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POLICE, THEFT, OPIUM.
Our morning contemporary, tho
Advcrtiscv, makes a bold dash, in
its issue of tho 20th, at the inability
of tho police fotcc to grapple with
the petty stealings which have be
come so rife of late, and says,
among many other timely remaiks,
that the " inefficiency of the police
is a standing reproach to the King
dom. ".Similar observations hive been
made from time to time in the
columns of the Bui.m.tix, and will
likely be found ncccssnry to- repeat
only loo often again. We are always
ready to put in our word in any
agitation raised for the advancement
of the public welfare. There is no
mistaking tho fact that efficiency,
among'lhe police, is in a very sickly
condition. What method of treat
ment is best to revive the apparently
dying energies of the men with the
buttons is a question that ought to
command the immediate attention of
the authorities. It is quite possible
that Honolulu policemen arc very
much like other men. At all events,
it has never yet been proven that in
vestiture with a nickel button is co
incident with a radical change in a
man's character, principles or dis
position. It is not unlikely that
laziness, as well as activity, can
thrive as well under a button as
without one. Nor should it be ex
pected that the piece of nickel plate
is capable of transforming an honest
into a dishonest man, or tho reverse.
It may fairly be accepted as a truism
that a Honolulu policeman's effi
ciency or weakness depends upon
the instructions he receives. It is
utterly useless for the public to
spend their time denouncing police
men. Protests, to be of any avail,
must be made to tell at head
quarters. It is with the masters and
"not the servants the public have to
deal. Full instructions from their
superiors with peremptory orders
to attend to them would wake up
the police force to a realization of the
fact that to earn their pay, they
must work for it. This seems to us
to be the only plain, common sense
remedy that can be effectual. The
men with the buttons arc not so
densely stupid but that they can be
made to understand their duties,
nor are they so reckless of their
own interests as to disobey orders.
The whole matter of police efficiency
thus lies in a nutshell. The men,
not instructed, can well afford to be
ignorant of their duties ; and when
not under specific orders, can sub
sist very comfortably on doing
nothing.
The Advertiser, however, ignores
the fact that police inefficiency is
proof positive of inefficient manage
ment of the force. The taxes paid
by the citizens arc placed in the
hands of the authorities tp be used
by them, among other purposes, for
the maintenance of cood order. And
it is their duty to sec to it that the
money is applied in a manner to
give satisfactory returns. That in
this particular, at least, the manage
ment has proved an egregious failure
is universally admitted. But our
contemporary, instead of going
straight to the mark witli his argu
ments, suddenly flics off at an angle,
and the next place we find him is
floundering in a muddle of reason
ings intended to clear tho way for a
free opium crusade. " Wo blame,"
says our contemporary, "the hypocri
tical law of moral pretense the
anti-opium statute for the utter
demoralization of the whole force."
Wc rather blame tho hypocritical
law of im-moral pretense by which
the actions of persons in authority
winking at violations of the laws,
are governed. Tho anti-opium statute
is one of tho best pieces of legisla
' tion in the Hawaiiau code for tho
protection of tho Hawaiian race
against one of the most ruinous vices
of modern times. It is a statute
which wo are proud to refer to, in
our communications with civilized
nations abroad, as an evidence that
the public sentiment of this King
dom is opposed to the utter demoral
ization of tho people. Suppose the
assertion of the Advertiser were
correct to the letter, that the anti
opium statute is responsible for tho
demoralization' of the polico force,
What then? He must next show, to
make good his demand for abolish
ing the opium law, that tho unre
stricted use of "tho devil's drug"
will not directly and speedily bring
about the utter demoralization of tho
.
Jim injtmni.iiJiiJ"ng
great body of tho inhabitants? If
anti-opium demoralizes hundreds of
policemen, what kind of reform will
it bo to demoralize thousands of tho
native population, and make China
town, now bad enough, a hundred
fold worse? Yet that is precisely
the style of reform that the l'acijic
Commercial Advertiser of Honolulu
proposes to bring about. He will
inspire the hunters with a keener
zest for the chase by going into the
preserves and killing off a pail of
thogamo. lie will doctor the patient's
symptoms and let the disease run
its course only in an aggravated
form. Wc lake no stock in any such
methods. A straightforward and
vigorous administration of existing
statutes, whether against chicken
stealing or opium smuggling, is what
wc believe in, and what we shall
always endeavor to uphold. We
have- no sympathy whatever with the
im-moral pretense that feigns abhor
rence of " moral fraud " with one
breath, and with the next cries out
for a base surrender of one of our
main strongholds of moral preserva
tion. CALIFORNIA TRADE WITH HAWAII.
