St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1894-01-15
THE FUTURES OF HAWAII.

1t seems now to he foregone con-
cluSion that the provisional government
of Hawaii will be permitted to drift
along TO its inevitable fate. There will
be 10 interference in its affairs oh the
part of the United States. If it can save
itself it will do we'll. But it is exceed
ingly doubtful if such a frail craft will
be able to weather the storms that
threaten it on the seas OF national poll
ties, and it will probably become one Of
the great fleet of national derelicts,
floating about without rudder or COIN
pass, and, unless taken under the pro-
lection Of some more stable craft, will
ultimately rot and sink to the depths of
oblivion.
The new world is full of examples Of
ambitious governments starting out
with the promise of great achievement
and ending in utter collapse. Especially
in the semi-tropical regions the expert
ment of sslf-goyernment has been an
utter failure. Climatic influences may
have something to do with it. As
rule. the people who inhabit such coun-
tries are not we'll fitted by nature for
responsibilities OF any sort. They are
indolent by inheritance and instinct;
they are ignorant simply because they
have no incentive TO effort; they are
reckless of the present and regardless OF
the future. A few crude notions of gov
eminent they indeed possess, but these
relate to governing. not to being gov
erned. 1t is difficult, if not impossible.
to convince resident of Central Amer
lea that he is not better qualified to adj
minister affairs of stale than those
who are charged with that duty.
Hence it is that one revolution no sooner
receives its Quletus than another breaks
out. There is constant trouble and tur-
MOL. A years tranquility would be a
novel experience in any of the hybrid
republics from the southern boundary
OF the United States to the Straits of
Magellan.
The people of Hawaii possess all the
shiftlesS characteristics that prevail
among the residents of Central and
South America, with few of their viz
tues. They are lazy, for there is little
necessity for work among them. They
are satisfied as long as their immediate
wants are supplied. They give no
thought to the morrow. The science of
government is too abStruSe for their
comprehension. Let those who feel so
inclined study it; as for them they pre-
fer that some one else should have the
labor of conducting the affairs of state.
All they want is to be let alone in the
enjoyment of the creature comforts that
nature has poured at their feet with a
lavish hand. They do not care fir for
the monarchy; they would care as little
for republic if it were established
among them, and the chances are that a
majority of them could not tell the diff
ference between the two forms OF gov
eminent.
1t is perhaps waste of effort to seek
to give such a people good govern
ment. They are incapable of appre-
ciating it or maintaining it. They
would be an easy prey to demagogic
influences. and it would require con-
staut watchfulneSs to save them from
themselves. AS a part of the United
States they would be constant source
u tApCHSS anu tuAlCly. IiSy stlO al q
far worse condition at present than the
negroes of The Southern states were I'M
mediately after their emancipation, and
they have neither the capacity nor the
disposition to improve their condition
that the coiored race displayed. Per-
haps they may ultimately have stable
government; but the chances ale that
the present complication is but the be-
ginning of a series of events that will
place Hawaii one of the foremost in
rank of those nations whose normal
condition is revolt and revolution. The
different races that compose the foreign
population are not homogeneous, and
can never live at peace together unless
there is a strong government to control
them. AS for the natives, they do not
care who governs them, as long as they
can crafty their love of self-indulgence.