The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1889-10-23

lChilneothe L~ader's talk with,ex-Ccnsui-Ci Gene
raj Putnam.
In what shape did you leave your
friend, the King?"
"kalaizaua? In rather an unhappy
condition. He has been reduced to the
condition of a mere figure-head. Pretty
much all power has been taken from
him - his cabinet-all save the veto
power. They thought they had strip
ped him OF that, too, but the courts
held otherwise However, poor though
ne is in authority, and without any
military backing to speak of-100 men
or so-he gets good salary and could
live very nicely if he wasn't such an
tnveterate spendthrift
What salary does he get?"
twenty-five thousand dollars a
year; but he is of convivial turn of
mind, and an incurable gambler, and
could squander many times $4,000 If
he could get it. He got so reckless and
so deeply in dept that his Cabinet fin
ally appointed commission to take
charge of his salary, pay his obliga-
tons and manage his personal finances
entirely"
Then he is in the hands of guar
dams 2"
That's it, precisely
"Does the King run good establish
ment at Honolulu"
"A magnificent one. His palace is
Is finer than our White House-larger
and more imposing in every way. He
lives in fine style and gives some very
brilliant parties at his palace"
where and with whom does he do
his gambling?'
AT the palace, and with whoever
will play poker with him. The Ameri-
cans are not averse to sitting in game
with his Majesty, when lac has any
thing to lose"
What portion of the export trade of
the islands do we get ?"
Pretty much all of it Last year
they exported some ST., 900, 600 worth
of sugar-all of which, Of course, went
through the Consulate OF this I'M
mense trade the United States got
ninety-two per cent. And furthermore,
the United States supply Honolulu aud
the islands with about oil of their i'm
ports of every kind"
"How do the other nStionalities rank
i'm numbers 2"
There are $500 Americans on the
islands /, 200 Germans, 1000 English,
5000 Japanese, !, 200 Portuguese, 5000
half-breeds-the aristocracy of the
kingdom-and 40, 900 natives"
What figure do the natives cut in
the affairs of the island ?"
"None worth mentioning. They are
LAZY, a,nbitionless and not very intelli-
gent, and are satisf ed to live off of a
paste made by grinding up vegetable
they grew with little trouble. This
paste they take up on their fingers, and
after giving it twirl or two, take it
into their mouths and swallow it. And
then they eat raw fish; IN fact they de-
pend largely upon nature for living.
They are no good as laborers, or very
little. The Portuguese are worthless,
too-the scum of the nation. They
come mainly from the Madeira and
other outlying islands. The Chinese
are the laborers of the islands, and are
absolutely necessary TO the welfare of
the kingdom. The natives are rapidly
dwindEng away. When Cook first
visited the islands there was a native
population of two hundred thousand"
Are the native woman at all hand
some?"
mo: many of them are very large,
but none of them are attractive. But
the haE-breed women are beautiful,
much like some of our fine types OF
octoroons. They have magnificent
compilations, finely colOped checks,
black hair and beautiful forms. White
men of all nationalities in early days
married the native women, aud this
half-breed population is the result. As
/ have said, they comprise the aristoc-
racy of Honolulu. Some of them are
very stylish. Pretty much all the
women are given TO wearing the 'hola-
cue, garment exactly like the Amer
ican .Mother Hubbard. They wear this
loose about the house, and with belt
when they go upon the streets"
Mr.. Putnam is much attached to
the island