The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-04-26

Miss Helen w. Ludlow, a teacher
at Hampton Institute, Va, is the
first lady who has come forward In
defense of those whom Thomas
Shearman attacked in Hawaii.
Miss LUDLOW has visited this coun-
try and is well acquainted with
the work of the missionaries. In
an extended article in the Evange-
list she writes in part as follows:
Mr.. Shearman said, "There are
some facts which the missionaries do
not mention, which cannot be disput-
ed. During the fifty years the gov
eminent of these islands was under
missionary influence, most of the ma
tives were deprived of their rights in
the land, excepting about $4,000 acres,
and all the rest was divided among
the king, the chiefs and the mission
aries"
Mr.. Charles NOrdhoff, neither a
missionary nor the son of mission
ary, gives, in his book on the Sand
wich Islands, the true statement of
the fact well known to all students of
Hawaiian history, that under the ma
tive system, "The people lived by the
tolerance of the chiefs, for they owned
nothing, neither land, nor house, nor
food, nor wife, nor child. He who vi
olated tabu THE chiefs or priests
arbitrary IestrictiOns1 was instantly
killed." That was the state of things
the missionaries found when they
reached the islands in 1919.
Mr.. Nordhoff adds: "When in 1848
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instance of that excellent man and
upright judge, Chief Justice Lee. AN
American and warm friend of the
missionaries whO.were associated with
him in this work gave the .'kuleana
rights, he relieved the people of a
sore oppression, and at single blow
destroyed feudalism. The kuleana is
the Individual holding. Under the
kuleana law each native householder
became entitled to the possession of
such land as he chose to occupy and
Chiefs" says Mr.. NOrdhOff, "that un-
der the influence of the missionaries,
they consented to this important
change, fully knowing that it meant
independence to the common people,
DR.. Judd, one of the most promi-
nent of the missionaries, started the
"Land Commission" which led up to
this great result. It was agreed that
the land should be divided into thirds,
one for the king, one for the chiefs,
one for the people. The king mag
of his third, and the chiefs
one-third of theirs, for "GOvernment
land" and a great part of this Gov
ernment land was later sold to the
people at a low price. The lands
which the chiefs had given to the use
of the mission were now decided to
the Board, and later, when the Board
withdrew its support, they were trans |
ferred to the missionaries themselves, |
with the hearty consent of the NATIVES. |
Another of Mr.. Shearman's "facts |
which are not to be disputed" is that
''tbe missionary Government, finding
that the natives would not work for |
less than twenty-five cents per day,
insisted on the Importation of scores
of thousands of the scum of the |
human race, including Chinese, and |
what are called Portuguese, but are a |
mOngrel race who never saw POrtu- !
gal. In this manner" says Mr.. Shear |
man, "the missionaries sons cut
down the wages of the native Hawai- |
ians and compelled them to work on
their sugar plantations at such rates
as seemed good to their masters
The first "Bureau of ImmigratiOn'
was formed, and the first five hundred !
laborers imported from China in 1865,
under Kamehameha V, in whose Cab
met there was not a single missionary
or missionary's son, all his reign. The
great demand for more labOrers than |
the Islands could furnish came with |
the formation of a reciprocity treaty
with the United States in 1876, ad- |
mitting Hawaiian sugar free, and Civ !
ing a sudden mighty impulse to the |
sugar industry in the Islands. The
effect on wages was to raise them |
enormously. Mr.. Claus Spreckels |
and other nOn-missionary or mission |
ary planters would smile at the idea
of thus having obtained labor at '1ess
than twenty-five cents per day AT
that rate Mr.. Spreckels would have
become more than "Mr. SiX-milliOn-
man." as the natives named him.
In 1854 General S. G. Armstrong,
who visited the islands, wrote to the
Southern Workman: "Before the
Reciprocity Treaty wages were $6 to
81 per month on the plantations; now
they are about 81 per day. Thousands
of the labOrers are busy in the fields
and mills-Hawaiians, Chinese, jap
anese, Portuguese from the Azores,
Madeira and South Sea Islands; the
supply of labor is still short; five
thousand more are needed"
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