Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 410, 15 March 1892 — Page 4

KA LEO O KA LAHUI.

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

 

KA LEO.

John E. Bush.

Luna Hooponopono a me Puuku.

 

TUESDAY. MARCH. 15, 1892.

 

A NATION'S CURSE.

            The dreadful and demoralizing effect of alcohol upon the human system is very distressingly evident in the Hawaiian race. The foreigner but a generation ago found the natives a wonderfully developed people physically. To day as a nation they are a physical wreck.

            This rapid decay is solely and entirely due to indulgence in alcoholic spirits. The experience of all people is simply that of the Indian of America, the Maoris of New Zealand, and the aborigines of Australia has the damnable influence of this chief enemy to mankind not gone far enough? It is not now time to take active steps toward the stoppage of the liquor traffic? Better late than never. There are considerable Christians in Honolulu. Why are you dormant? Why do you not by combination, activity, unity, endeavor to enjoy the blessing of Prohibitory Law. There is no necessity for looking upon the matter of temperance in a religious light, whatever, we all know the following facts.

            That alcohol has a very poisonous effect upon the human system. That the Insane Asylum are filled by king alcohol's victims. That considerable poverty that would not otherwise exist, is caused by alcohol. That habitual drunkeness and good health are incompatible. Dealers in Honolulu, as elsewhere have considerable political influence, and therefore to successfully combat him it may be necessary to enter into politics.

            Politics was the only method that enabled prohibition to met with success in the U. S. The Hawaiian has lost his all, and if alcoholic aggressiveness is not successfully defeated, this noble race will shortlly become extinct. Liquor, indeed has been the curse of Hawaii, and it falls upon the shoulders of all those interested in the welfare of the nation to see that the saloons are restricted or abolished.

 

"PATRIARCHAL" KAUAI.

            The abuse of the Crown Lands patronage is nowhere are conspicuous as on Kauai. The vast tracts of Mana, Kekaha, Waimea and Makaweli, are all held under lease from the Crown Lands Commissioners, and have produced a race of l@ cormorants which in petty tyranny and their exactions outstrip the Irish landlord or the Egyptian tax-farmer of old. The assumption of royalty, as expressed in laws made to prop up that decaying institution is that the peoples' lands are to be manipulated for the special benefit of royalty in the first place, and for the more especial benefit of royal parasites who are intended to receive ninety cents to the ten cents received by royalty.

            Now @ where the people @ in by this farming of the Crown Lands to middlemen. To write a fair commentary on the subject would occupy a good seized volume, so we must content ourselves with a mere outline. By the transfer of the Crown Lands to a lessee, the native living on the lands become the serfs of such lessee. The lessee by paying a certain sum becomes the absolute disposer of the people. Let us go to Patriarchal Kauai for a few illustrations. When Gav and Robinson became lessees of Waimea Crown Lands, they exercised all they foundatory rights claimed by the King but with this difference that under the King direct the people were never pressed or harassed if through misfortune or otherwise they were unable to pay, and their moderate rents were fixed. When the transfer of the lease to Gay and Robinson took place, the people were at once given to understand that they were on the lands by sufferance of the men lessees. Not a day was lost by the men holders of Waimea is persuing their victims. Hoffgaard & Co., the local storekeepers, had a few square yards of the sandy beach fenced in for storing lumber, for which the King received the ample rent of six dollars a year; Gay and Robinson at once on becoming lessees, raised the rent of this sand-lot to thirty dollars.

            Natives were treated in about the same style by having to pay increased rent or go out. They had one alternative left and that was to "ship" at the lessees own offer of wages. Chinese who were planting rice had their rent raised year by year from $250 dollars under the King, to a demand of eleven hundred under the lessees. These are a few mild samples of "Patriarchal" Kauai which the Advertiser will not care to notice as they are the work of its own patrons.

 

SEA WALL FRACAS.

            On Friday afternoon between the hours of two and three, a few words were passed between the Overseer of the sea wall and a Mason who was employed by the government to put the finishing touch on said sea wall, which wound up very disastrous for the Overseer.

            During the melee there might been seen (if any one was looking that way) two contestants vieing with one another for the supremacy, all at once, the Mason who was by far the smallest of the two was seen to pick up his opponent, after he had layed him out on the wall, and with a certain jerk, the other man might was seen turning several graceful curves in the air, and came down with a splash in the water which might have been heard some distance away, in fact the splash, reminded one of a whale breaching. A yarn was going the round yesterday to the effect that the mast head man of a whaler who was laying aback close to the reef that afternoon, sung out: "there she breaches" which raised quite a commotion on that whaler for a little while.

