The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1873-03-22
Aunexation-No. 4.

II- E.t Nc Tla- . UIuw sIlrI u IlC N|FNTe-GUTN u
4 country, has a strong suspicion q tre1sFn, let II
come IN whatever questionable sh-oe" i may.
Is there any moral difference in sc,iciring a soldier
10 rebel against his sovereign, or Eersua8inE him 70
deliver over thai sovereign aud his cuuotry % a for
eign power! The Fenisus IN their contemplated
QuiXotc I'll; for Aud Ireland, - did net 90 to the
extent Of striking at the life Of the English nation.
But the free spirit Of cur institutions tolerajes what
Great Britain woald not II a ma was 10 walk the
streets OF London, and give expression 10 such poll
teal sentiments as We daily hear in Honolulu, he
would be regarded as one who had treason at heart
ard annexation in the mouth.
Allegiance cannot be put on and OF ST pleasure
like an old garment, although il evidently sits easy
on some. y man must take the oath IN the form
most obligatory on his couscienee-the law Presum-
Ing he has one. In that oath be declares that he
will support the constitution and laws Of the Hawai-
ian Islands, and bear true allegiance 10 His Majesty
the King Now Is IL according to the letter and
the spirit Of that oath for q naturalizei citizen 10 en-
deavor 10 destroy that constitution and that sover-
eighty by advocating annexation? Our Penal Code
declares that allegiance is the obedience and
fidelity due 10 the Kingdom from those under its pro-
lection" and that an alien owes allegiance 10 this
Kingdom during his residence therein - Is not the
advocacy of annexation a violation of the spirit Of
this law 10y residents here who are no; naturalized!
l have listened with painful surprise TO two adj
dresses, recently delivered, on the Situation Of the
country. l have calmly heard and weighed public
opinion on the subject, and the conclusion has been
irresistible that the whole agitation proceeds from q
small circle, with a nucleus of dollars and cents. It
has its basis on u per cent. interest, compounded
quarterly, Oh freight from the plantations to Homo
lulu, on commissions and charges on sugar in Homo
lulu, and on commissions and charges on sales in
San Francisco. 1t is a system by which money lend
ers and agents get all the profits and the planter
sustains all the losses. The interest, commissions
and charges are the same whether sugar is worth 3
pr 10 cents per pound. 1t is a business where all the
gains are on one side and all the losses on the other.
No wonder the planter. in looking over the account
of his returns, is startled by finding that he IS get
ting deeper in debt while the profIs of all his labor
and foil ha A npa info Tho r,natafS Of oFbarS 1ha
remedy for this is not in annexation, or the Pearl
River ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS aty, but here at
home by wise and judicious management.
The great error in these islands has been, in most
cases, to start sugar plantations ON fictitious capital,
by which the money lenders and the agents are fas-
tened upon them like teaches exhausting their sub
stance | venture to say that no planter would COM
PLAIN OF hard times If he was free of debt, acted as
his own agent end shipped his products directly from
his plantation TO market. Speculative sugar planta-
tions will not prosper i'll any country-plantatiOns
that have no capital at their basis. If any man
makes n venture of this kind, with the expectation of
paying a high rate of compounded interest, double
freight and double commissions, he may with great
certainty calculate upon failure. Extraordinary
crops and uniform high prices might keep him up
but "a short crop and q depression in price, break his
insubstantial credit fabric and he must go down.
No plantation should ever be started unless on the
solid basis of capital and what right has any man
who brings no capital to the country, but expects to
draw wealth from the soil on credit, to ask for the
sacrifice of the independence of the country, or even
for reciprocity for his benefit?
L desire to see the sugar plantations prosper, and
would aid them all l could legitimately, but not at
the sacrifice of other interests. and particularly not
at the expense of the Hawaiian people, whose inter
ests 1t is our highest duty to protect. The planters
themselves must commence the work of reform and
remove the incubus that rests upon their prosperity.
They must contract their expenses and try, if posi-
bic, TO get their sugar shipped directly from their
plantations to market, and have but one c%onsignee
at that market. They must not borrow money at II
per cent interest compounded quarterly. II they
cannot get along without doing this. the sooner they
sell out and try some other enterprise the better. 1t
Is tar better TO commence anew without a dollar and
try by honest industry and energy to win a way in
the world, than to start on the capital of others,
without a prospect of repayment. As soon as n man
commence business on borrowed capital at u per
cent, he is the bonded slave of others aud all his toll
goes to their benefit. 1t is a species of gambling in
which the banker has all the chances against him,
and there is nothing in the draw Better sit
down to a dinner OF herbs for which you owe no man,
than q stalled OK, on credit. There can be no healthy
tone among planters unless their business is ON q
solid basis. If not, there will always be a s~pasmodc
cry of hard times on the least pressure. Our expe-
rience has proved it ruinous. l will cite n few ex-
amples of plantations that have 80 gone UNDER and
are not now in the hands of the original proprietors
Lihue, Koloa, Princeville, Waihee, Kaupakuea, Kai-
wiki and Paukaa. Now three-fourths of a million of
dollars were wasted on these, which did not go to the
benefit OF the original owners, but to money-lenders
and agents This was a sum large enough to have
started manufactures into life, to have built several
vessels, and to have initiated several new enterprises
which would have aided materially in developing the
resources oil the country.
But enough of this. I have merely limited Mt these
things to show that it is wrong for a man who, be-
cause he cannot jump Immediately into a fortune on
fictitious capital, to ask the country to barter away
its independence for his benefit; or to ask for what
many think, the doubtful advantage of reciprocity by
giving Pearl River as u bonus, when there Is great
probability that it would operate injuriously to the
mass of the people.
As to the Pearl River, or Eva Bay project. there
are a few preliminary questions to be asked. Do
the United States want it as a naval arsenal? Does
His Majesty. King Lunalilo and his people desire
TO lease it, or part with ii in any manner? Until
these questions are definitely answered, l consider
1t a work of sUpererogatlOn-in fact, the highest
imperunence of demagOgism. to discuss the ques-
ton. From the tone of President Grants Inaugu-
raj address. unless the DeOple-he Hawaiian peo-
pte-move IN the matter. he would not listen TO it,
and the voice of our King and people has never
been heard.
The political questions which now agitate the
few in Honolulu are based entirely on self-lnterest
the almighty dollar. The moral, social and in
tellectnal condition of the Hawaiian people, Is
never thought of-never alluded to. The agitators
are influenced only by a prospect of material de-
velopment. The conservation of orr native popu-
lation and their intellectual and moral advance
ment. are matters of no Importance to them. They
have sugar on the brain, and like monOmaniacs
are controlled by one wild idea, or rather, hallu-
~cinatiOn.
They will not even compute our population at
what it really is. One orator says 10000, another
says 10000. They wish TO view the condition of
these islands in its gloomiest light and will not
state candid facts. Do the halfwhites constitute
no part OF our native population? Are they not
the most hopeful part of it? And from present
appearances. will not it be on these that the future
of this nation must in a great degree depend? The
native population. including the half-whites. is 81
53l. and L am confident this is far below the real
The shOrtuess OF the time and the rapid
ity of the manner in which the census was taken.
render it very incomplete. If the census bad been
fully taken. doubt whether the population would
have fallen short of that of 1866. Then we must
include the great numbers in the GuanO Islands
and on running vessels. But the anneXationists
do not count the foreigners as a part of our popu-
IatiOn, and yet they are that portion Of it which
raises ali this agitation. Some of them seem to
sneak as Conanerors who would sway the dastinles |