DOLE’S VETOES TURNED DOWN

SENATE UNANIMOUSLY SAYS HIS LANGUAGE RESOLUTION VETO IS ALL RIGHT BUT IT WON’T DO.

The Senate played football with Governor Dole’s vetoes this morning. The language veto was thrown into the scrap heap first. This veto disapproved the joint resolution asking Congress to make the Hawaiian the official language the same as English.

Every Senator who spoke on the subject said that the Governor was right; that his reasoning was sound; that the use of the Hawaiian language as shown by the experience of Arizona and New Mexico with their indigenous language troubles would delay statehood. But they all voted to over-ride the veto.

The reason given by the Republicans was that the Republican Territorial platform contained a plank asking for just what this resolution asked for. Every Republican senator thought every senator not bound by the Republican party platform ought to vote to sustain the veto, because the Governor’s reason for his veto were cogent and sound.

Then the Senate proceeded to pass the joint resolution over the Governor’s veto by unanimous vote, 14. Crabbe being absent.

The veto of the beer license act was garroted as effectually as the other, but not quite so artistically. On the vote there were nine against sustaining it when it took ten. But Senator Achi moved a reconsideration and in a whisper got Senator Kaohi to change his vote making the required ten votes to pass the measure over the Governor’s veto. Senator Dickey challenged Achi’s right to move a reconsideration, seeing that he did not vote on the prevailing side. Achi insisted, however, that he had voted with the majority, which was true, but under the rules gave him no right to move a reconsideration, and his motion was allowed.

Senator Cecil Brown in urging the passage of the bill over the Governor’s veto said that the bill could be amended at this session so as to meet the Governor’s objections, and that the Governor was more of a prohibitionist anyway, than he was a license man and that he would probably veto any license measure. Senator Baldwin declared that this did the Governor an injustice; that he would sign a license measure if it did not have the grave defects he had pointed out in this act. But the bill was passed over the Governor’s veto, 11 to 12.

(Hawaiian Star, 4/9/1903, p. 1)

The Hawaiian Star, Volume XI, Number 3449, Page 1. April 9, 1903.