American Hawaii [pp. 432-454]

Photo by Davey EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE OF THE COMMITTEE OF ONE HUNDRED
and intimately known to members of Con gress, it and its needs and conditions will be
but a name to the vast majority of them.
(7) Instead of the needs and desires of the
public as expressed through the public press,
meeting at frequent intervals the eyes of the
supreme power, such expressions of opinion
will practically be seen by the members of the
Commission only, as purely local papers receive but scant attention away from the locality in which they are printed, especially
when they must necessarily be several weeks
old before reaching Washington.
It is not to be expected that Congress
would or could give to Hawaii the amount of
time and thought that is now devoted by it
to the local questions and issues arising in the
District of Columbia.
The practical result of government by
Commission in Hawaii would be that it would
be good or bad, according as the character
and ability of the individual Commissioners
varied, with the practical certainty that however good the Commissioners might be individually, their rule would be more or less
arbitrary and in accordance with their own
views instead of being in accordance with the
desires and needs of the people of the Territory.
This would be likely to be much more the
case in Hawaii than it has been in the WestV aLe xxx7 — 29
ern territories for the reason that communication and supervision would be so much
less in the case of Hawaii owing to the greater
distance and infrequency of communication.
2. We understand that some of our fellow
citizens have been in favor o,f at least a ternmporary government by Commission. We are
willing to admit that if such a form of government were provided for the next few years,
it might, and probably would, to a great extent, eliminate the bitterness of feeling which
has grown out of the transition of Hawaii
from a monarchy to a territory of the Unite(i
States, by preventing elections and the consequent probable continuity of present party
differences which have in the past and probably will for some time to come divide alongrace lines and embrace on the one side those
who have favored, and on the other those
who have opposed a monarchial form of Gov
ernment.
But admitting all this, it is submitted that
if a government by Commission is once fairly
established here it will be far more difficult to
replace it by some more representative form
of government than would now be the case,
and that the benefits to be derived therefrom
are insufficient to offset the evils and disad
vantages of such system while they are not
great enough to compensate for the loss of
local control of the local government.