Tho following table of grain ex
ports from San Francisco to different
countries, the present year, is ex
tracted from the California Export
Journal and shows that Hawaii
stands high among her neighbors
as a customer of the California
farmer:
WHEAT.
Destination. Centals
British Columbia 104
Central America 7,700
Honolulu 3,242
Value.
$ 232
12,230
4,443
52
10
125
128
Japan
Mexico
South America.
Tahiti
33
5
23
107
KLOIIK.
Barrels
British Columbia 1,523
Central America 20,513
China 140,153
Hawaiian Islds 15,200
Japan 0,014
Mexico S3S
New Zealand 120
Panama S,504
South America 75
Tahiti 3,291
BARLEY.
British Columbia 113
Honolulu 21,201
Panama 21
Central America 0
Mexieo 10
Tahiti 1,00S
0,757
130,727
507,333
07,3118
43,133.
4,202
SSI
39,01G
313
14,4S0
9
150
33,031
33
0
51
1,10S
236
218
23
10,1SS
101
210
11
OATS.
Central America
China
Japan
Honolulu
Mexico
Panama
Tahiti
CORN
British Columbia
China
170
147
13
7,002
72
105
13
310
1
23G
410
5
310
2,315
0
112
103
Central America
Honolulu 1,001
Japan 2
Mexico 82
Panama
70
The following is from the San
Francisco Merchant :
Wc arc indebted to the Hawaiian
Consul-General at San Francisco
for further statistics relative to our
trade with the Hawaiian Kingdom,
and they show a marked advance
over the previous returns. The
figures given are the value of the
exports, from San Francisco alone,
for the month of October. They
stand thus:
Value.
Free by Treaty 21 1 ,370 83
Dutiable 14,H4.
11
Free by Civil Code
501 85
Total 8230,S1G 70
Our previous figures showed an
average weekly export trade of
857,000, or an annual total of
nearly S3.000.000. The month of
October gives a marked advance on
these figures, averaging about 801,
000 a week and over 83,000,000 for
tho year. Comparing this with tho
total imports at the Islands during
1884, 81,G0O,O0O, it shows that
nearly seventy percent of their
trade is with San Francisco alone.
This leaves the remaining thirty
percent to be divided among Eastern
and other Pacific ports of the United
States, Great Britain, Germany,
the Colonies, China, France, and
Islands in tho Pacific. This is
plain proof of tho value of this
trade to California.
THE OPIUM QUESTION.
It is nothing to us who may fall
when the opium ring collapses. All
we know is that when tho opium
traffic was legalized before, its vic
tims were counted by hundreds where
now, under prohibition, they nro
only numbered by tens. Then all
nationalities were involved in tho
blighting influcnco of the drug ; tho
natives were being hurried to ruin
by wholesale, and white people were
dropping out of respectable society,
on nil hands, as tho opium habit
rapidly spread and grew. Would
it not be better for tho country to
retain prohibition, oven if u few nro
THE DAILY BULUbiTJUN SUMMAKX 5 UOjNOLiULU, 11. L, MOJNJJAX, JUJJAjjUAmiiJi J, iood.
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corruptly using it to gain wealth,
than that this prolific source of
demoralization and destruction sliould
be brought within comparatively
easy reach of the whole population ?
Furthermore, it is all bosh to contend
that licensing opium would prevent
its being smuggled. With the sale
legalized, the drug would have only
one risk to run, that of passing the
Customs officers, whereas now it is
liablcjfo confiscation wherever found.
Then the legalizing of the traffic in
the article would so promote a de
mand for it, that tho licensed dealers
would reap profits largo enough to
prevent them looking after illicit
competitors. Tlioy would be likely,
besides, on the one hand, to be good
customers of others who imported
opium by the " underground pas
sage," and, on the" other hand,
would find profitable customers for
themselves among hosts of unlicensed
small retailers who would be the
earliest product of a legalized opium
trade.
STATUS OF FOREIGNERS.
A tone of resentment pervades
Government editorials, whenever for
eign interest manifested in national
affairs is mentioned. This must be
put down as one of those modern
mysteries that cannot be solved to
the credit of tho producing agents.
