The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-04-06
Annexation.

MR. EDITOR Two letters have
been addressed to the public with
in the past few days on the subject
OF annexation of this country by
the United States. The first,
over the playful signature of
Bull Frogge +" the second was
penned by one who Gkened him.
self unto the Eagle" Bull Frog
confined himself almost exclusively
to statistics, which proved nothing
to the purpose. Eagle, on the other
hand, revelled in assertions based
on no apparent argument. Bull
Frogs facts were incontestable ;
his conclusion, or what I presume
would have been his conclusion if he
had had one, was gratuitous. This
country has, no doubt, by the
operation of the Mckinley bill, lost
five million dollars within a year.
True, It's pity; pity tbs, It's true"
l need not repeat the ingenious
comparisons whereby the writer
seeks to enforce the darkness of
the outlook upon the stricken COM
munity. 1t can exercise no prac-
teal influence over existing affairs
to be told that 100000 is the two
thirds of one thing, three-fourths
Of another, and twice as much
rs something else. The ealeu-
lations, undoubtedly interesting
though they be, are scarcely likely
Of themselves to make men clamor
for annexation The only dedue-
ton fairly to be derived from this
mathematical poem is that we are
poorer than we were that the &C
ton of the United States has i'm
poverished us; but that we should,
therefore, make over to the States
all that we have left is poor, half
hearted reasoning indeed. There
is grave doubt in the minds of the
thoughtful as to whether annexa-
ton would prove a permanent
blessing to this country whether
the much-coveted bounty would
ever reach US whether, like every
question Of tarif, the sugar bounty
would not be liable to be chosen as
an eIeetioneeling bait and swept
away by this or that aspirant to
congressional honors and whether,
If that we're so, we should be much
better off than We are to-day. All
these things are questions
The most ardent advocates OF
the idea of annexation speak Of it
as likely to cause sudden and
startling rise IN the financial bar
ometer. with perhaps the addi-
tional blessing Of a boom in real
estate
Prudent men are suspicious Of
boome. It may be confidently as
serted by those who know that,
given a choice between q cyclone
and boom, prudence will elect
the cyclone. Locust never made
such havoc and desolation on earth
as does one boom. Who shall say,
when the artificial excitement OF
recent annexation shall have had
time % cool down, whether the
poor Hawaiians shall not be left
ineomparably worse off than be-
fore. unable to call their souls their
own2 What has been the result OF
annexation, this balm for wounded
pockets. in the case of the Indian
nations? What will be the outcome
to the native Hawaiian race when
the stars and stripes shall proudly
wave over Punchbowl? Ask the
Cherokee. He hates the stars and
stripes. Must the Hawaiian be
hoodwinked into the belief thai
this flag shall Of necessity bring
him plenty and peace? If ever tina
shall come to pass, the native vii
sigh for the days gone by. de
viii speak to his child upon hi
knee of the happy years, when his
Gad4iOiA va q ~ WI 81 . w. w.
queen Of his own blood to sit upoI
the throne of the Kamehamehas
FIe viii marvel how he ever al
lowed himself to be caoled int
parting with his independence, hi
heart viii ache to see his lovei,
home overrun, not by America
politcians-there can be no suff
cient inducement to attract then
but by boodIers and carpet-bagger'
Bullfrog with a majestic swef'
Of the hand brushes aside all thof
who differ from him. They are
few persons Of peculiar temperi
ment, unreasoning optimists, M
engaged in any business. i tes
his mathematical accuracy an
comparative statistics utterly faile
him at this point of the letter.
/ find on personal enquiry IS
great rule business men seriousI
L