Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 176, 21 April 1891 — Page 4

KA LEO O KA LAHUI.

"E Mau ke Ea o ka Aina i ka Pono."

 

 

Answer of the "Leo" to Bystander.

 

  The first assertion of the "LEO" in answer to "Bystander" is that we do intend to stand by our principles, such as were expounded in our previous article, "Justice and Equality versus Color and Party," and we think that none of the weak arguments added by  "Bystander" can prove any contradiction or flaw in our position, provided that the facts are viewed in their proper light.  "Bystander" we regret to say, on the contrary, distorts the facts, or starts on side issues to suit his purpose, as we propose to show by following his argument section by section.

  1.  The case of Mr. Thrum-and not Oa@ as we inadvertently had it-from what "Bystander" himself states, is most clearly and undeniably a case of color discrimination coupled with party favoritism, (and the wrong party at that), just such as our article meant to protest against.  Of course, the fact that he was born here does "not operate against him," but his being a white man is really the only reason why he should have obtained $125 for exactly the same work that his Hawaiian predecessor did sucessfully for $75, and we claim that the difference in salary is not the measure of difference in ability," not even in the "opinion" of the P. M. General, who is at any rate, is a very poor judge of merit, except of being subservient.

  Mr. Hart did the same work for several years at $75; if the work was worth more, why did he not get more? We say, because he was a Hawaiian.  If his low salary was a "measure" of his competency, then why was he retained so long and only when he had proven his capacity and honesty was he kicked out of office, and ecause he was not servileas he was wished to be?

  Mr. Thrum never belonged to the National Party, no more than the P. M. G.; as a party measure then, in the spirit of the revolutionary Reform faction, Mr. Wundenberg ought to have been dismissed from his office long ago, yet he is still there stubbornly maintained by the very man who was supposed to be the leader and exponent of the National Party and principles.  Mr. Thrum ought never to have been appointed unless no competent man could have been found among the native or foreign members of the National Party.

  Therefore, this case only proves two things, that the natives employed by governement are forced to work for starvation wages, such as no decent foreigner would sell his talents for; second, that Hart, the native, being dismissed because he belongs to our Party, and the whiteman chosen because he does not, we are justified in asking whether that is the justice we ought to expect from a Cabinet who assumes National tendencies, and whether the case is not one of discriminating favoritism? Thus, in spite of Bystander's contradiction, there is no "mis-statement" in our article on this first point.

  II.  In this section, we first claim that there has never been in this country a case when any government office ever went "a-begging"; "Bystander" must personally know better and ought to vouch @a@e from experiences that, for every vacant office in the kingdom, there are always dozens of applicants; Bystander therefore wilfully falsifies the facts, in order to make a point against the LEO, and he is just as incorrect in talking about Mr. G. W. C. Jones, who he calls Potter's predecessor in the Board of Health, and of whom he says was a "most popular man with and considerate of the rights of Hawaiians"; Mr. Jones'native name suffices to show what his popularity is; morevoer, if that nickname was not explicite enough, it will suffice to note that Mr.Jones belongs to the Revolutionary Reform, who never was friendly to the natives; and no man will ever be popular with the Hawaiians, who once affiliated to that political party, the party who inscribe race and color discrimination in their Constitution, by giving indiiscriminately to foreigners of Caucasian origin rights which did not belong to them and are not allowed foreigners in any other country, whilst at the same time ignoring the Asiatics and curtailing the inherent rights of the natives of their own land, in patriam suam!

  Therefore, this statement, as every other one hitherto made by Bystander, is incorrect, and further more, the case of Jones, is clearly a side-issue entirely foreign to the subject and to our article.  At this point, we shall note that we were not aware and do not believe that Mr. Potter "resigned by order, specially to make room for a native."  If he did resign "by order," tthen he was dismissed; but if he was dismissed from one department, by what mystery has he been taken up into another department? How can he be at the same time "unfit" here and "able" elsewhere? And how is that a subaltern officer like the Secretary of the Board of Education, should have assumed such a grave responsibility as to take up into public service a man just dismissed from another brance, and presumably for good cause? Is it not because Mr. Smith knew that Mr. Potter was a particular favorite of the President of his Board.-although he absent,-or because Smith and Potter belong to the same clerice-political party? Or both reasons?

