The Hawaiian Question

The Hawaiian matter will not down, but promises to be no mean rival of the Wilson bilí as a promoter of partisan debate. It has already occupied, directly or indirectly, the time of several sessions of the house and in the senate a committee, consisting of Senators Morgan, Gray, Butler, Sherman and Frye, has been engaged for somei time upon an investigation of the issue. Of this committee Messrs. Sherman and Frye are bitterly opposed to the views of the President on the question, while Senators Butler and Gray agree with the President, and Senator Morman seems undetermined. The investigation by this committee will be thorough and searching, and party lines will probably be closely drawn before the question is settled. On this question there seem to be three principal points of disagreeraent, viz: Was the United States, through its agents, made a party to a wrongful interference in the affairs of Hawaii last January; if so, should the United States, after the lapse of time, undertake the restoration of the government overthrown; and should the policy of restoration already entered upon by the administration be now abandoned and the whole matter dropped. Most of the democratie and pendent papers agree with the President that a wrong was done. Nearly all the republican and some of the democratie and independent papers question the policy of now trying to right the wrong farther than to disavow the wrongful acts. A larger proportion of the papers of the country, holds that inasmuch as the Queen has declined restoration on the terms offered, the whole matter should be dropped, and the question relegated to the Hawaiians themselves. Another part of the press of both parties demands immediate annexation, while still another part urges congress to promptly and fully endorse the policy of the President. Upon one point onlyis their unanimitv of opinión, viz. - that whatever course may be pursued, no other nation shall be allowed to acquire ihe islands or dominate them. The committee of the senate which has been appointed to make an investigation of the Hawaiian question is composed of most excellent men and it will undoubtedly go to the bottom of the question, and the American people will await with interest the report of this investigation. That the findings of the committee will sustain the report of Commissioner Blount in all essential points, we have no doubt, and we thoroughly believe that President Cleveland, in this matter, as in all others, will be found on the side of justice and national honor. A wrong having been done by the agents of this government, it was his duty, within the corrstitutional limitations of his power, to cause it to be redressed. This he has tried to do and nothing more. That in the end, he will be sustained by the judgment of the American people we have no doubt. Thomas B. Reed in the minority report of the ways and means committee refers to the majority bill as "only another tariff tinkering bill, the like of which has disturbed the conditions of business so niany times in the last thirty years." As no democratie tariff bill has had a chance of becoming law in the period named, it is evident that he intends to apply the expression "tariff tinkering" to the acts of his own party. He has the best of reasons for such a use of the term. During the past thirty years the 1 publican party has tinkered the tariff i no less than twenty-six times. Nor were the highly protected barons satisfied with this amount of tinkering. Whenever they desired a higher rate of protection and Congress was not in session, they went to the Treasury officials and got a ruling giving them the increased rate desired. Many of these rulings when afterwards passed upon by the Supreme Court were reversed and the money collected under them had to be refunded. It is high time.therefore, since the tariff stands in great need of being tinkered again, that the tinkering be done by the democrats. The Republican press of the country and the leaders of that party have been putting forth every possible effort for months past to créate the impression that the present business depression is due to the promised legislation of the Democrats. That their schenie has in a degree succeeded, and that serious embarrassments have been placed in the way of the passage of the Wilson bilí cannot be disputed. If the present business stress is attributable to any legislative action, however, a careful study of all the facts should convince every fairminded person that it is due to the fiscal and financial legislation of the Republicans. The conditions which precipitated the panic were inherited from the Republicans and were the certain sequence of Republican governmental ideas. They had their origin in the tariff and silver legislation, different phases of the same principie. This principie is that one class of citizens can be benefitted at the expense of another without ultimately impoverishing the contributing classes. The present majority in Congress was elected on a platform demanding a reform of the tariff without fear or favor, and the carrying out of that command is now the paramount duty of Democrats. No member should be scared away from the performance of his duty, by the absurd cry that the industrial depression springs from the prospect of legislation which was so positively ordered by the electors last fall, legislation removing the evils which for a third of a century have built up one class at the expense of another. Any member who is now false to his trust, or who delays, or defeats the will of the people, must take the consequences his act entails. The pension of Judge Long, of the Michigan Supreme Court, will be restored to him. Commissioner Lochren has decided, in view of the act of Dec. 21, 1893, declaring pensions a vested right, that he no longer has the right to withhold the pension. This action was taken by the commissioner as the result of an opinión by the attorney-general. This terminate.s a famous case which provoked the warmest discussion from one end of the country to the other. The circuit udges of the State held a meeting in Lansing the last week in December, and it is said there was but one question, of the many considered, upon which there was unanimity of opinión, vi,., that their salaries should be increased. The judges should have held their meeting earlier, so that the result of their deliberations might have been brought to the attention of the late salary raising g. o. p. legislature. The December bank statement made public by the comptroller of the currency on the 4th inst., shows the Chicago national banks to be in a better condition than at any time since last spring. The loans and discounts are greater, the individual deposits are several millions in excess of the amounts reported in the July and October statements, and the lawful money reserve is much higher. All of these facts indícate the return of business prosperity. The filibustering tactics of the republican minority in the House may delay for a time the passage of the Wilson bill, but in the end tariff reform is sure to be accomplished.