The weekly democratic statesman. [volume] (Austin, Tex.) 1871-1883, 1881-06-23
Revelations of Samoa.

An officer of the United States
steamer Alaska, recently landed at
San Francisco, lets out Some queer
secrets about the doings and deal
lngs OF the missionaries in the Sa-
moan islands. He was there and
about there long enough to pick up
a lot of facts which will be naturally
unpalatable to the good Christians
at home who give so much money to
send and keep missionaries abroad.
The officer was 10th to tell what he
knew when he came home for fear
he would be regarded as a heather
and subject himself to branding as q
falslffer, but he couldn't hold it and
at last blurted it out. He says the
missionaries on the Samoan islands
are worse than the savages, and that
the sayages would lead far happier.
purer and better lives if the mission
aries would let them alone. There
are missionaries from several coun-
tries, but the officer feels confident
that none of them ever think of car
rying out the purpose for which they
are sent by the various Christian
churches. The French behaved so
badly thatthe savages could not toll
crate their presence, and drove them
out. Sometimes they kill very bad
missionary caught at his vicious
habits, and if their brother and sis
ter Christians at home knew of their
tricks and capers they would not
blame the natives for taking ven
geance. One of their speculative
tricks is to sell the Bibles sent to the
island for gratuitous distribution
and pocket the money. They get
from two to three dollars a Bible,
which is clear gain, as the various
associations send the books free of
cost, and about the only missionary
work they do is to compel the saw
ages to buy books they can't read,
which is sheer robbery. The mis-
sionaries do everything but what
they are sent to do, and live on the
fat of Samoa. The naval officer SAYS
"The religion of the savages is good !;
1T teaches them to be virtuous, as
they are until the missionaries min
gle with them" The natives live in
state of innocence until they are
converted into Christianity, which
is a rare event. Then they put on
some pieces of clothing on Sundays
to go to church, seldom more than
shirt, or stocking, or a glove.
These scraps of raiment are sold to
them at enormous prices by the mis-
sionaries, who take pains to ineul-
cate the duty of wearing clothes as
part ofrelgion. They carefully omit
to tell them how 1t fell out with the
first pair OF innocents and what the
fall cost in Clothes Their own ma
tive religion teaches them almost all
the virtues but honesty, and that
there is poor chance of their learn
ing from Christianity and the exam
pie of the missionaries. They take
everything they want that they can
lay their hands upon, and have no
ideas of property exceptin common.
The men marry as many wives as
they can, but the expense of the
marriage ceremony is almost pro-
hibitory. All the friends of the
families assemble at the BRIDE
groom's house and stay there until
they eat up everything edible they
can find. Then they leave and the
couple. are married. A man very
rarely wants to be eaten out of
house and home more than once in
his lifetime. Women who are dis
loyal to their husbands become
slaves, and are doomed to hard Ia
Dor on the public works, whatever
these may be. The natives ofSamoa-
are well satisfied with themselves,
their religion and their customs, and
the missionaries are the only. dis
turbers of their peace. At least this
is what the narrator of the Alaska
says, and it is worth while for the
American church people who bear
the burdens of supporting foreign
missions to look into the merits of
the report. -s