The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-02-15

courts should still be left appointablc
| by the Governor with the consent OF
the Senate.
Some arrangement as this would
seem to be an essential TO successful
local government and must come
sooner or later in any event 1t would
seem TO be better that il should come
| before the counties have become &C.
customed to such excessive amounts
or revenues as will make 1t difficult
to avoid permanent higher rates of
taxation.
Local Government
The establishment of local govern
ment was one of the most far-reaching
and important governmental changes
ever made in Hawaii. Hitherto the
main question with some has been
how to extend it and with others how
to check it, The question now with
all should be how to perfect it, for
it is here to remain. The County
and Municipal Acts are superior to
many of the older corresponding acts
on the mainland and have been ad-
! ministered on the whole better than
many anticipated, but they fall short
of what they should be and of the
/ best that has been developed in re-
| cent years elsewhere. The proper
development of local government is
question of the people who are the
parties in interest, as distinguished
from the officers and particularly those
who may happen to be in Office for
the time being. The question is not
between the Territorial and the local
governments but between the local
governments and those whose SER
wants they are. The people should
in their own interests insist on the
best for their respective county and
city and county governments.
Selection of Officers.
The old notion that the larger the
number of elective officers the greater
the extent to which the people govern
themselves, has been exploded. A
by the people except in so far as it
is responsive and responsible to the
people. The way to secure that in
the largest measure in local govern
ment is to elect those who determine
policies, namely, the supervisors or
directors, and let them appoint the
officers who are to carry out their
policies, just as is done in business
corporations, to which local govern
ments are usually likened. Otherwise,
there must be friction, lack of coor-
dination, and absence of complete
Responsibility on the part Of any
one.
This is also in the direction of the
short ballot, which is now advocated
by the best thinkers on this subject.
The fewer the names on the ballot,
the more can the voters concentrate
their attention upon them and form
correct judgments in regard to them;
the better or more capable must
nominees be in order to get elected;
and the greater the inducement for
such men to become candidates. Multi
plicity of elective Offices is the delight
and opportunity of the ward politician.
I suggest that the supervisors and
auditors alone be elected, and that
the supervisors be given authority to
appoint all other officers, except the
auditor, who should be independent
of the supervisors.
Election at Large.
One of the features most relied on
for good local government elsewhere
is that of the election of supervisors
at large. The larger the constituency,
the higher in general must be the
ability and character Of a candidate
in order to get elected, and an Off
Ger so elected is apt to regard him
self more els the representative of
the entire county or city and county
and less as the representative of his
particular district. This is one of
the best remedies for ward" and
"porkbarrel" politics. The Super
visors are now so elected in the City
and County of Honolulu. They should
be so elected in the other counties,
except perhaps in the County of Ha-
waii, where four might be elected
from one side and three from the other
side of the island, or three from each
side and one at large, or all might
be elected at large but three be re-
Quired to be residents on one side and
three or four on the other side, al
though this would probably be the
case as a matter of practical opera
ton in any event
Status of Mayor.
Following the analogy of business
corporations, the old dual system of
executive and Legislative bodies in
local governments is Eeing rapidly
displaced by that of a single business
body. The Mayor of the City and
County of Honolulu should be men,
Der of the Board of Supervisors with
a vote and no veto power. Business