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THE MAUI NEWS, SATURDAY, AUGUST 28, 1915.
THE MAUI NEWS
Entered at the I'ost Ollice at Wailuku, Maul, Hawaii, as second-class matter.
A Republican Paper Published in the Interest of the People
Issued Every Saturday.
MAUI PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED,
Proprietors and Publishers
Subscru'Tion Ratus, $2.50 ter Year in Advance.
KAHULUI RAILROAD CO'S
1
WILL J. COOPER,
EDITOR AND MANAGER
erchandlse Department
SATURDAY,
AUGUST 28, 1915.
THE CASE OF A DESERTER.
2
M
lu n a man in civil life gets tire-J of his job he can quit it, and
the employer cannot prevent him. If he is under contract, the employer
may institute action for damages in the courts. It is purely a civil mat
ter, and in no sense a criminal one. But if the employe is working as a
soldier for Uncle Sam, and grows tired of his job and quits, the army
code brands him as a criminal of deepest dye, and punishes hiin, if
caught, with years of degrading imprisonment at hard labor.
And yet both cases are essentially the same. The man is either a
blackened criminal in the fust instance, or lie is not in the second. When
a soldier deserts his quarters in time of peace, he has injured no one
by that act to greater extent than the problematical money value that
his training has cost the government. He might be morally culpable to
that extent, and no more.
Bernard esslcr was arrested in Wailuku this week as a deserter.
He has been taken to Honolulu in custody, and a reward of $50 will be
paid some one for his recovery, lie will be given a trial before a court
composed of officers of the regular army (not his "peers"), and when
he is declared guilty a sentence will be prescribed that a civil tribunal
could impose only in cases of felony. Should it happen that the court
martial is inclined to leniency oi Recount of his previous good record,
or because of his new wife, or some other circumstance, it will be by
favor, and not by any right he may possess under the articles of war.
A man when he enlists in the army loses his rights under the Consti
tution. The Constitution of the United States provides that: "No person
shall be held to answer for a capital or otherwise infamous crime, un
less on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases
arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual ser
vice in time of tear or public danger, '." and it further provides that :
"In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a
speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district
wherein the crime shall have been committed, " But grand juries
don't have any part in the cases of soldiers, nor do trial juries sit on
such cases.
This is but a single phase of the obnoxious despotism of all armies
which has more to Uo with the opposition to the enlargement of our
own defense establishment than probably any other thing. The people
instinctively fear the autocratic rule of the military, and resist it for that
reason. I lie army ot the United States can never be a popular institu
tion until it is built over again from the ground up, and founded, not
upon mediaevel feudal ideas, but upon the real American idea that a
man is a man, be he soldier or civilian.
8 tt
the McGregor's jvharp question.
McGregor's Landing has been condemned and closed by the board
of harbor commissioners. The last legislature appropriated $10,000 for
repairing this wharf. The Governor, it is said, and the majority of the
members of the harbor commissioners are understood to have been in
favor of making the necessary repairs. The Inter-Island Company wants
to use the wharf, and does not want to make landings at Kihei. The
people of Maui, as always, are divided on the matter. Last week a
petition signed by many residents of central Maui, particularly those
living at I'aia, Kahului, and l'uunene. as well as bv the residents of the
Kihei and Kula districts, was sent to the harbor board, protesting against
the expenditure of the appropriation for McGregors. Some letters, it
is understood, have been written by prominent W ailuku citizens, urg
ing that this work be proceeded with at once.
I his in short, is the situation. It is probable that the steamship
company cannot be compelled to use Kihei after its mail contract ex
pires, and there is strong probability that it will not. That will mean
that Lahaina will be the only point on the leeward side of the island
at which passengers can embark or disembark. And with the restric
tions which the harbor board is trying to impose on the steamship, com
pany it seems quite probable that landings will be made there only under
most lavorable weather conditions.
hat Maui needs is a real ships' wharf at Lahaina, but that is not
possible to get for several years at least. With such a wharf there will
be no real need for a landing at either McGregors or at Kihei to accom
modate passengers and mail while the Kihei landing will always be
available for handling the freight traffic by the freight boats. But in
the interval Maui demands better facilities than Lahaina alone offers
and Aiedregors seems to be the only practicable solution of the prob
lem, ine expenditure ol :?1U,U00 on McGregor s should be considered
as an emergency measure to relieve a serious situation, and is probably
nut too much to pay lor what will be gained. The effort might be made
to force the Inter-Island to use Kihei landing, but the fight would likely
be a long one and in the interval it will be the Maui public that will
sufler. The money for McGregor's is available. Why not spend it
and help out what is at best a bad situation ? The thing not to be lost
sigiu oi, whatever Happens, is that Lahaina must have a wharf. That ;
the thing that all Maui should stand united upon.
U tt
LIMITING THE CIVIC CONVENTION.
Kauai is entirely justified in limiting the attendance at the Civic Con
ention to the number she has accommodations for, but nevertheless it
again raises the question ol holding the conventions every vear in Hono
lulu in the future. The matter was discussed during the Maui meeting
laM year, but it was thought that the convention would soon lose its
interest to the islands generally, were this done. We do not believe
that would necessarily follow, while on the other hand there is a real
danger that by limiting the attendance to ten or a dozen from each island
the greatest good possible will not be attained from the meetings. Maui
was obliged to fix a limit on the attendance of last year, and probably
would again ; but the idea is not right. The more citizens that can be
interested in these gatherings the greater value will come out of them
And the best way to stimulate this interest in to get people to attend
i a u h ii
Xo one can properly object to the police force doing its duty. There
is just grounds for a kick when it does not. Even the several dozen auto
speeders lined this week had no serious fault to find with the enforce
ment oi the law which cost tlu-in a live spot each. What they did object
to was its long non-enforcement. Sheriff Crowell indicates that it will
not be sale at any time herealter to try to beat the traffic laws. We hope
it w ill not. This doesn't mean that some of the present speed regulations
should not be amended. But the police haven't anything to do with
that it s up to the supervisors.
W tt
ho's to blame when the chairman of the board of supervisors and
a preacher get pinched lor speeding.''
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DEALERS IN
Lever Handle Stop Cocks,
SIZES, A" to 212" INCLUSIVE.
Square Head Stop Cocks,
SIZES, to 2H" INCLUSIVE,
Check Valves
SIZES, Vs to 3" INCLUSIVE.
Globe Valves,
SIZES, Vsn to 3" INCLUSIVE.
Telephone No. 1062
Kahului, Maui, T. H.
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