The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-11-29
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that any such pretended law so passed
is not binding on any court or in
dividual. If our Legislature could not
make such a law, ii necessarily fol
lows that the banana-cutting regulation
of our idiotic Board of Health De-
stroyers has no more legal force than
the barking of a NANCY yellow dog.
/ l have lived goodly number of
ry I have lived in several different
States of the American Union, but
never before lived where peaceable
and law-abiding people were abused
and insulted and robbed and had their
homes burned over their heads and
! their bananas cut down in the name
/ of Law and Health My hair is now
white, but this is the first time that
! was ever summoned to appear as
criminal in any court. Today | am
here on trial for the AWFUL, SHOCK
/ ING, hitherto unheard-of crime of
keeping and maintaining banana
trees" within one hundred and fifty
feet of a dwelling house, and within
five miles of the harbor of Honolulu.
L have pleaded mot guilty" I never
had banana tree | never saw one.
There is no such thing in nature as
a banana tree" | have, though, per
haps four hundred banana plants, and
with Gods help intend to plant more,
and ali the fools in Honolulu can not
prevent my doing so.
/ Every man who plants and cult
Yates bananas on these islands is
public benefactor. Every man who
sanctions their destruction is either 4
fool, 4 villain, or on insane person
Instead of being menace, the banana
promotes the health of ibis communi-
ty, or did until our insane Board Of
Health Destroyers cut down the beau
tiful plants and filed the city, as they
are now trying to fill the sea, with
rotting and disease-breeding rubbish.
The banana plants lessen the mos
quito plague by giving shelter to thou
sands of harmless lizards which de-
stroy many of the mosquitoes bred in
the Board of Health Destroyers'
swamps. Their leaves purify the air
gas and returning life-giving oxygen.
The banana plants produce, every
month in the year, fruit which scien-
tific authorities say is an almost per-
feet food, and Honolulu is the only
place in the world where a band of
would-be autocrats could be found
mean enough to take the bananas out
of the mouths of hungry children.
In the eyes of the whole civilized
world Honolulu is today disgraced be-
cause our once highlyrespected Gov
ernor, forgetting his solemn oath to
protect the rights of the people, has
allowed himself to be led by the nose
by an ignorant and moneygrabbing
upstart. | heard and took notes Of
! DR.. Currie's testimony in the Mills in
I junction case. According to his sworn
statements he knows no more of ba-.
nanas- and mosquitoes than a school
boy. And vet, on his recommendation,
about twenty thousand dollars of pub
lie money has been squandered to de-
stroy over hundred thousand dollars
worth Of banana plants, mostly the
property of the poor, who, it was
thought, could not help themselves.
1t is an unparalleled outrage in the
name of Law" but without the sha-
dow of legal authority. Our autocratic
would-be rulers have thought them
selves safe in overstepping legal
bounds because they believed that
these poor people of diverse national
tiles could not unite against them. But
nothing unites people so quickly and
thoroughly as the invasion of an enc
my. We have had that invasion. A
great tidal wave of Indignation has
swept over the city which is rising
every hour. 1t may surprise you to
hear it, but there are today in Homo /.
lulu ten thousand people who would
be glad Of a chance to pull on a rope
that would hang the whole banana /.
cutting crew so high that it would
take an airship to rescue them. If
they would regain the respect of this
community and of the world, they
must be manly enough to acknowledge .
their blunder, and honest enough to
reach down into their own well-lined .
pockets and pay for the needless dam
age which they have caused