The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1893-02-10
THE TROUBLE OF 1T |
Why They Monkey About Annex.
alton.
Secretary Fosters Silence Said to Be
Sublime.
THEY TALK ABOUT THE SUGAR DEAL
People Who Come and Go-Brief Brew
ties of Interest to All Readers
of The Globe.


of The Globe.
WASHINGTON, Feb. 10.-[Special. i
THE first art of diplomacy is silence"
This is the sentence which Secretary of
State Foster is credited with having Ut
tered to the Hawaiian commissioners
when their credentials were presented
and their introductions accomplished az
the department of state These words
cannot be interpreted as a rebuke to the
columns of newspaper interviews with
which the commissioners have bonn
barded the country in their transit from
the golden gate to the national capital.
In all their statements the representa-.
tives of the provisional government of
Hawaii have confined themselves to mar
ratives of the bloodless revolution. Their
voluminous accounts of this event have
contained nothing as to their PROPOSE
tion to he submitted to this government
in detail beyond the general statement
that they desired annexation. 1t was a
natural result of these indefinite an
nouncements that President Harrison
and his cabinet advisers caused it to be
known that they favored a protectorate
as a preliminary step to annexation
rather than immediate annexation itself.
This hesitancy was in no small part
caused by the belief that a movement
for immediate annexation would involve
in the first place, an extension of the
bounty for American sugar to the Haw-
allan islands, and in the next place
long discussion in congress as to the
treatment of the franchise in the new
territory, and the abrogation of existing
contracts for Asiatic labor, not to speak
of the setting up of additional barriers
against the influx of Chinese and Japa-
nese from the Sandwich islands to the
Pacific coast
Secretary Fosters injunction of diplo
matte silence has had it's effect. The
Hawaiian commissioners since their ar.
rival in Washington, while talking freely
have said nothing. Despite their COM
manded reserve, certain elementary con-
ditions which will underlie the negota-
tiOns between them and the United
States government has become clear
The first demand of the commissioners
will be for absolute annexation as an
integral portion Of the United States,
with status corresponding to that of
territory with a governor appointed by
turc.
Commissioner Marsden, who is only
second in rank to Mr.. Thurston among
the commissioners, said TO day that the
| form of administration which the leaders
of the bloodless revolution most desire
would be something similar to the gov
ernment of the District of Columbia,
that is to say, board of commissioners
appointed by the president, having full
control of the levying and collection of
taxes, the receipt Of customs, the control
of police and the management of the
courts. Such a form of government as
this would debar from the exercise of
| franchise vast and unwieldly mass of
natives, as we'll as about $4,000 Chinese
and japanese laborers, while at the same
time it would insure to each of them
! their rights to hold property and to
maintain an equality under the law.
! One objection which has been urged
! against the annexation of Hawaii is that
| such step would extend to the islands the
benefits OF the bounty for the production
of sugar which exists under the Mckinley
act. The Hawaiian commissioners, it is
learned authoritstively, are prepared to
waive the privilege absolutely rather than
yield all possibility of annexation. They
make this suggestion in order to Offset
the criticism that they are prompted by a
selfish motive indeed one of the commits
sioners has stated that they would be
willing to accept an act of congress which
expressly barred Hawaii from all partici-
patton now or in future Of sugar bounty.
Similar reservations have been made to-
ward the territories in the acts governing
their admission into the union, so there
appears to be no precedent in constitu-