Why the present Cabinet should ar
rogate a superior position over tho
foreign element resident here must
baffic anybody not an expert in the
ways of impudence." The Ministers
stand foreign themselves three to
one in respect of nativity and ex
traction. It is only an impertinence,
coming from that quarter, to insist
that no foreigner should have opin
ions upon national politics until bo
has qualified as an elector of tho
realm. The naturalization process,
in either of its different forms, is
such that the foreigner desirous of
acquiring citizenship has to assume
the risk of rejection upon grounds
other than not possessing qualifica
tions that would give him respect
able standing as a member of the
body politic in his own country.
This consideration presents a humili
ating obstacle to hundreds of foreign
residents who would otherwise gladly
assume the responsibilities of citizen
ship in the nation for so long as
they live within its borders. It is
the nation's loss that so many people
reared under progressive institutions
arc thus debarred from participating
in the privileges of self-government.
However, wc "claim for foreigners
having a stake in the country the
right to hold and express opinions
pertaining to tho conduct of public
affairs. If they have taxation with
out representation, they should have
the exercise of whatever legitimate
influence they may possess in the
community, and the free expression
of their sentiments, by voice or pen,
within proper bounds. As contri
butors to the national wealth, they
have a right to a say in the adminis
tration of tho public revenues, so
far as the individual voice may yield
its quota to public opinion. Bearing
their share of the public burdens, it
is theirs, surely, at least to state
their views regarding the degree or
manner of the levying of tribute.
From the influence foreign resi
dents may possess to operate upon
the powers to which they arc subject,
it would seem to bo very impolitic
to have thorn snubbed by apologists
of the Hawaiian Government, for
venturing to show concern in the
welfare of this country. Most desira
ble is it for this nation, under tho
circumstances in which it is placed,
to be governed in harmony not only
with tho highest indigenous and
adopted intelligence, but also with
the alien product domiciled for
longer or shorter periods within tho
group. By profession the Govern
ment has boastcdly adopted the
King's motto, ", Increase tho Na
tion." Is it in consonance with tho
spirit of that sentiment that the
numerous class of residents, posses
sing tho highest qualities for citi
zenship, who arc making trial of this
kingdom as a place of permanent
abode, sliould bo insulted for ventur
ing suggestions upon the conduct.of
public affairs? Apart from tho im
policy of such it line of tactics, it
does not lie with tho present Cabinet
to hold unnaturalized residents in
such contempt. Tho Ministers make
no scruples about employing alien
writers to set forth their own claims
.. v
S".. .. iJT-i . '.sns'nim'nn H i -1 rn l
a ininijiijiiiiiwu'jr)rla.nHwitui
upon national confidence. Tlioy arc
themselves, by a llircc-fouiths maj
ority, less identified with tho native
race than a great many of the people
whose claims to a voico in nffnirs
they affect to despise. It is doubt
ful if lluccoutof the four members
of the Cabinet arc not destitute of
sufficient patriotic attachment to
hold them In the country after their
deprivation of Office. Scores of
people whom they have the audacity,
by their spokesmen, to taunt with
gratuitous meddling in Hawaiian
affairs, are identified much more
closely with the progress and devel
opment of the nation than them
selves. Not a few forcigncis who
have neglected the national franchise
have yet become linked in even
closer union with the realm by in
termarriage with the native race.
Some have invested fortunes in the
development of local industries, and
liberally bestowed their means upon
the civilized institutions of the coun
try, being especially generous to
those designed for the elevation of
the native race. Is it in the capacity
of the present rulers of tho kingdom
to say that such people as these have
no claim to respect for their views
upon national politics?
Tho Government clacqucrs, how
ever, go even further. They as
sume that the foreign electors
opposed to the Government leave out
of their calculations all regard for
tho welfare of the native clement ;
that their own selfish interests arc
alone sought to bo promoted in
efforts to overthrow the Ministry.
When it is considered that a very
large proportion of the foreign elec
torate is identified with the national
life in similar degree to the class of
non-voters described above, it must
be concluded that the resources of
assurance have been bailkruplcd to
produce such a gratuitous insinua
tion. This conclusion is emphasized
by the fact that foreign gold . pays
the expenses of promulgating those
mischievous assertions, designed to
poison the minds of natives and
simple-minded foreigners against
that portion of the population which
constitutes the mainstay of Hawaiian
civilization, industry, commerce and
general national progress.
" I THANK THEE FOR THAT WORD."
