Juniata sentinel and Republican. [volume] (Mifflintown, Juniata County, Pa.) 1873-1955, 1894-04-04
HAWAIIAN FACTS.
OFFICIAL INFORMATION ABOUT
THE SANDWICH ISLANDS.
The Treasury Department Gives Out
Some Interesting Statistics
Commerce and Industries
of the Islands.


sued carefully prepared his
tory of the Hawaiian Islands
and their commerce with the United
States which Is interesting at the present
moment. 1t states that there is no reli-
able information showing the discovery
of the Hawaiian or Sandwich Islands,
| prior to Captain Cooks visit there in
177S, when he gave the islands the name
of Sandwich" in honor of Earl Sand
wich, the First Lord of the Admiralty.
The next year Captain Cook was killed
in one of the harbors OF Hawaii. At
that time each of the islands had an in
dependent Government with its own
ruler, but Kamehameha I. brought all of
these islands under his sway between
1874 and 1919, and being a man of IN
| usual Intelligence and great strength of
/ character, he established a commerce
| with feet of twenty vessels of from
twenty-five to fifty tons each, which he
| caused to be built after the model of
European vessels. His son, his successor,
| Kamehameha H., abolished idolatry in
/ 1919, and in 1920 missionaries went to
| the islands. From that time the social
! and commercial conditions have steadily
! improved, various lines of industries
being established aud the islands and
their commerce greatly developed.
The islands in this group number
thirteen, eight of which are inhabited.
| Their total area is about six thousand
| square miles, or about the size of the
States of Connecticut and Rhode Island
put together, Hawaii, the largest of the
islands in the group, having an area of
about four thousand square miles, and of
itself nearly the size of Connecticut. The
five uninhabited islands are very small,
having less than sixty square miles each.
The islands, as is well understood, are
Of volcanic origin, high, steep, and
mountainous, with many lofty peaks,
rising in some Instances to the height of
from 10, 900 to 13, $50 feet, their slopes
covered with verdue and forests. The
climate, although the islands are situated
within the tropics, is temperate, ex-
tremely equable and salubrious, having
| neither extreme heat nor extreme cold,
the temperature ranging from fifty-three
| to ninety degrees. The principal pro-
ductioEs are coffee, sugar, cotton, rice,
cocoa, oranges, bananas and sweet pota-
| toes. On the uplsnds wheat and other
cereals are produced; on the mountain
slopes is abundant pastures for large
| focks which flourish in this mild climate.
The population is estimated at one
| hundred thousand, which is consIdera-
bly, more than that of Idaho or Wvom-
| ing or Nevada, all of which are now
| States in the Union. or this number
one-half are native Hawaiians, fifteen
thousand are Chinese and nearly as many
japanese, over eight thousand Portu-
guese, two thousand Americans, four
teen hundred British, aud seven hun
dred Germans. In other words one.half
the population are native, one-fourth
Chinese and Japanese, and the other
fourth are representatives of the
Caucasian race. Curiously, the native
population has decreased rapidly since
the foreign element entered the Islands.
In 1923 the native population was nearly
one hundred and fifty thousand and is
now but fifty thousand.
There is more of civilization and the
methods of civilized life among the
representatives, than is generally
supposed. Over II, 600 children are in
attendance upon the public schools, of
which number over eight thousand are
Hawaiians. English is taught in most
OF the schools, and there is a growing
tendency to abandon the native language.
There are about one hundred and seven.
ty-fve schools of which nearly all are
under the control of the Government.
Ynnnla
as fairly intelligent is shown By the fact
that they have deposited in the postal
savings banks which the Government has
established nearly a million dollars. The
Government is complete one in all its
characteristics, having its Custom House,
Postotfice Department, Interior Depart
ment, Finance Department, Judiciary
Department, Postal Savings Bank system,
etc. The largest industry is the pro-
duction of sugar, there being between
seventy and eighty-fve sugar plantations
valued at thirty-four million dollars, of
which Americans own about two-thirds.
TIE exports of sugar have steadily in
creased until they aggregated, in 1891,
20, 900, 900 pounds. In addition to
this, there was exported about five
million pounds of rice, all of which with
other exports, such as coffee and fruits,
made up a total value of domestic ex-
ports of over ten million dollars. San
francisco is the nearest Port to ba
reached from Hawaii, the distance bein,
21OO miles. Yokohama, Japan, is 300
miles away; Auckland, New Zealand,
1000; Sidney, Australia, 4100 aud Hong
Kong, China, 1890 miles.
1t is natural, both in view of the fact
that ours is the nearest port and that our
people have the largest investments in
the industries of Hawaii, that her com-
merce should be mostly with the United
States. Her exports during the year
1S6S-11 inclusive, amounted to about
fifty million dollars, of which about
forty-eight millions came to the United
States, while of imports into Hawaii,
which average about seven million dol
lars year, about fve.sevenths come
from the United States. OF the 81
vessels clearing from Hawaiian ports
during the year 1891, 233 were Ameri-
cans.