            The said Overseer finding himself in the water, certainly out of his element, he cast a bird eye view around to find out if possible his whereabouts, with the intention of taking revenge on the one who had the andacity of placing him in such a perdicament. But lo! and behold ere he had collected his thoughts sufficiently to solve his situation, his opponent w@ onto him with fire in his eyes to give him a sea bath (greatly against his will presumably) and to finish what he (his opponent) had in store for him. Seizing him by the back of the neck with one hand, and with the other the seat of his pants he commenced to dip him in and out of the water, (by way of baptism it is supposed) till he must of felt, his time had come and his checks were required of him, but for the timely assistant rendered by some of the workingmen who happened to be near by was in the habit of calling men out of there name, for the least provacation whatever, knowing well that natives as a general rule were good natured people and would stand abusing for peace sake than retaliate. The little Mason has lived among the Hawaiians for twelve or thirteen years, and have managed to get along with them. More Anon.

 

PICKLED CHRISTIANS.

            There is a class of persons in the community whose usefulness we have just found out. We never realized until now what they were made for. They are struck through with acidity. Their disposition is celebrated for its crabbedness. You find them in every circle. They are especially known in churches as faultfinders. Their teeth are always on edge. They are critical of minister, eldership, and choir. Whatever is done they act as though they could have done it better. You sometimes feel like suggesting to them the propriety of going to some other church, or retiring into less conspicuous position. You look upon them as a nuisance and hindrance. — Christian Herald.

 

A PROPOSED PEACE(?) PROMOTER.

            The late rumors of war, and the possibility of a foerign invasion, have, it is claimed, set the fertile brain of Mr. Edison at work upon some means of defence for our almost unprotected seaboard. His plan, it is said, is to establish forts at various points along the coast, in each of which is placed a powerful electric generator, manned by a force of say twenty-five men: One of the two wire employed to form a circuit will run from the machine to the ground, and the other to a pipe from which a stream of water, heavily charged with electricity, can be thrown with terrific force. Should an enemy be seen approaching the fort, the dynamo is started; and when the foe is within easy range, the water is turned on with a wide sweep from side to side, before which the advancing line melts away, like needles of ice in boiling water, every man falling dead in his tracks. Should mercy govern, however, only a sufficent current is turned on to render the assailants insensible for a sufficent length of time to disarm the whole command and make them prisoners of war.

            Whether this can be made of practical application, time alone can demonstrate; but with the nations of the earth standing ready and anxious to engage in the death grapple, eaching calling more loudly for more efficient engines by which to destroy each other, and for which they are willing to pay fabulous sums, what wonder is it that the inventive mind of the age should be trained in the line of thought? It has been well said that the application of electricity is only in its infancy. What an awful part it may yet have to act in the closing scenes of this world's dark tragedy, just before the somber curtain of human destiny has been rung down to shut out forever from the sight of heaven the tearful scenes of sorrow, woe, and blood. S@d.

 

ON DIT.

 

            That the national pot is boiling and we fear a political storm will arise that may have the effect as did the tornado at Samoa.

 

            That the Honokaa Plantation is to be managed on the East India labor system at fiiteen cents a day per peon.

 

            That mother soil, a willing pair of hands, and a contented and brave heart, is the best capital that one need to have to overcome the distress, famine and pestilence, which has overtaken the nations.

 

            That the royal augean household is to receive a thorough outward cleaning, and we hope that the good work will reach the internal structure as well.

 

            That there was a gathering of the sports at Hon. R. W. Wilcox's Marine Retreat at Waikiki. Among the visitors and guests were members of the International League.

 

Platform of Principle

OF THE

HAWAIIAN NATIONAL LIBERAL PARTY.

INDEPENDENCE OF THE COUNTRY

            2. Out of consideration for the inherent rights and present opinions of the native population, we dersire to retain the independence of the Country and defend its autonomy, under a liberal and popular form of government; but our Treaties with Foreign Powers, and yespeciall with the United States of America, should be revised, so as to better meet present necessities and to obtain more equitable advantages in exchange of those granted by us.

