The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1892-11-26
A REPLY.
Interesting Letter From Mr..
TheO. III. Davies.

which appear in to days ADVERTISER.
Those gentlemen probably differ
from me, at present, with regard to
the points under discussion, but they
do 80 without thinking it necessary
to mlsrepresent my arguments or to
question my motives.
Mr.. Oleson will, 1 am sure, pardon
me if l couple his letter with Mr..
Emmeluth's in my reply, for it Is
physical impossibility that 1 should
give separate reply to each of the
correspondents who have done me
the favor to discuss my recent letter.
One almost insuperable difficulty
which have to meet is the tendency
of most writers to use expressions
which evidently convey to me
meaning that they have no desire to
convey. For example, Mr.. Oleson
has apparently no conception OF
what / mean by free trade; what he
means by it is evidently reciprocal
trade between two countries as
against other countries. Unless we
can agree on the meaning Of such
words as free trade, cession, naval
station, etc, there will be no end to
our controversy. / must, therefore,
premise that when write, / do SO as
a member Of the Hawaiian common
wealth; that I have in view neither
Eo~looI ,1ox, fbo Irnifa1 Gfofao op1
that the terms / employ must be in
terpreted by the usages of the Eng
lish language, and not by the arbi-
trary meanings which any writer
may mentally attach to them.
l understand, then, free trade" to
mean trade in certain articles, which
is absolutely free to all the world. By
"cession of harbor or of territory"
/ understand transfer not of pro-
perty, but of flag. For example, in
the case of the cession of Heligoland
no ownership of property passed, but
the property is now held under Ger
man law instead of under English
law.
By "naval station" / understand
port where ships of war of the
sovereign power have the right to
remain during peace or war, as Glib
raltar, Hongkong, etc.
am then invited by both your
correspondents, to present a policy
of commercial progress" for the res
toration of our internal prosperity.
This is rather large order, and if l
were asked to show how we were to
recover the missing four or five
million of dollars which the aboli
ton of sugar duties in the United
States has cost us, I should be afraid
to attempt it; but am not afraid to
attempt to answer in good faith, the
questions which have been put to
me In good faith.
1 will reply in the affirmative to
Mr.. Emmeluth's questions as fol-
lows:
First am in favor of treaty
with the United States which shall
allow free exchange of commodi
ties, the actual product of the two
countries. (Some exceptions, as Ii
quors, are of course understood.)
Second-I am in favor of extend
ing the time for which Pearl Harbor
has already been granted Gf that is
the correct term) to the United
States, for advantages equivalent in
value to those granted us by the
treaty of Nov. 20, 1857 but sStthose
special advantages hue all so.nsk dis
appeared, I should stipalats5 Tor their
being replaced by equivalent con-
cessions. as have stated.
/ question the wisdom of Mr.. En-
meluth's reference to the generosity
of the United States. [ believe
firmly in the generosity with which
she has always treated, and will al
ways treat this nation, but the fair
mindedness and sense of justice of
the United States are all we have a
right to speak of in negotiating a
commercial treaty, and the gener-
osity is more likely to be shown to
us if we do not keep reminding our
neighbors that we are counting upon
it.
My reply to Mr.. Olesseep must must be- be
more general, Because he invites me
to indicate q policy. l must begin
by indicating what seem to be the
difficulties with which we have to
deal.
1. The compensation, which we
thought we should retain under the
reciprocity treaty, has been all but
swept away; and our national in
come is reduced by perhaps five mil
lions of dollars.
2. An impression has been con-
veyed to the newspapers and the
statesmen of other countries, that
there are men of influence in this
country, who would be willing to see
part of the Hawaiian territory coded
to the United States, in return for
pecuniary advantages.
3. An impression has also been
conveyed to the same quarters, that
we are living on the verge of riots
and revolutions, and have nearly lost
the instinct of self-government.
4. The result is that unquestion-
ably the Hawaiian commonwealth
Tin which include myself and all
my correspondents in your columns)
has fallen in the estimation of the
civilized world
5. By the apparent misuse of
terms Of delicate meaning. a suspi-
cion of disloyalty and infdelity has
gathered around some of those who
ought to be directing Hawaiian