sheldon "And. any
S way, | don't believe that territorial
prohibition will prohibit. Yet, if we
j have federal prohibition. it means that
, congress expresses the belief that we
r are not capable of self-government and
r that the Legislature is incompetent.
a Mr.. Sheldon's position is evidently deli
S cate.
Representative Coney was more out
n spoken. ~ am not in favor of pro-
:, hibition,' he said, "and l shall work
e against it. | do think, though, that
o the present liquor laws should be
f amended to make them more strict and
il to limit the number of saloons. There
d are entirely too many saloons in Homo
/, lulu. Six or eight good ones would be
e enough. And no license should be
t granted to any oriental Mr.. Coney
IS added that he. did not believe that pro-
a hibition by legislative enactment would
y work. 1t would only greatly increase
). the number of blind pigs throughout
e the Islands.
g Sheriff Rice said he did not believe
5. that Territorial prohibition would be
W any good. He, like Representative
ii Sheldon, was of the opinion that the
e revenue officers should not be allowed
to issue special tax receipts to any man
" for the sale of liquor unless the man
10 already had license from the Terri
N tory
If Deputy Assessor Kaulukou is strong
IN ly in favor of prohibition and said that
l. he had SO expressed himself publicly
several times. ''But there are few
others who are taking any stand one
lie way or the other.'' he said, $50 far as
s. any public utteranees are concerned"
a. a. The Original Package.
ID There are seven wholesale liquor
d, places on Kauai, but these are to all
d, intents and purposes retail places.
h, Liquor may not, according to the regu-
K. lations, be drunk on the premises, but
it can be bought in almos. any guam
" tity, no matter how small. The fiction
ie of the original package is carefully
ie treasured, but the original package
in may contain as little as two ounces of
in whisky.
S. What the regulation really accom-
re plishes is to do away with drinking at
es the bar and with treating, the latter
~ probably one of the most detrimental
ic features of the regular saloon. The
re liquor must be taken of the premises
st to be drunk. But of the premises may
be be next door, not five feet away.
An unfortunate feature Of the
IT. "wholesale' selling is that, though q
ey man may not treat or be treated at the
or bar, he may carry away quart or q
IN gallon Of liquor and try TO drink 1t all
he at one time for fear somebody else WI
OF gsI part Of II. or, II be be that way
Id Inclined, he may take II home aud feed
Cd y % minors who would not be able