The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-12-11

an island in time in the Bay of Pana-
ma our position as a maratime power
would be tremendously strengthened.
What would you say the chief need
of the Islands today, Captain" was
asked.
The canal takes us at once to this
group of Islands and the important
part they must play in the future OF the
development of commerce in the Pa
cific Ocean. \ glance at the map shows
what they are and mean to the great
nations of the world that will use the
canal. Just put a pin the Harbor OF
Honolulu, the capital of the Repub-
lie of Hawaii. and from ii draw lines
in various directions, on the East in
Ginning northwards to San Francisco,
Seattle and Vancouver, and south
wards to Panama. Draws these lines
westward to Asiatic Russia, Japan,
Korea China and the countries and
islands between this great empire and
India There again go to the extreme
southwest and you touch the continent
of Australia and the large islands of
New Zealand and New Guinea and
many intervening groups. With the
Panama Canal open the Hawaiian ISL
ands become the key of the North Pa
cific Ocean.
Another want greatly felt here
now is Geographic communication be-
tween this place and the rest of the
world, and the beginning of supplying
this need should properly be cable
to our Californian Coast. There has
been talk of this for years. but the mat
ter is still in allegiance and had better
so remain until our present admins
tration at Washington ceases on March
4, 1897. President Cleveland's course
in the cable question, as in most other
matters Hawaiian, has been so pecu-
liar, to use a mild word, that il would
be best for him to leave things alone
the rest of his tenure of office. After
recommending cable communication
with the Islands as question for con-
gressional action during his first term
in the White House he so changed his
views during the second term that he
actually recommended that we allow
the present Government here TO cede
one of the uninhabited islands to Great
Britain as place for cable to be land
ed. If this were granted them il is
pretty certain that one of their first
acts would be to hoist the British flag
there, and that done it is not probable
they would haul it down in hurry,
as Mr.. Cleveland ordered to be done
with ours.
$50 now the question is presented.
what is TO be the future of this group
of Islands known as the Paradise of
the Pacific" They cannot go back
wards their career must be in the for
ward march. You hear nothing unkind
said of the late Queen Liliuokalani.
but she is no longer a factor in the
problems of the country's future, she
has taken her place among the many
ex-crowned heads that have had part
in the worlds history. She lives very
comfortably in her two residences, one
near the hotel in Honolulu, and the
other at the seaside resort of Waikiki,
and you meet her occasionally as she
drives in her carriage from one to the
other"
What are your ideas, Capt. Apple
ton, on the political future of Hawaii?"
Meanwhile and awaiting some flu
ture developments this is certainly
well governed and seemingly happy
and prosperous Republic in miniature
Speaking of it and President Dole, /
have heard that the late Miss Kate
Field called him 1.-The Ideal President
of an Ideal Republic" And so of a
truth it is, and might go on indefinite
ly if it were situated in some out of the
way part of the world. But this is
far from the case, as it is right in the
path of commerce between some Of the
great nations, and we know what the
greed and rapacity of nations care for
when it seems for their own interest to
stretch out a hand and say: iWe want
more room, and it is our destiny The
lion of Great Britain, the bear of Rus
STA, the American eagle, the dragon Of
China are all looking at it from their
respective sides of the Pacific Ocean,
while Japan in some respects the most
wide awake of them all, is quietly en-
ployed in opening and extending bust
ness relations by these Islands to "the
Coast Gas that is the appellation given
TO California here, in a way which
may soon astonish the other nations
And as it seems as if it was for us
to solve the question, and begin as
soon as the next President Of the Unit
ed States shall be inaugurated. An
neXatiOn by joining it 10 California,
or any other Pacific State would not
satisfactorily come up to the require
ments of the situation. Putting it on
some such basis as the District Of Co
lumbia would be better, though this
too. would be doubtful experiment as
the conditions are so different in near
ly every respect. The opinions of these
most competent to know from having
lived there all their lives, many Of
them natives by birth, and who are as
devoted TO their country as much as
anyone can be anywhere in the world
is that some arrangement for annexa-
ton could be worked out on different