The Liberal, Volume I, Number 40, 28 January 1893 — STATEHOOD. [ARTICLE]

STATEHOOD.

Thlb LiBERAL ls an advocate of annexation,first, last and all the time. It will not compromise upon this point, but will support the Provisional Government in its every effort to secure that much-to-be-de-sired boon. BUT THE LIBERAL is an annexationist with a condition attached, and that condition is that annexation shall bring us free government. Free government, under the American flag can be obtained only through the medium of Statehood. Any other forms of government under that flag which have been suggested, up to date, are nothing more or less than tyrannies. Of the different forms suggested, other than Statehood, we will speak in another place. Of statehood we affirm that it is the only condition upon which we should set our eyes, that we should ask for and accept nothing else than Statehood. As a sovereign State of the American Union, Hawaii would enjoy a fuller and more real independence than has ever been hers. Hawaiian Independence has hitherto been considerable of a myth. While nominally sovereign, the government has seldom or never been free from the illicit supervision, control or influence of other Powers, or of individuals. Before a particular course could with certainty be decided upon by the Executive or the Legislature, the consent of this banker, the cooccurence of that foreign Minister, the acquiescence of such and such a Consult, or the approval of a foreign Admiral had to be secured. At least such dignataries have been consulted, and their opinions, wishes or protests have cut a much larger figure in our past government than have the wishes of the people of the land. We have been independent only in name, not in fact. We desire to see all these things changed. We advocate for Hawaii a real independence, a genuine political sovereignty in all matters political, and we believe such conditions can be secured only in her capacity as a member in full standing of the family of American commonwealths. We are aware that the enemies of free government, administered by the people through their chosen servants, are urging and will urge all possible, and many impossible objections to Statehood for Hawaii. But those who are at once honest, and informed upon the subject, can easily see that in that direction only lies the true interest of all Hawaiians, which name we use without any restrictive significations as to color or birth place. If we accept the postulate that Lincoln was sound in his eulogy of "a government of the people, by the people, for the people," then we must, to be true to our convictions, endeavor to obtain a government that will embody those conditions. Statehood alone is such a government. There may be different forms of government of the people, but such a government conducted by the people is available from only oen source, which is through the officers selected by the people at the ballot box. Such a government is also a government for the people. Do the opponents of statehood for Hawaii desire anything less than this? If so, they would restrict the right of the people to a voice in the control of their own government. Such a result cannot, we submit, be reasonably asked or expected from the body of the American people. That nation holds free, represnentative government in too high esteem to become a party to the imposition upon Hawaii of a system less liberal than their own. We may look with confidence to the Americans in this matter, provided we shall first have given expression to our desires in the direction referred to. The dual system of government existing in America, where Federal and State Governments. each independent of the other, run side by

side, upon the same territory, and apply to the same people, is too little understood in Hawaii. Were it more perfectly comprehended, it would the more readily gain adherents and champions. Within our present space, at this time, we cannot hope to fully explain the manifold bearings of that system. Suffice for the present to declare that the Federal Constitution, to which all Acts of Congress, and all State constitutions and statutes are subordinate,) is an elaborate and complete guaranty of the civil and religious rights of every man, woman and child under the flag, and those rights cannot be taken away or abridged by the action of any man or body or men under forms of law, whether Congressional or State. But while the Federal government acts upon and controls all matters and subjects submitted to its control, (including the tariff, Custom Houses, Post Office, Indians, Army, Navy, etc.,) it leaves the several States perfectly free and enhampered in their control of their own concerns. Thus the laws pertaining to land, inheritance, elections, commercial obligations, marriage, and nearly all the ordinary matters of life, are left exclusively to the several States within their respective boundaries. Each State has its own Legislature, elected in accordance with its own laws, to deal with local concerns as it shall see fit within the terms of its own, and the Federal consitution. Each State sends two United States Senators to Congress, besides as many Representatives as shall have been assigned to such State by Act of Congress. It will thus be seen that the position of a State of the American Union is one of broad and true independence. That under such a system, as under no other with which we are acquainted, can the political desires of the people be given a wide scope, while the rights and privileges of the individual are protected, by the most absolute guaranties from assault and invasion. To such a system appoint with hope and pride as early prize of Hawaii, if her government and people shall now be true to their own interests; -if they shall "put aside those things which are past, and look forward to those things which are to come," in the spirit of statesmen and patriots. "Who is here so vile, that will not love his country?"