  And very strange to say, Bystander carefully avoids to tackle the question of why should Potter be allowed one-fifth more salary than his predecessor; but at any rate,-does not this case point out to glaring favoritism and to undue protection from the reform party all the way through? Could not a competent man be found among the teachers or among the adherents of the national party, to fill the vacancy at the Board of Eduation? As for Hon. Smith being "a special friend to the native people," that is all @ot, Mr. Bystander, for we all know what salaries Mr. Smith gives to native teachers and also that he is justly detested by all the teachers in the Kingdom, who fear his petty tyranny and his antiquated narrow notions.  Mr. Smith ought to have joined his friend, Wundenberg in sweet retirement, had there been any justier in the administration, but this, dear Bystander, is another of your side issues.  quite foreign to the pretended "misstatements" of the LEO, you so quixotically endeavored to correct.

III.-Your "probably" and your "perhaps," oh Bystander @ are quite sufficeint answers to your own questions, which require no discussion; however, you are very kind to concede that Mr. Evans get "too much money for his service @ Molokai"   Well now! who put him there, and why was he appointed? You say no! because he "carried a gun," and we never said so [see your article]; but, dear Bystander, don't be so jesuitisal! you know perfectly that, although Evans may not have carried a gun,-in Honolulu,-because at the times he may have been somewhere else, [and, by the way, @ you seem to know all about it, is it because you did carry a gun yourself?], yet the mere fact of his being appointed to his office, at such an extraordinary salary, conclusively shows what party he did morally belong to and how much value was set on his political services in carrying a gun or otherwise.

(To be Continued.)

 

Government Officials.

 

  One of the principles that the LEO proposes to contend for and to introduce into the issues of the next campaign, is that all officials serving under the Hawaiian Government shall take the oath ofallegiance.  It is unnecessary and highly improper that foreigners of alien birth and allegiance should be pitchforked into the service of our Government to enjoy the emolumenta thereof.  Such favoritism, is an injustice to the native and naturalized Hawaiians among whom there is an abudnedace of men fully competent to fill every position under the Government.  Unless he be a man of extraordinary talents and ability required for some special service, why should an alien owning his fealty to some other power, and loyal only to his native land, be admitted to the responsible service of this government? Their only interest is their work will be in the salary obtained, such items as loyalty and duty never enter into their consideration, nor will they be moved by any patriotic spirit, and their sole respect for the government that employs them is centred only in the dollar that are counted out to them monthly.  Whereas when the government employs its own native born citizens, or those who, by caring to take the oath of allegiance, signify their adoption of Hawaiian citizenship, the service obtained will be that of loyal subjects, whose home, interests and prospects are all centred here; and for the sake of their families who form apart of the @ulwark of the nation, they must take pride in their duties and be more honestly devoted to the service of the country.  It is said that there are quite a number of alients at present in the service of the government who have not taken the oath of allegiance.  We are preparing a list of them for publication, but will defer publicity, till after the first of May, at which time some of them may be dismissed and others will have found it politic to take the proper oath to qualify them in our opinion for holding office under this government.

 

ON DIT.

 

  That drunkenness is rife in Waimea, Kauai, the police often times being arrested for being drunk, while arresting others.  This does not speak well for the force of preaching that has been in vogue in that district for some thirty years past.

  That Her Majesty intends to visit her unfortunate subjects at the Leper Settlement Molokai.

  That those schooners that came from California lately ought to be confiscated and sold, and the captain and crews put over on the reef if anything crooked is found about them.

  That the Sumpreme Court de@lines to grant a divorce to Koalaku, a late convert to Mormonism [Iosephites], because his wife who was condemned as a leper by our infallible Board of Health and its Examining Agents, is reported by Dr. Swift as not having leprosy.  I wonder how many more has been condemned without appeal to be wrongfully penned up among lepers on an isolated peninsula.

