New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1874-05-11
SIMOd.

COl. StCINDcfBeTS report ol tHc SdiHOiH
Islands, of which we published full abstract
on Saturday, was doubtless to most OF the
public a complete surprise. The scheme which
has been pursued for more than two years, to
establish the American flag on one OF the
fairy islands of the South Pacific, has passed
almost unnoticed, and the few illusions to 1t
which have now and then found their way
into print have been quickly forgotten. COM
mander Meade made a visit to the Samoan
group, with the u. ). 5. Narragansett,
in 1872, and gave so favorable report
of the natural advantages of the islands
and the readiness with which our Gov
eminent might establish itself upon them,
that Secretary Robson in his annual report
of that year strongly pressed the project upon
the attention Of the President. The charms of
tropical scenery, perennial fruits, and con-
idng, half clad, duSky population have long
exercised a singular fascination over the
official mind, and what may be called the
banana principle in politics has become a
recognized influence in our national affllrs.
TO this we owe some of the most charming
idys in the literature of Public Documents
Admiral Porter's famous Pastoral on the Island
of St. Thomas, Mr. Stewards fowery description
of the delights of Alaska, and the Commits
sioners report on the Republic of SantO
Domingo. The excellent Col. Steinberger is
not to be outdone by the court poets who
have preceded him. He found in these For
tunate Isles just under the equator, more
beautiful things than any Special Agent ever
found before, even in the balmy paradise of
the West Indies, or on the spce-scented
shores of Russian America. There are more
cocoanuts on the island than you could
count in q month of Sundays. Bread fruit
hangs at every door. That funny bird,
the dodO, long supposed to be extinct,
lives in the strctest retirement among
the mountains. The ava shrub furnishes an
intoxicating liquor, prepared from the dried
"root by disgusting process of mastication
"by young girls" The people are universally
Christians, having a church in every village,
and practicing pOlygamy. They send abroad,
chiefly to Germany, about S3,OO0,Q0O worth Of
dried cocoanut meat every year.
Two years ago, after the islands had been
scourged by long and cruel domestic war,
number of the native chiefs united with the
white settlers (mosty, VIC fear, very disrep
utable set of adventurers) in petitiOning for
an American prOtectOrate. 1t seems to have
been the main object of Col. Steinberger's
mission to inquire closely into this movement,
and We Judge that he has done it dis
creetly. He cautioned the natives against
selling their lands to foreign spectators
he drew up for them code of laws;
he assured them of the friendship
of the United States, though he could not
promise them protection; and he brought back
of tba isIa ha
or symbols of sovereignty, forwarded to Presi-
dent Grant by the reigning chiefs in token of
their desire for protection. There is no central
and clearly legitimate authority to be officially
recognized; but the wishes of the people and
the rulers seem to be unmistakabe.
The group contains one good harbor, that
of Page Pago, where q naval station and q
commercial town could easily be established.
Secretary Robson calls this mot only the
"best and safest but absolutely the only land
protected harbor among the islands of the
"South Pacific" 1t is in the direct track of
commerce between San Francisco, Honolulu,
and the South American ports on the one side
and New-Zealand, Australia, and Southern
Polynesia; and as a station for cOaling and sup
plies it would seem to be exactly what we
require. Now that the sovereignty of the Fiji
group, which lies five or six hundred miles 20
the westward of Page Page, has been offered
to Great Britain, we shall hear q great deal
about the pressing necessity for establishing
ourselves also in the surrounding seas, if we
would secure our share of the half developed
trade Of the South Pacific.
Col. Stoinberger observes that the Samoan
Islanders "know nothing of finances" He
makes the original and ingenious suggestion
that we might accomplish the desirable object
Of DESTROYING the hereditary and fictitious