Evening star., 1932-02-28
BY RUSSELL OWEN.

BY Gable to The Star.
HONOLULU, February 27 (N.ANA).
Recent assaults on white women in
Honolulu and the murder of Hawaiian
which followed are the inevitable result
Of conditions brewing in the Island of
Oahu for years. There was time when
any white woman was safe in any part
of the islands, and so long as she uses
ordinary discretion she is still as safe
as in any American mainland city.
But with growing list of sex crimes
over a long period, an indifferent and
inefficient police force and all the COM
plications of politics which made them
inefficient, it was only a matter of time
when a prominent white woman would
be attacked.
The complex social, racial and politi-
cal entanglementS of these islands are
almost incomprehenSible to an outsider
In polyglot community where power
is held by few men, where money has
been made easily and there is natural
tendency to let things slide. is found a
bewildering diversity of thought and
opinion on recent occurrences.
Public Opinion Aroused.
The only unanimous feeling seems to
be righteous indignation which has at
last been aroused, and a determination
to clean up Honolulu without help from
the mainland. Not onlv does this arise
from the natural revolt of people who
have demanded for years a more severe
enforcement of law. but also Hawaii has
been Inundated. pocketbooks have been
hit and business has suffered.
In few weeks greater efforts have
AAAy Iz - I.
than in all the previous years of the
territory's existence. The passage of
bills affecting the Police Department
and the prosecutors Office, the death
sentence for rape, and the definition
of the lettering law have been accom-
panied by the drafting of able men
determined to clean house Immediately.
True, the fear of congressional inter
ference. of investigation from the main
land, has been a factor in this action.
but so drastic has been the demand of
public opinion that any measures
would probably have gone through
the Legislature in order to pacify an
outraged people
The attitude of the better element
here, whether "Haoles." as the whites
are called Hawaiians, japanese. Chinese,
or other races, has been one Of abhor-
renee toward sex crimes. The news
papers for years have been full of
editorials and letters denouncing the
apathy Of the police and those holding
public Office who had it In their power
to curb crime.
Deplored by All Races.
It is said that among some races
there has been tolerance of some sex
crimes, and that statutes founded on
the laws Of Moses are hardly suited
to govern an Oriental people. However
that may be, there is no conformation
of rape by the majority of any group
in this cosmopolitan community.
1t Is impossible to understand how
the present situation came about with
out examining. at least specifically
the political alignment in the islands
and the source of political power.
Despite the large influx Of Orientals
in recent years the voters are still pre-
doninantly Hawaiian. The only figures
available sho wthat the Hawaiian vote
increased tremendously from 1902 to
1926, and that although the Haole and
Chinese vote, and lately the japanese
vote, have also increased, Hawaiian in
huence is still predominant.
AS a result majority Of Offices have
been held by Hawaiians and the police
force has been one of the rewards for
political service. BY nature indolent
and carefree, the Hawaiian is, perhaps,
the last person in the world to make
good policeman. unless ruled by the
strictest discipline, and discipline In
Honolulu has not been strict. The Ha-
waiian policeman is adaptable, but has
never been taught what to do. There
are many good men on the force.
Used Blacksnake Whips.
There has only been one sheriff in
recent years who has tried to clean up
the street gangs, out of which grow
assaults on women and girls, and he
did it with blacksnake whips, much in
the manner in which New York police
men years ago cleaned up the street
thugs with nightsticks and fists. 1t
worked but for other reasons he was
not kept in Office. incidentally, he was
an Hawaiian, and was unique in his
energy and courage in putting down
this kind Of crime.
During all the years this situation
has been brewing the territorial Off
GERS, from the Governor down, have
pursued hands-of policy, having felt
they could not interfere too much in
local affairs. The city and county at
torneys-city and county officials are
one in Honolulu-have tried at times to
clean up gambling and the gangs, but
never have been able to get evidence
to convict
The gangs Of Honolulu are not gangs
as they are known on the mainland.
They do not fatten on protection to
bootleggers and speakeasies, or by in
timidating business men. They are
street corner loafers, toughs who have
nothing to do, and who with the aid of
a stolen car and some "oke"-the local
f1rewater-stir up all sorts of rows.
There have been frequent street
fights in the past between such gangs
and men of the military services, and
when they have nothing else to do they
fight each other. They are of every
race and every possible mixture of the
island races. And it is by them that
most Of the crimes against women have
been committed, although few Of the
most atrocious have been by escaped
convictS.
Learned Foreign Ways.
Going back through the local news
paper files 1t is obvious that the con-
dittons which temporarily robbed Ha-
vail OF its reputation for tropical peace
have existed for years. 1t Is equally
true that the Hawaiian has learned his
bad ways from his white cousins. One
of the first laws ever passed in Hawaii
was to protect Hawaiian girls from
white men.
In the days Of their primitive inno-
cence Hawaiians gave little heed to
moral conventions as We know them,
but despite naive social behavior among
themselves, and assaults by white men
on native women, there was no tendency
by the Hawaiians to attack white wom-
en- during all the early years of the
settlement. and even in the first days
of Territorial control. The late Lor-
rim A. Thurston, owner of one of the
local papers. once wrote:
In the early days before Honolulu
was civilized my grandfather, Judge
Andrews, lived up Nuuanu Valley op-
posite the royal mausoleum. The fam
lily Of DR.. Judd, another of the old