Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1896-02-17
A TALK ON SAMOA
Consul General Mulligan Gives
Some Of His Experiences.
FUTURE OF IRE ISLAND A PROBLEM
Present Arrangement of Control
Does Not Work Satisfactorily.
A EFOOTED KIN

Mr.. James H. Mulligan, consul general
to Samoa is in town, transacting some
business with the State Department. and
refreshing himself with his first whiffs of
American air and his first participation in
American lfe in eighteen months.
1T is, of course, always good TO get back
home,'' Mr. Mul:gan said in a long con-
versation with representative OF The
Star today, "but a return here from scenes
SO distant and strange those in
Samoa is well calculated to make one
doubly grateful for that home and its
! civilization. Consider it moment for
yourself. At Apii we are fifteen hundred
miles from Auckland, the nearest cable sta
ton; twenty-five hundred miles from Hon
olulu; th:rty-five hundred miles from Sd
ncy, and forty-two hundred miles from San
Francisco. The lfe is tame and primi
tive can be. Not a carriage. not an ON
nibus, not Il telephone, not a line OF tele
graph nor milo of railroad of any kind;
neither gas nor electric light, anywhere on
the islands
The soil has never been turned up by the
plow. There is practically but one crop
the cocoanut crop. The towns and villages
are fringes of native huts. with Il few sub
stantal houses stretched along the coast
OF SS.le .EteftDf ROAD. me natiNeS are am
liable and veil disposed, but without prog
reSS or capacity. The whites number only
some four hundred-a very small colony,
you see. So there we are, Cooped up al
that distance, with the great waters of the
sea all around lis, and next to nothing on
shore for our entertainment. The monot-
ony at tines becomes most oppressive. The
arrival OF ship produces as much excite
mert and is welcome the arrival of
Barnums show in one of our country
towns. Fortunately for me- / have been
very busy with the duties of my office, ana
the click of my typewriter. which has been
like a sound from home. has kept me up.
when otherwise l should have been deCid-
e,3ly down."
Future of the Islands.
Have the islards no future?' was asked.
That is the problem. I hope they have.
God knows the present IS sad enough AS
l have already told you, there is but one
crop. That is called copra-cocoanut dried
and which when pressed produces an oil
from which soap is made. The principal
market is Hamburg. Germany. where the
stuff brings about 81 a ton. Rice coffee
cotton, Indian corn, al have been tried but
all have failed. Primitive customs and bad
management cat some figure in the failure
but the SOL ana the climate assisted. And
the corra crop failed last year. with the
result of producing much want and Giscon-
tent, and these sti!l continue. The natives.
and very kindly. They want but little. and.
under pressure put up with very small
quantity of that. Physically. they are a
nagnit cent race. stripped for the sea bath
the white men on the islands suffer decided
iy by comparison. The Samoans have been
saved from rum which has been the curse
of the inhabitants of many of the South
Pacific races. The liquor traffic has always
been under excellent regulation. and the
Samoans have been greatly benefited there
by
Have they no national tipple, so to
speak,
'Oh. yes They have squeeze of their
own production. But how they are refresh
ed and exhilarated by it / confess | cannot
see. II tastes for all the world as | imagine
soap suds would Iberally dashed with red
pepper.
Mr.. Mulligan. whose home it at Lexng-
ton, Nv, where palates are educated on
the greatest of American tipples, would not
confess that he might be prejudiced on this
point, but he probably is.
How does the present governmental ar
rangement for the islands work?'
Present Arrangement Doesn't Work.
1T doesn't work. 1t IS an unavoidable
coHtrivance. 1 fully agree with those who
hold that the United States ought never to
have become party to it, ought to with
draw from i. at as early day praC tica-
be. The Germans are the only people who
benefit by it. The natives get nothing.
They are almost in revolt now. Out of
total receipts amounting to about $4,000,
81 900 are-faid out for fixed salaries. A
chief justice whose duties are about
level with .l;use of justice of the peace
with us, rec siVeS 5000 in gold, and the
president of the municipal council. whose
duties are similar TO those of the mayor of
an American town, receives SJ,oU year
in gold.
"The king on the throne, Malatio, gets
one hundred and fifty dollars month and
that not promptly at all, while the king in
exile, Mataafa, is also subsidized. Those
two items strike one as very strange when
found on the books Of republic. We pay
a third of the expense, you know. Our
original design was to establish coaling
station at Pago Pago where there is p
magnificent harbor. We had an option on
that by treaty for ten years. but it was
allowed to lapse some years ago a ma
and one at Pago Pago would be of great
value We simply drifted into the present
Samoan arrangement.
King MaIiatio.
What sort Of man is King Maliatio?"
"A very good man of his class. A Sa-
| moan, OF course. He has a certain majesty
which you readily perceive when you see
him among his people. But he has little
power; lives in a comfortable wooden house
and goes about attired in linen trousers
| lren jacket, straw hat, and carrying an
| umbrella. He is barefooted, and that de-
tracts from him, in American eyes. We are
SO const tuted, find, that royalty and bare
footednes5 in public appears Incompatible
But he has some very excellent natural
traits. and well maintains the kingly air of
that latitude"
Mr.. Mulligan became we'll acquainted with
Robert Louis Stevenson during The closing
months OF the latter's life. speaking of
MIR. Stevenson, he said:
Dinner With Stevenson.
'Hc had all the eccentricity as we'll as
the charm popularity associated with genius
He talked quite as brilliantly as he wrote,
and was delightful host. 1 dined with
him the Wednesday night oefore he died;
in fact, wnen went to the house upon re-
ceiving the news of his death l found
| many of the decorations in the dining room
still undisturbed. His settling down in
Samoa was just such n fancy as was to be
expected of such man. He had knocked
about the world a good deal, had seen ev-
erything and everybody, was rich and
famous, was only in lack of health. Samoa
caught his eye. The climate suited him,
the people were primitive and docile, the
scenery in places very fine, and so he drove
| in his tent pole and decided 20 stay there
He enjoyed his life near Apia very much
although some printed descriptions of it
exaSgerate its features. The state ne held
was unusual, but no 'barbarous opul,n.e'
Il flfevNl low