The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-03-17
LINED UP
AGAINST ISLAND
FIGHT IN HOUSE ALONG LINES
OF sBoTroNAIIsAE AND
KAUAI WINS.
tIrrum wednerday.a Adrertlsrr.l


Cirrm Wednesdays Advertieurl
Yesterday saw tho FIRST line up in
the house and the most bitter fight
along sectional lines which has taken
place in the legislature this session and
the bitterness evolved may be felt for
some time in connection with legisla.
tion.
The fight was over the passage of
the house joint resolution providing for
tax commission composed Of the Pres.
ident of the senate, Speaker Of the
house, chairman of the ways and means
committee Of the senate, chairman of
the finance committee Of the house and
the treasurer Of the Territory.
AS it happens, the President of the
senate, Eric A. Knudsen; George H.
Fairchild, chairman Of the ways and
means committee, and Charles A. Rice
chairman of the finance committee, are
all from the island of Kauai, while the
Speaker of the house, H. L. Holstein,
| is from Hawaii. This leaves only
Treasurer Conkling as representing Ca
hu, which pays more taxes than all the
rest of the islands put together.
Oahu Should Dominate.
The Oahu members did not like this,
and appeared to believe that in the
final recommendations of the commits
sion Oahu might get the worst of it,
while Kauai would continue, as at pres.
ent, to pay less than her share of the
taxes according to the asserted valua-
tions. For this reason the fight was
commenced and was lost by only one
vote-the vote of an Oahu member.
But on the other hand the broad
minded men in the house-.at least from
other islands-assert that this commits
sion is to consider matters which en-
brace the entire Territory and not only
the island of Oahu, and that it would
be impossible for them to be so mar
rowminded as to do an injustice to
Oahu or any other of the islands, for
at any such indication the next legisla-
ture would expose it and the men re-
sponsible would be held to strict ac-
countability.
The commission is to report to the
next legislature and will have the small
sum of $1,000 to spend, for expenses
only.
Representative Cooke first attacked
the resolution from a grammatical
point of view and his amendments to
the United States English was ac-
cepted unanimously.
Fight Begins.
Then Representative Williamson of
the fourth district submitted an
amendment changing the personnel of
the commission to include the chair
man of the judiciary committees of
house and and senate, Representative
Castle and Senator Judd, in place of
the speaker of the house and the presi-
dent of the senate.
Then the food gates of oratory, so
to speak, were loosened and the sparks
and fireworks commenced.
Williamson spoke at some length on
his amendment, stating that there
should be some good lawyers on the
commission. He based his main plea
for change on this fact, although
mentioning the preponderance of the
Kauai representation. He also backed
up another part of his amendment Civ
ing the commission power to subpoena
witnesses.
Defends Commission.
Alfonso of HAWAII defended the reso-
luton as it stood, asserting that the
speaker and president of the house and
senate respectively were competent
men and capable of praeticing law in
the Territory if they desired, while as
matter of fact the commission could
employ counsel if it was necessary,
and he moved the amendment be laid
on the table.
AS this was a test vote it was
watched with interest on show of
hands, the amendments being lost by
vote of fourteen to eleven.
Then the motion to pass the resol1-
tion on third reading was made and
the struggle of the day began.
Representative Correa stated that he
had served for three terms in the house
and each time he noticed that the joint
resolution always provided for the
members from the other islands to
serve. Then he proceeded TO call at
tention to the fact that this resolution
provided for three from Kauai and one
each from Hawaii and Oahu, the latter
being treasurer Of the Territory, who
only serves by virtue of his office.
equal Justice"
ftI am for equal rights and / want
to see equal justice done,'' cried Cor.
rea, "and when 1 don't see it / am
willing to fight for it. +"
Correa s speech cleared the atmos-
phere, made everyone sit up and
focused the fight down to the real
issue.
Representative Sheldon said it GER
tainly was a question of justice, that it
was time for the people as a whole to
act and not a. question of Kauai or of
Honolulu, but a question of getting
something tangible to act upon. The
people should act and not be narrow in
their action.
Then he referred to the fact that one
Of the men named in the amendment
had acted on a former commission and
nothing had been accomplished. He