The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1872-04-27
Ahead of the Times 2

Ahead of the Times
1t is generally the experience of the man who
projects a new scheme, or whose good or bad for
tune it may be to originate an idea, that he
should have as many stumbling-blocks placed in
his way as the ignorance, ~timidity, conservatism,
or malicious feelings of his fellow may be able to
c~onjure up. In one sense this is u wise provision
Of nature, and is in exact accordance with the
plan that unites a little gold with u great deal of
rubbish in the mine, and gives SO much chafF
with the grains of wheat.
Let a man invent a steam engine, and straight
way Ignorance pronounces the thing an impossible
ity, timidity condemns it as an ungOvernable
monster, conservatism deprecates the innovation,
while malice directs them all, and would destroy
the project of the busy brain even at the risk of
accommodation. All these the inventor finds
that he must not only meet, but must accept of
as blessings in disguise, for it is only through
Encouragement end repeated failures that any
really great idea was ever perfected, and the truth
freely brought to light.
But there is another class of possibly we'll
meaning people whom it is still harder to deal
with, and they are those who, while tacitly ac-
knOwledging the merits of an invention, throw
cold water upon iT by saying % You are ahead of
the times - Now it is but reasonable to suppose
that when q man has given to him the capacity
for reasoning out a new invention, the time
has come for that invention to be applied, and
the assertion that he is : ahead of the times - is
simply an acknowledgement on the part of the
speaker Of his disposition TO cling to traditions,
or of his chronic unwillingness to be in the van
in the great race of life.
With this class we say the inventor finds it
almost impossible to deal for while he can afford
to laugh at and pity ignorance, encourage and re-
assure the timid, pass by and ignore the conserv-
ative, and defeat the purely malicious man, he
feels that he cannot do anything with him who
looks upon the whole thing as premature and
3. ahead of the times" We have not much
doubt but that if the machines now in operation
in England alone, which do for her the work of
800 600 men, were but just being brought into
use, that many who think themselves ." pro-
gressive " in their ideas would cry out beau
tiful, very ingenious, but ahead of the times -
and draw closer round them the uncouth gar
ments Of the period, or go on with the wretched
cobbling of the age before Inventions.
'sYour article on Electric Telegraphy, advOca-
ting its introduction here, is very well, but some
what in advance of the times" was the remark
Of one of our readers on Saturday last. This
sounds curiously enough in these days, when the
electric telegraph the world over has become so
universally introduced as to be an every day ne
cessity, and when even Japan. which has so re-
Gently begun to wheel into line among civilized
nations, has now for a number of years adopted
its use and is constantly multiplying lines of tele-
graphic wire. Our Hawaiian idea of getting in
advance of the times - is, however doubtless to be
explained by the fact of our peculiar position oil
mid-ocean isolation from all the rest of the world,
whereby our minds, like our horizon, become cir
cumscribcd and limited in range. The climate
too, is favorable to the growth of a condition OF
sluggishness and n Discrimination to mental OIL
bodily activity that, while it might be impolIte
it would be quite correct to entitle Honolulu lazl-
ness. Whenever a steamer comes in with the
mails, we for the moment shake off our habitual
sloth, and abandoning our ordinary deliberate
and leisurely mode of going, rush down to the
Post Office, and hurriedly seize our letters and
newspapers, and rush back to our Offices or abodes
with the burden, in a busting manner altogether
foreign to our staid every day demeanOr, and ii
some sort initiating for the time being the style o.
citizens of some of the worlds centres. And then
while we indolently pore over the journals brough'
bv the last mail, and read how San Francisco ii
in daily communication by electric telegraph will
London, as well as with all the rest of the civil
lied world, we have but q dreamy appreciation
of the stupendOus fact, and when any one is 81
sanguine Il believer in the manifest destiny of thu
progressive age as to predict the speedy introduc
ton of the telegraph on these Islands, we lool
upon him straightway as an impracticable enth
siast, somewhat in advance of the times"
This Journal is content to bear the imputation
as being far preferable to that other charge, t.
which some in the community whose position
should constitute them as leaders in enlightene(
enterprise are amenable,- that of being "behin(
the times"
But however Hawaiian Incidence may slumber
old fogyism be incredulOus,a and official indifference
and obtuseness look coldly on, the time is near a
hand when the necessities of mmerce in thu
Pacific ocean will require that it be spanned b,
the telegraph cable from California to Japan ant
China, and Southwark to the Colonies, with Ho
nolulu as a principal station. 1t may be asked
why, if We are thus confident of this result, art
we agltating the subject? the cable will COME
without our troubling our unimportant selves IL
the matter. Very true but we desire that GU
island community may be benefited by the ad
vent of the ocean cable to the fullest extent. W
desire that the privilege Of communication owe
the wires shall be within the reach of all, at
fair cost, the press and the public, as well as TIL
government. And it is with the view of securing
beforehand these facilities and privileges that w
urge upon this government and the Legislature