Smarting under the rebuke for its
efforts to sow bad feeling between
natives and foreigners, administered
to it last evening, the Advertiser
flics to refuge in a cloud of rhetoric
this morning. It is very gratifying
to us that one of the results intended
has so speedily followed our re
marks of yesterday. Of course,
when our contemporary could not
face the actual propositions advanced
against its position, it had to adopt
the usual style of tactics relied upon
in that quarter, of misconstruing
tho senso of opponents' language.
Where, for in&tanco, the privilege of
discussing national affairs was
claimed for foreign residents identi
fied with tho country in every way
but citizenship, the Advertiser
makes a different matter of it by
asking: "In what constitutional
country, let us ask, arc aliens per
mitted to control the Government,
direct its policy, and nominate its
members?" Misrepresentation aside,
however, the above is the very ques
tion wo are glad to have tho apolo
gist of the present Government ask.
It is the question the country will
thank it for propounding, but would
bo infinitely more grateful if tho
Government would houcslly answer
it. What constitutional country,
indeed, presents the spectacle of
Hawaii, as regards the origin and
maintenance of its present adminis
tration? To adapt the words of our
contemporary to tho notorious facts
an alien controls the Government
of this kingdom, directs its policy,
and nominates its members. An
alien had a preceding Cabinet
aroused from their slumbers in the
dead of night, to hand in their re
signations at his peremptory dicta
tion. An alien hawked Cabinet port
folios about Honolulu, and with
difficulty could get them accepted
by men who would be subservient to
his will, or would enter the company
in which he proposed to place them.
An alien imported his private attor
ney, had him manufactured, without
waiting for live years' domiciliation,
into a Hawaiian citizen, and hoisted
him into tho position of law adviser
to tho Crown, where ho could rcpre-
iPipfryy nipr
. fs1
sent tho said alien as
"tho power
behind the throne." An
alien has,
throughout the tenure of that Cabi
net of his handiwork, to the picscnt
moment, directed tho policy of this
kingdom in every pmlicular wherein
it had near or remote lclnlion to his
private interests. That alien's dic
tatorship shows symptoms of soon
being overthrown, hut a quarter of
u century hence will not witness tho
iiation freed from the burdens which
it hnd imposed. " hi what constitu
tional country," indeed, "arc aliens
permitted to control the Govern
ment, direct its policy, and nominate
its members?" The Hawaiian King
dom is the only one known to this
deponent and probably to the Ad
vertiser. ' MENTORS.
Before proceeding any further in
the discussion of the rights of aliens,
with the Advertiser, we should bo
pleased to have our morning contem
porary inform the Buixi:tin who arc
" its political mentors," and show
what tho awkward position is in
which he alleges the Bulm:tik has
been placed. The postion of this
paper maybe a little "awkward"
from the standpoint of public jour
nalists whoso breath is not their
own, but who, by the nature of their
position, arc obliged, whether they
like it or not, to laud every act of
the Government to the skies. Tho
"awkward" position of advocating
measures, not men, is one that the
BuLr.KTix hones always to maintain
in the politics of. this Kingdom.
However incomprehensible this posi
tion may be to the understanding of
our contemporary, it is sufficiently
well understood by the public. Willi
respect to men or "mentors," it is
a matter of supremo indifference to
us whose names arc to be handed
down to posterity as the successful
inaugurators Of the various public
improvements and reforms advocated
from time to time in our columns.
A WORD TO THE WISE.
The die from which the political
history of the British Empire will
probably take its impress for the
next parliamentary period, has, by
this time, probably been struck. Tho
first question answered when the re
sult of the elections is made known,
is, Who shall bo the leaders of the
government? The answer under
this head will also involve cither ap
proval or disapproval, by the con
stituencies of the kingdom, of tho
policy of tho present administration
as well as thai of its predecessor.
The fate of General Gordon, and
the Afghan diplomatic negotiations
would have had their full share of
attention and would no doubt have
had considerable weight in the deter
mination of the popular verdict on
the foreign policy of tho Gladstone
administration. Ireland's affairs
and tho attention paid to them would
bo the loading matter on which the
record of the domestic policy of the
Liberal administration would be
tested. The new question confront
ing English statesmanship is that of
church disestablishment. The tre
mendous success of the Free Church
of Scotland which separated from the
stale church in 1813, the disestab
lishment of the Irish Church by Act
of Parliament in 1871, and the great
expansion which various dissenting
religious bodies havo reached both
in and out of England, have had a
rcllcx influence on public opinion,
tho inevitable consequences of which
must bo the dissolution of all con
tracts between Church and State in
the British Islands. The great diffi
culty, nt latest advices, seemed to
bo whether the curtain sliould bo
raised at once on tho second act in
the programme of disestablishment,
or whether tho audience will bo com
pelled to wait "a litllo longer."
