Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1914-07-06

sufficiently informed 10 appreciate the
! raisOn d'eue Of most Of the statute
laws and are deficient in the habit OF
putting these rights to practical &c.
count It Is owing 10 this circumstance
that, living as they do, under a cOnsti-
tutiOnal government, they often tO?eT.
ate and even indulge in unconst:tutiOn,
al antics.
! MasterfuI and Adroit
! Okuma is as masterfu as he is
adrOit. He has both the power and
{ the tact TO led his followers not only IN
days CT victory but in time OF disaster.
His audaCity is such that he is never
afraid OF driving his chariot OF state
, over rough and umtried roads. Though
! - years OF age, he is yet perfectly
I sanguine OF his ability 10 grappIe with
! the greatest problems which the EN-
| pire OF Nippon has Yet been confront
+ cd by. Tall and we'll built. he looks
scarcely older than a man in his fiji
ties. He says he is not going to die
before he ce!ebra es the l20th year of
his birth. and he is quite earnest about
any man, as optimistic and as strictly
Observing the rules Of hygiene as he
does, can live at least 120 years.
Just how firm his determination is
TO carry out his cherished political
ideas may be judged from his state
ment issued to the press upon his &C
CeptanCe OF the premiership a few
weeks ago. Judged from its person
mel. the Okuma cabinet may seem TN:
any defect, are due to unavoidable
circumstances. AS the old aGage says,
there is no weak soldier under a
strong general. Whatever may be the
personnel of the cabinet, pleas re
member that this is an Okuma cabi-
net. Nothing has so much impeded
the progress Of the constitutional gov
eminent Of Japan as the bureaucracy.
When the bureaucracy joined hands
with political parties, Its evils became
greater than ever. l have been out of
office for more than ten years. and |
resume the premiership with a view
to purging the government OF the evils
of the bureaucracy.
Difficulties of Okuma Cabinet
The Okuma Cabinet Will have no
snOotH sailing. Far from it. it will
have to engineer the ship of state
over seas rent by storm and streWn
with reefs. ~ Count Okuna heads a
coalition of minor political groups
which are opposed to the Constitu-
tiOnalists, the majority party. Out, of
h. 4nl g. =
of Representatives. the Constitutional
lists claim 1879 seats, leaving 1872 to
the other political factions which are
more or less opposed to the bureauc-
latS with which the ConstitutiOnalists
are at present in alliance. Even pre-
Stunning that Count Okuma is able to
rally under his standard all the minor
factions, his forces in the lower house
will be smaller than those of the Con
stitutional PARTY. And it is rather
doubtful that Okuma will succeed in
uniting all the smaller political groups
under him. Some of such factions may
cast their lot with the Constitutional
lists instead.
And yet there is no doubt that Oku-
ma is exceedingly popular among the
masses. Indeed no cabinet, which has
i been organized in the past score of
years, is so popular as the Okuma
cabinet. And Okuma knows it, Should
the Constituencies attempt to de-
feat him in the lower house, he will
no doubt dissolve the parliament and
will ask the people to support him in
the general election that must follow
the dissolution
Will Cleanse Navy.
Most important in the political pro-
gram which Okuma promises to carry
out during his tenure of office is the
cleansing Of the navy, the corruption
of which has been reported in a SEN
sational manner. Then he is pledged
10 the abolition of red tape with a
view to increasing official efficiency.
He will try to retrench armament, and
thus tighten the burden of taxation
which the war with Russia inevitably
placed upon the shoulders of the peo-
pie. What is more important. he will
attempt to break the wall OF bureauc-
racy behind which the government has
long entrencked itself, and thus infuse
the spirit of democracy into official
dom.
Perhaps the American people are
more directly interested in Okuma's
foreign policies than in the internal
reform which he will undertake. Oku-
mas attitude towards the United
States has been greatly misunderstood
Many newspapers have gone so far as
to dub him lingo" 1t is unjust to
EeStOw the odious name of lingo"
upon a statesman who simply demands
a fair and just treatment OF his ma
tiOnals abroad Count Okuma is far
from being a lingo and is a world
statesman in the true sense Of the
term. His political views are foun led
upon a broad survey Of world condi-
tiOns. In this age of human solidarity
and Of close relationship among ma
lions. no nation can. he asserts, formu
late its policies without considering
the welfare of other countries.
Amsrican-Japanese Question.
The veteran statesman is an ardent