Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-09-20
THE LESSON OF THE CONVENTION

Republicans of Honolulu will 90 into the fall
campaign with ticket that has elements of
much strength and elements of some weakness,
that is on the, whole a strong ticket and that is
just the kind of ticket that was to be expected
under the present system Of nomination by con
yentiGn.
The superyisorial ticket, to which most at
tention was paid during the last few weeks Of
the preconyention work, should lie fairly strong.
lis vote getting ability is going to depend
a good deal on the character Of the cam
plign that will be conducted and the Kind of
men the Democrats put up The ticket Is a bet
ter average ticket than that Of the party two
years ago and the board ought to be better
board than the one Honolulu is just getting rid
Of
The Legislative ticket is a very strong one and
ought TO win hands down. The candidates for
the upper house are men of known ability and
experience and the same is true of practically all
of the candidates for the lower house The leg
islative ticket has both efficiency and yoteget
ting ability.
Col. Sam Parker's strength at the head of the
county ticket is a matter of doubt in certain
quarters and of much confidence in others. Not
a few wise politicians believe that he can beat,
Joe Fern, but this opinion is by no means uni
versalsand Col Parker and his friends will have
to put "a whole lot of energy, persistpncy and
personal work into his campaign. The county.
clerk, county auditor and county attorney ought,
to win with ease and helppull the ticket up bel
sides. The candidate for treasurer will receive
very strong support from the business commu-
nifty az welius in the rank and file Of the voters
but Robert Parker will have his hands full try-l
ing 10 down sheriff Jarrett, and Costa is facing
nearly as hard q Job in the deputy sheriffship
To offset the general strength of the ticket,
there is considerable hard FEELING engendered
because of the powerful Combination that swept
certain candidates REORGANIZATION and crushed
certain others Several good men we're showed
aside ruthlessly by the ihterprecnict combinel
that controlled 200 votes. Such is the case inI
any convention under Honolulu's present sys-l
tenn and such win always be the case under this
system A number of precincts feel that they
we're flattened out simply because they stuck tol
their guns and their own candidates and refused
to trade them off
Yesterdays convention was a pertinent Illus
traitor of both the benefits and the evils of the
convention system. The combination absolutely
dominated the 326 delegates present, and any
counter-program was doomed from the outset
The combination was made possible by trades inI
which some good men we're sacrificed for some
men not so good And that is the evil of the
convention system under the best of manage
ment.
The combination of yesterday secured a gen
orally coed ticket because it was a combination
I'M which were.a number of men of personal in
tegrity and sincerity of purpose. In less scrupu-
lous hands such combination could hardly fail
TO he as dangerous as it would be yindictiye and
corrupt And corrupt combinations are always
likely to be made under the convention system.
The Republican party of the territory has
again pledged itself to pass direct primary law.
That pledge has been violated in the past, but
the shame of the party will be complete if it is
violated again. The direct primary. law will end
the combinations that crush down good men and
elevate poor men, and will give every citizen a
chance to go before the electorate on his merits
and without fear that his own party may knife
him i'm the back.
THE COMMUNITY SCHOOL HOUSE FOR HAWAII |