The campnign, at latest dates, was
progressing vigorously. Great meet
ings to hear political issues discussed
were being held at every important
point in tho Kingdom. The speak
ers were eagorly watched by the
press, and their views thoroughly
ventilated. The orators in the politi
cal campaign presented themselves
before their rcspoctlvo audiences
witli a full consciousness that tlioy
were speaking in the hearing of the
whole nation. An English election
is a great constitutional battlo a
war of opinion a field of bloodless
btrifo on which tho fato ofnations is
often decided. Tho intimate and
complex iiaturo of tho relations
a f
- If
existing between tho English Cab
inet and every state under the sun
gives tho issuo of the struggle a.
world wide interest.
A tremendous responsibility is
thai of tho English voter. He has
in his hands what the Hawaiian
voter has not, the power of making
or unmaking the advisers of the
Crown. Whatever verdict tho na
tional jury renders, it will be final.
And it will be acted upon forthwith.
Ministers will know, the instant the
votes arc counted, whether they are
or are not ministers any longer.
Not so with the Hawaiian voters,
however. Be they honest or dis
honest in the casting of their ballots,
be they determined as grim fate that
the ministry shall hold on to the
reins of slate, or drop them ; the
verdict will be woith just the waste
paper value of tho ballot cards;
that and nothing more. Tho .
grand difference between an Eng
lish or American and a Hawaiian
election is that the one is what it
purports to bo, a choice of officers
to navigate the ship of stato for a
definite period of lime ; the other is
what it docs not purport to be, a
farce a mere mimicry of consti
tutional methods a popular abor
tion, inasmuch as the representatives
elected have no more voice in the
composition of the administration
than Ihcy have in the development
of species. The English elected M.
P. knows that he counts one in the
appointment of the crown ministers ;
the Hawaiian minister knows that no
M. P. exercises any power ovor him.
Instead of hot agitation of minor
questions of state policy, the great
matter before the people of this
Kingdom is to secure a really con
stitutional government and legisla
ture, a government in which "the
King can do no wrong," but which
will make the crown ministers di
rectly responsible to the legislature,
and which will substitute for that
portion of the legislature which is
now made up of sheriffs and other
nominees of tho Cabinet, a body of
men representing their constituen
cies. This is tho first object to
which any measure of reform worthy
of the name must be directed, if it
will be effective and permanently
useful. And this once secured, a
progressive and enlightened policy
that will consolidate institutions of
civilization at home, and establish
the credit of the Kingdom abroad,
will follow in due course and with
infallible certainty.
POSTAL SAVINGS BANKS.
A Pennsylvania paper adduces
the failure of savings banks, with
widespread loss to depositors, in that
State, as an argument for the insti
tution of national savings banks in
connection with the postal system.
Tho plan had been recommended by
nearly every Postmaster - General
since 1870, and a bill establishing
the system wa3 favorably reported
by Congress in 1882, but failed to
reach a final vote. Consolation for
tho delay in establishing the system
in the United Statc3 is obtained
from the fact that the matter was
agitated for more than half a
century in Great Britain before it
was taken hold of by Parliament.
Such a parallel, however, would
never bo accepted as an excuse by
business men, for the failuro of
American manufacturers to take ad
vantage of an important mcohanical
invention, onoo its utility had been
proved in another country. As to
tho undoubted success of the insti
tution in Great Britain the following
statement is given in the paper above
referred to :
"Savings deposits were first re
ceived at the post office of the
United Kingdom September ICth,
1801, and on that day 435 accounts
were opened, and 43.r deposits made
amounting to 81,130.57, an average
of slightly over 810 each. In fifteen
months tho deposits had swollen to
G49.21G, aggregating 810,298,438.
03, and at the close of 1880 there
were 2,184,972 pass-books, repre
senting deposits to the credit of de
positors of 8101,330,382.19. That
tho arrangement is mutually benefi
cial to the Government and to the
depositors there is now no question
in tho minds of the British people."
It is tho part of true statesman
ship in any country to avail itself of
economic experience wherover that
may bo found in any matter of polity
wherein a need for action arises.
Tho copying of legislation by one
nation from another is very com
mon, and once a problem has been
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