American Hawaii [pp. 432-454]

AMERICAN HAWAII
In this connection we have but three
further suggestions to make:
ist. That under the conditions existing
here it will be disastrous to the public inter
ests if judicial positions are made elective, and
we therefore respectfully urge upon your
Honorable Body that for the present they
continue to be appointive.
2d. That the jury system heretofore in use
in Hawaii under which race lines have been
recognized, a Hawaiian's case, whether civil
can be rendered in both civil and criminal
cases by nine out of the twelve jurors, has
now been in use in tihe country for over fifty
years and has worked well.
'The feeling in the country is practically
unanimous in support of a continuance of the
system, and we urge that you so recommend.
LABOR.
The question of the labor supply of the
country is the one which mnost directlv af
Photo by Davey
NATIVE WOMEN SELLING LEIS
or criminal, being tried by a Hawaiian jury; a
foreigner's case being tried by a foreign jury,
and a case between a Hawaiian and a foreigner being tried by a jury of six Hawaiiians
and six foreigners, has long outgrown its
original object, which was to guarantee to
foreigners a fair trial, and should be abolished
as unnecessary and liable to perpetuate range
differen,ces.
3d. That the jury system heretofore and
now in use in Hawaii, under which a verdict
fects the interests which we represent, and, as
this is almost entirely an agricultural country,
it is the question which most vitally affects
not only the continued prosperity but the very
existence of the leading industries of Hawaii.
It is a matter of common knowledge that
the penal contract system which still survives
here, was introduced, not at the desire of the
employers of labor but as a matter of necessity in order to secure laborers.
In the earlier half of the century the lead
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