The Wheeling daily intelligencer. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1865-1903, 1893-02-04

President Lincoln, in his first term,
appointed Judge Joseph Caldwell, OF
wheeling, consul at Honolulu, capital
Of the Hawaiian Islands, Judge oald-
well resided there with his family for
several years.
Yesterday an lSTELLIGEEcER reporter
asked ex-Attorney General Alfred Cald'
we'll ii he resided on the Islands with
his father, lie saidhe lived there from
his fourteenth to his seventeenth year,
going to an American mission college
during the school year and spending
his vacations mainly on rancho owned
by his brother.iu-law. Mr.. Caldwell
gives a glowing account Of the fertility
Of the Islands, and from his description
the United States would find tho an
nexalion very profitable piece OF work.
The mountains in the interior arc
covered with cactus and underground
60 .hickly that it is an exceedingly diff
cult undertaking to traverse the coun.
try. There are occasional paths worn
by mavericks, or cattle that have run
Wild but there arc no other paths or
roads. About three miles along the
csast is open and covered with luxu-
rant growth OF grass. In fact, Mr..
Caldwell says, everything grows luxu.
riantly there. He often stuck slip OF
reranium or OF rose bush into the
ground, and it would sprout and grow
fast
The climate is about that of Southern
California, but il anything milder and
more equable. 1t is great for consump-
ton, and effects many marvellous cures
OF pulmonary diseases. The currents in
the ocean are the same as warm the
Pacific Coast OF the United States.
When MIR. Caldwell left the Islands
as boy the sugar industry was in its
infancy, but was making rapid strides.
Many passenger vessel left the Is
lands with even her cabin piled full
ofsugar in the peculiar half-barrel pack
ages then used there. The cargo OF
sugar would be so large there would not
be room for a single passenger, and the
vessels did not care for passengers, the
sugar traffic being more profitable.
The molasses from the sugar manu-
factories was literally drug in the
market, and was run into the streams
and went to waste, as it would not pay
to transportit to market in the sailing
vessels which carried the bulk OF the
product.
So productive is the soil and so uni
form the climate from one years end to
another, says Mr. Caldwell, the men,
may frequently be seen harvesting rice,
while Just adjoining other men arc
planting rice, and not far away are other
fields half ripe. The grain ripens in
any month Of the year.
Coffee, also, is raised on one OF the
islands which has no equal in the world.
II is in such demand by connoiseurs
that it is not found in the open market,
and the prices il brings are prohibitiye
to any but wealthy people.
Mr. Caldwell spoke with amusement
Of the strange confusion OF ideas about
tho Hawaiian kingdom. For instance,
q Wheeling paper has several times
referred TO Honolulu as on the island OF
Hawaii 1t is on Oahu, as everybody
should know by this time. The islands
take their name from Hawaii, but it is
not the most important OF the group,
having but one town of good size.
The language of the natives Mr.. Cald-
well describes as very musical. All
native words end in a vowel, and the
sound represented by tho English
vowel is the Italian sound of that
letter.
Speaking of the idea that the proposal
10 annex the islands was scheme OF
the large sugar planters to secure the
benefit OF the United States sugar
bounty, Mr.. Caldwell said that he
thought this consideration ought not to
cause any hesitation, ii for other rea-
sons it was considered wise to annex
the country. He said he believed the
bounty provision would be declared un-
constitutional or repealed. The United
States supreme court evaded q decision
Of the constitutonality of the sugar
bounty, and to lawyer this was omin-
GUS Of what the decision would be in a
case where the issue could not be
ovaded.
AS q naval stronghold, Mr.. Caldwell
said the Sandwich Islands would be a
regular Gibraltar for the United States.
It is an important station for whaling
vessels. and would present many adj
vantages as defense OF the now very
exposed Pacific coast, particularly Of
tho Alaska shore and the Aleutian Is
lands, extending so far into tho seas.