The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-04-10
Publishes a Reply to the Defense
by Mr.. COan.
DISCUSSIONS or LAND TITLES.
Says Missionaries Have Not Done what
They might-UphoIds 0litteriBE ideals.
Criticizes 90 Fair and Legitimate Pur-
chase - Comparison with Indians.

The New York Evening Post Of
recent date prints the following
communications from Titus M.
Coan and reply by Thomas G
Shearman. Mr.. Coan says:
Will you give me little space, not
for controversy, but TO state some
facts in reply 20 the statements OF Mr..
r. q. Shearmah, on the Hawaiian
situation, as reported i'm your issue OF
the 9th of February? ? He says: Dur
ing the fifty years 1920 -ls7O1 the gov
ernment Of these islands w ts under
missionary Influence, most OF the ma
tives were deprived of their rights In
the land, excepting about % 900 acres,
and all the rest was divided among
the king, the chiefs, and the families
and friends OF the missionaries.U
a. AS matter of fact, the natives
first received their lands, every one
his own homestead or kuleana, IA
lS4S, as free gift from the r ,vern-
ment OF the third KamehHmehas.
Before that time no Hawaiian had
any possession that he could call his
own. The Missionary Land Commits
sion advised the king that IL he
''should allow to the landlords one
third, to the tenants one-third, and
keep one third himself, he would in-
jure no one but himselfn The COM
mon people received c-simple titles
for their house lots and the lands
which they actually cultivated for
themselves. The number of claims
finally confirmed amounted 10 IL ,309.
The awards for these were recorded In
ten huge foIios which were deposited
in the land office. In a subsequent year
myself took part in the surveying OF
these lands, of which every acre was
procured for the Hawaiian peasant,
and confirmed to him, by the mis-
Nor has a single acrS, so
far as j can learn by repeated and
careful inquiry, reverted from the ma
tive to the missionary, or the mission
aries sons, except by fair and legiti-
mate purchase.
(2.) "The missionaries found 10000
people there, and now they report
that there are only $4,000.
Before the missionaries gained con-
troll Of the islands, leprosy was un-
known"
AS a matter OF fact, the decay OF the
POlynesian, both in Hawaii and ia
other island groups, has been brought
about not merely by foreign diseases,
but by the changed conditions i'm
posed by civilization. Ia so far az
these changed conditions of living
were changed by missionary influence
the missionaries were doubtless re-
spOnSible; yet the missionaries were
not blamable. They worked accord
ing to the ideas of their time, and
their work was perfectly sincere,
though we may criticise il as in part
mistaken. / spent all Of my earlier
years in Hawaii, and / knew those
men well; with very few exceptions
they were high minded, pure, and
utterly unselfish. And as q matter OF
fact, the Hawaiian has lasted longer
for their presence than he would have
lasted if the missionaries had stayed
away; for a large part OF their work
was TO battle with the immortality
and the diseases introduced hy the
whites. These unscrupulous foreign
ers have always brought against the
missionaries the charges of 'cant,
hypocrisy, cOvetousness, unscrupu-
lousness, fraud, and gross abuse OF
power" With what strange sensa-
tions do find the abuse Of the "beach.
combers" reproduced in the editorial
columns of the Evening Post
49, AS to the "recognized and paid
agent of the American Board" who
various ISLANDERS against
that true martyr, Father Damien, ]
dare say he got no more than he de-
served at the hands OF Robert Louis
Stevenson. But Hyde IL paid agent,
aud nothing more; the man has
nothing of the spirit of that earlier
time, from 1920 10 about 1S49, when
true missionaries were going 10 Ha-
waii. OF their descendants, now in
power, L can say from personal knowl-
edge Of nearly all OF them, that as a
matter OF fact they represent the in
telligence, the character, and the
quite honestly earned wealth of the
country.
TITUS MUNsoN CoAS.
New York, March 9th.
Mr.. Shearman explains himself
as follows:
Mr.. Coan, for whom have always
had the highest respect, selects only
three points of my address for criti-
cism. II gives me great pleasure 10
see that he practically agrees with me
in holding up to public scorn the base
conduct Of the agent OF the American
Board at Hawaii in his foul ISLANDERS
upon Father Damien. I see that
President Dole also agrees with me
upon that point, having rendered the
highest public hOnors TO the memory
of that sainted missionary. Now viii
the American Board peform tariy
act of justice by disowning its dis