Ka Hoku o Hawaii, Volume XXXIII, Number 45, 8 Malaki 1939 — Unfair To Hawaiians [ARTICLE]

Unfair To Hawaiians

Territorial Secretary Charles M. Hite wants to have

a bill put through the legislature eliminating the publication of the session laws in the Hawaiian language, claiming this is an "economy" measure. Mr. Hite seems to be starting his so-called economy program in the wrong place. He probably doesn't realize that there are still thousands of old time Hawaiians in the territory who cannot read English and who depend on the reports from the legislature through their own Hawaiian language newspaper, otherwise they won*t know what has been done by our law makers. These Hawaiians are 100% voters. They still have a large influence in politics even though their numbers are growing smaller every year. They have a right to know what is going on and what is being done by the people they helped to elect to legislative office. Depriving them of their natural right in securing the information they desire is unfair and uncalled for. The insignificant amount of money that would be saved the territory by this sacrifice would be so small in the aggregate as to be hardly worth consideration, yet Secretary Hite considers it a matter of economy. Let us hope the legislators will take a different view on this question and see that the Hawaiian people are not discriminated against in a matter that is of the utmost importance to them. Our friends should write to Mr. Hite and protest against his proposed plan to save a

few hundred paltry dollars by depriving the Hawaiian people of this information.