JUDICIARY REFORM@

            3. Our Judiciary system and Code of Procedure must be submitted to a thorough revision, so as to secure a cheap and prompt administration of justice, free of all sectarian or patisan spirit, and to render the Judges more directly responsible to the People; and we are in favor of a more liberal interpretation of Constitutional guarantees of the freedom of speech and the press.

TAXATION

            4. A more just and perfect system of Taxation must be inaugurated, to abolish the present inequalities, by which the property of the poor is excessively taxed, while much of the rich man's goods are under-valued for @ or entirely escape taxation; we shall therefore demand the passage of laws that will more effectually subject the property of corporations and rich citizens to their just proportion of public burdens, while granting more liberal exemptions to the poor; and as a means of discouraging the locking up of large tracts of uncultivated lands, a differential tax should be levied in addition to the usual assessment on valuation which should be in proportion to the fertility of the cell. We shall also favor the establishment of a graduated income-tax, and thus expect to obtain ample funds for conducting the overnment and attending to all necessary public improvements without any further @ on the masses.

MONOPOLIES

            5. We shall @ our @ to @ laws by which all @ in the government and all monopolies, @ and @vileges to special classes shall be rendered impossible, by full, d@ and mandatory statutes.

PROTECTION TO HOME INDUSTRIES

            7. We are in favor of encouraging all home agriculture and industries, @ our native products, like rice, coffee, wool, tobacco, etc. should be protected and fostered by proper tariff regulation; and also it must be the duty of the Govment, in its @ and other @, to give preference to national products over imported ones.

LOCAL SELF-GOVERNMENT

            8. We desire a more liberal policy towards the different Islands of the Kingdom, outside of Oahu; they should receive a fairer @ of the @ moneys for the developmentof their resources and the satisfaction of their wants. In fact, the principle of local, Self-government should be extended, whereby giving localities may choose the most important of their local executive officers, and levy taxes for the purpose local improvements of a public nature.

PUBLIC SERVANTS.

            6. Better laws should regulate the Civil Service. The principle of the election of officers of the government by the people should be established, and no man should be allowed to hold more than one office of profit, whilst salaries should be adequate compensation for the services rendered. All excessive salaries should be reduced and all sinecures or superfluous offices abolished.

PROTECTION TO THE LABOURING CLASSES

            9. We shall endorse all measure tending to improve the condition of the working classes, and consequently, without injuring any vested rights, we will advocate laws to prevent all further importation or employment of contract-labor of any kind, upon conditions which will bring it into a ruinous and degrading competition with free Hawaiian or white labor. We shall also, in the interest of the better protection of the poor, ask for more liberal exemption of their property from forced sale on execution, and from seizure in bankruptcy proceeding.

SMALL FARMING AND HOMESTEADS.

            10. The wealthy fraction of our population have hitherto prevented the development of an independent class of citizens; the public lands have been acquired and have been tied up in a few hands or parcelled to suit favorites, and smal farmers and planters have been driven out by corporations or combinations of capitalists; but as small farming is conducive to the stability of the State, it should be encouraged by a new and more liberal Homestead act, by whch the ownership of small tracts of land and the settlement thereon of families of our present population,—and especiallly of the native Hawaiians who have been left almost homeless in there country-should be rendered possible. To that end, the Government and Crown lands, (in so far as can be done without invading vested rights) should be devoted as soon as possible to homesteads, and @ upon bona-fide @ of taxes for a limited period.

            It should be the further aim of government to, at once, so far improve the means of transportation,—local, national and international,—as to provide, in all the districts, cheap means of conveying the product of the @ to market.

ELECTORAL @.

            11. We hold that upright and honest manhood, and not the @ of wealth, arbitrarily fixed, should @ the right to vote for nobles as well as representatives, and no more power should be accorded to the ballot of the rich man than to the ballot of the poor man. The @ in favor of wealth now made in our Constitution is contrary to all the @ of right and justice, and must be abolished. To this end, we will favor @ of the present @ of wealth and @ which @ our laws with respect of the right to vote for nobles, thereby restoring to the native Hawaiians privileges which @ to them in their own country, and of which they have been unjustly deprived.

INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS

            12 We favor the expenditure of sufficient sums to secure a number of needed public improvements on Oahu and other Islands: school, railroads and harbors and wharves, public light, and also a thorough system of resevoirs and water-works, not only for Honolulu, but through-out the other Islands.