  That Kualaka or his wife should bring in a suit for $10,000 against the Board of Health and the Agents, and each individual of the Board made to pay a portion of the claim, as a lesson not to do so high-handed in restricting a man's liberty to the death hole at Molokai.

  That the Kekaha Planatation excels all its first planted cane, having rattooned six times without any diminish in the yield of sugar to the acre an average of four to five tons.  This is on lands lately released by the Cumming-Brown Cabinet for a song.

  That there will be a mass-meeting held on the 1st day of May, to discuss the action of our ministry.

  That the firm of two Maui Nobles has been endeavoring to control the present cabinet.

  That the Bonds for Mr. Hoffman of Maui, were refused on a flimmsy pretext, in order to prevent Norrie from being appointed Port Surveyor, on a salary of $100 a month to support himself and his native wife.

  That owing to the vacillation of the cabinet the feeling towards royal visits is not popular.  Republicanism is being fed by the action of the Ministry in ignoring the wishes of the people.

  That an extraordinary premature birth occured yesterday,-a foreign lady giving birth to to ten tins of opium.  It seems that the lady had made several trips loaded each time as many tins and had passed the gauntlet of customs officials; but she repeated it once too often.  She was traced to a Chinese shop and while in the act as it were of disemboweling herself she was arrested and taken to the Station House.

 

  The xmas number of London Truth represented the Prince of Wale as a chubby, bald-headed child, singing to the doll-effigy of Baron Hirsch-

Hirch-a-bye Baron!

Your luck's been tip-top,

But don't be too pushing,

Or down you will drop;

And if you do tumble,

Great must be our fall,

For down will come Baron

And Bertie and all!

 

A ROMANCE.

 

  I wish to distinctly state that this tale is pure fiction.  I have scrupulously avoided everything that might be suspected to have even a resemblance to actualities, knowing as I do, the prejudcie that prevails in this community against the publication of @eta and the severity of our laws.

  In Japan students after otherwise completing their education frequently spend a year or more wandering over the country, visiting Stitutiona of learning and s@ing objects of interests, a kind of German wonderyaha in which to see the world.

  Nyama was a young Japanese student as you might have known by the careless picturesqueness of his dress, the short sword that he wore and by the book he was reading as he strolled down a lane ordered with persimmon (?) trees on the July evening when our story opens.  As our hero walked and read he heard a sound of voices and laughter.  Looking up, he saw in the field by the road a group of women gathered around some object on the ground.

  Then there was a scattering, a tittering and screaming; eviently there was something exciting.  Nyama put his book in his pocket and scaling the bamboo fence approaced the groap.  They had evidently been nengaged in hay making the primitive cycles and rakes and bundles of fress grass streved the ground.

  In the center of the crowd was a woman who appeared wildly excited.  First she sat down then she jumped up and wildly grasped her clothes in the region of her stomach, and went through a variety of contortions.   Then she tore of her girdle and spreading out her loose gardent violently shook it, executing a kind of wardance all the time.

  The readers must know that the Japanese national dress is open down its entire lenggth in front, the edges being usually lapped over and secured by a belt.  Now when the lady in question opened out her garment in this fashion, it being the only one she had on, there was naturally displayed a trifle, only a trifle, more of the figure than is usually exhibited in European drawing rooms.

  Seeing a stranger, and a mana pproaching, she hastily gathered up the garment that had been floating umbirella like around her person.  The other gazed till it penetrated their minds that the intruder was a handsome young man with bright eyes and a bright smile.  Then they too began to adjust the loose dress over their breasts all red and glowing with the heat and exercise, and generally, to think of how they looked- the first impulse of the female mind.

  "Pray, don't let me interfere" said Nyama "It is extremely interesting I am sure, I am traveling to see sights.  Wont you go on?"

  "Go on, there is nothing to see here, " said the woman still clutching her dressed, "you have no business here, - unless you want some hay, long ears," she added.

  Surveying the members of the group, Nyama saw a young girl who was evidently not a worker.

  To be continued.