The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1886-05-15
The Hawaiian Treaty.

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A correspondent of the New York EUen-
ina Post writes to that journal as follows
The resolution of the Ways and Means
Committee to abrOgate the Hawaiian
Treaty of Reciprocity should set thought
full people to considering what the policy
involves and what is the secret of the vital
ity of a measure, which for the past ten
wears, has withstood the fierce and unre-
hitting assaults of the combined forces of
the rich and powerful sugar retiners of the
East and the sugar-growers of the South.
At the time of the passage of this treaty
the s'Sun Francisco Chamber of Commerce"
gave utterance to its convictions in these
strong words: Opposite the very portals
of this commerce, and in its track lie these
islands, keeping, as it were, watch and
ward over this entire coast and commerce.
Plant an active enemy upon them, and
even if he were the most insignificant of
the maritime Powers, he would probably
annihilate this commerce. A power with
fleet consisting only of the Florida and
Alabama would, entrenched in these marine
fortresses, harass all profit out of it. In
the hands of England and France the
effect would be to enable either of those
Powers to shut us out of the great highway
of the Pacific and lock us up so far as
commerce is concerned, within our own
mountain ranges absolutely ut his pleasure"
Our army and navy officers concur in
that opinion, believing, to quote Admiral
Porter, that, with the Islands the Pacific
Coast is impregnable; without them it is
defenceless, The London Times says.
1.-The maritime Power that holds Pearl
River Harbor and moors her fleet there
holds the key of the North Pacific
Every Administration for the last half
century has Enthusiastically declared that no
other Power should ever be allowed to con-
troll those Islands. This treaty gives us
for all practical needs that absolute control,
through a proviso that the Hawaiian Gov
eminent shall not dispose of any territory,
grant! any special privileges, or make any
similar treaty with any other Power. Mr..
John BigeIow recently said: Though /
never undervalued the Importance of those
Islands to the United States, since my re-
cent visit to Panama I am disposed to re-
gard the control of them of scarcely less
Importance than the control of Long
Island, both to our commerce and our in
huence upon the seas. Under the treaty
we secure all the control we need. To
terminate will be to put the Islands up at
auction, at which, whatever may be the re-
suit, we are sure to be the victims.
When Isthmus ship-transit is accomplished,
Honolulu will be one of the most import
whether for peace or war.
And why this question of annulling so
important convention The Pacific Coast
men reply in their appeal to Congress
''The trouble is that the sugar refiners of
the East are willing to sacrifice to their greed
not ONLY the commercial, but the political
advantages we enjoy under the treaty. It
is not public spirit, but private capacity that
wages a persistent fight upon the treaty"
Their chief organ, John E. Searles, Jr., who
for many years tried to break down the
treaty by charges of fraud-charges that he
was forced to acknowledge, over his own
signature, were pure inyentions-now comes
before Congress with new statements equally
false and misleading. No one knows better
than John ESearles Jr., that the treaty
neither &" created monopoly of sugar - on
the Pacific Coast "nor made it higher
priced. and that the former monopoly of
Claus Spreckels is utterly broken down by
a rival refinery which now takes the bulk of
Hawaiian sugar, thereby making it unpre-
cedently cheap on the Pacific Slope. The
statistics he offers are equally untrue.
His absurd statement that the treaty has
not benefited the Pacific Coast is disproved
by the earnest petitions of it's leading bust
ness men for its continuance, by the verdict
of its Senators and Representatives in Con-
to be saved from the baleful eff
fects of abrOgation. Over $50, 900, 600 is
now invested in the Pacific commerce Gre
ated by the treaty, giving a trade of $12,-
900, 600 a year, and affording employment
to a vast army of men in every line of &C
tivity, both ON sea and land. It's annul-
ment, to quote the Alta California, would
take away at one blow one-fourth of the
commerce of this coast, and turn over to
England, lush, ripe, and profitable, the
island trade, built up under the shelter Of
William L. Marcy's wise policy. How
would New York meet a proposition to de-
prive her of % per cent. of her trade, es-
pecially if the painful excision were accom-
panied by the exposure of her coast shelter
less to attack 2?
The year before the treaty two-thirds of
the island trade was diverted to Australia.
A Canadian agent has Just returned from
the islands, sent there to sound their Gov
eminent as to the formation of a treaty sim
liar to our own. Handicapped as the Ha-
waiian planters now are by the high cost of
labor they would perforce turn III their ex-
tremity to the country which could best re-
ieve their needs and with cheap English
Hindoo labor, cheap English capital, and
strong English protection, the islands would
form (unless-as Great Britain
should outstrip her in
he race for the rich prize) the long-coveted
ink to grid the Pacific chain of her posses
lions, stretching from the terminus of her
Canadian Pacific Railway to the neither
most shores of Australasia. And with what
ace could we complain that England, Ger
many, or any other Power should pick up
What we had so lightly tossed aside