The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-05-23

v, MAY g, tgii -SkMi.WHl
.e,..'e'.....'s.H .sa.a.l.'.si..
run their political aaaifs 81 ihe iaiof
etis 20 hpuesl government and clean
puliNcf has given the common
people as pretty nn exhibition OF tdif.
ty politics "a this Territory. ar hny
community hna ever seen. an che while
Mppcriticaily protesting 10 lend itsclf
% ihe worthy object OF free. full. and
fair discussion The Civic Federation.
having allowed two of She few sneak
err 10 urge The Mahuha site. while Of
She other two speakers. one WIS nee.
cssarily neutral and the other practical
" neutral, might In fairness have Kept
its own implied promise of neutrality
and allowed az least one speaker for
the 5000 petitioners. Tho fact. III the
writer Is correctly informed. that nc.
quest Of one Of the leaders Of the 5000.
for representation In the list Of speak.
ers, was denied, would seem further
justification for chnracterizing those N
control Of the Civic Federation as per.
-vorters Of the supposed principles Of
that body. Save for the few favorable
words when President Gniiths spoke in
introducing the speakers, the other par
ties in interest were left without a
champions
The signers "don't know their own
minds Let's keep TO the point
whether the site proposed is the best
site. We didn't know our minds, should
better be said, but we do now; or, our
minds haven't changed but conditions
have.
Good Practical Reasons.
"The chamber of commerce and mer-
chants association favored the Fort
street condemnation. Now, some are
in Doubt imagine because of senti-
ment in favor of those who lose prop.
erty.p What the merchants associa-
tion and the chamber of commerce
think is, in any event, only persuasive
the views of men of more than ordi-
nary intelligence and experience. lead
ers in the community, but those whose
views, for or against any proposition,
must be measured with allowance for
their selfish interests. But, as TO the
direct question of sentiment: it is not
necessary to predicate sympathy for
the Fort street landholders upon any
consideration of sentiment, when there
are other good, practical reasons at
hand. We decline to accept as the
moving reason of the 5000 the sym
pathy which the speaker kindly ascrib-
ed to the two commercial associations.
The chief reason for wishing to see the
Fort street buildings remain, is an
economic one: Why force pure econo-
mic lossq Why should the government
be compelled TO spend 100000 or per
haps $500 900 for the Fort street prop
erty, a large part of which it has
forthwith TO destroy, absolutely with
out return7 Such initial payment
means just so much money rendered
unavailable for other use in the mat
ter of building and site-for the nm
derstapding of the writer is that the
attitude of the treasury department
is to cut down the expense of the
building to meet the additional expense
of site which would be made neces-
sary by the Fort street extension. At
all events, why destroy property, and
put the Fort street people to the trou
BILE and expense of rebuilding and NOV
ing. when a site which 5000 citizens,
including many of our most intelligent
leaders in adj walks of life, regard as
the best site is availablef
Chance for Economy.
Right there is a good place to dis
pei the alarm over the feared economy
of a Democratic congress in the mat
ter Of appropriation. If the Democrats
want to be economical, they can save
the government 100000 to 100000
by cutting out this Fort street con.
domination, and afford to put an extra,
100000 into identifying the building.
We may, also, here question whether
there is any necessity for the Demo
cratic congress taking any action at
all. But despite the suggestions to the
contrary, there need be no fear of 'flos-
ing the whole thing, if we don't stop
knocking the Mahuka site" Ito use
the words Of another than the speaker).
The appropriation for the federal build
ing is a separate appropriation. with.
out any condition as to location; and,
some suggestions to the contrary not.
withstanding, the appropriations for
site are also wisely left united so far
as location is concerned. Though the
appropriations were made with the Ma
huka site in view, there seems no doubt
Of the proposition that having been
expressly made as unconditional appro.
priations, they may be applied in any
manner for any purpose within the OBJ
ject of a federal building, and would,
undoubtedly, be applied as a consider
able majority of the people desire.
The Grand Central Railway Station
in New York City is hardly a helpful
example in solving the question. Why
shouldn It that station be left right
where it isl The building and tracks
and a large body of land are already
there. A railway depot and courthouse
are not comparable at all--one is of
necessity a place of noise, so a noisy
central site is immaterial. But in case
of a courthouse, if centrality without
noise can be had, it should be secured.
1t is not intended that the speaker
urged a noisy site, but he used the exs
ample of the Grand Central depot, and
we use the example with all its Incl.
dents to show its happiness.
In citing the extension of the Grand
a.. D. IL