Omaha daily bee., 1897-12-14

Reasons why the United States should
Lenve the Island Alone.

Philadelphia Times,
With the meeting OF congress this week
tho prospect OF annexing Hawaii will be
agitated very earnestly. It's supporters say
1t is all decided, that It will only be a mat
ter of form giving legality to something al.
ready accomplished.
1t may be so, but we have some doubts.
Whether Hawaii is annexed or not the
great wrong will not be accomplished with
out the country being thoroughly informed
as to the step and its consequences. II
will be opposed In congress and out OF 1t by
the right-thinking men OF the country IRE.
spective of party, and by a great majority
OF the press. The lesson that the colonial
troubles of England in Africa are teaching,
the irritation in Europe about petty ques
tions OF distant and unimportant boundary
marks. the spectacle of the hogs trying to
get all four feet In to the trough, will not be
without their weight, but there are ques-
tions of right and wrong-more important
than those of decency or pollcy-questions
of national morality and honor, of principle
and the rights of the oppressed.
In 1894 the senate unanimously adopted
resolution that Hawaii had right TO
establish and maintain its own form of
government, the United States not to inter
fere Herewith, other nations not to inter-
vene." That was i'm line with the doctrine
OF Webster and all our great statesmen.
The same year, on February I, the house
OF representatives adopted similar but even
stronger resolution. Why should there be
a change OF front? The islands are safe;
their freedom from foreign control is guar
anteed by us, we have their trade as we
always have had because 1t is to their great
advantage; annexed we would need to defend
| them al great cost. and they require no de-
| Tense now. Besides what was right ana
| congress declared to be right in 1894 is
| right now. We have nothing to do with
| organizing the affairs OF Hawaii. They are
| her own business. If the people want a
| monarchy let them have it, If a republic,
| they know how to form and maintain It,
| but we have no right to steal country under
| philanthropic mask, nor to consummate
an annexation upon a preteXt that covers =
| lob and especially have we no right to
| do 1T without the consent of the people OF
| that country
The case of Alaska is in no way parallel.
! 1t was ceded to the United States by a ma
| tion having the power to do so, but quite
| independently of that Alaska had mere
handful of Indians neither qualified to con-
sent nor reject, and Senator Morgan is
| beside the question when he uses 1t as a
Justification of the Hawaii project
The strategic argument for annexation has
been used with many variations. To sent
coal 1000 miles across the sea and then sent
war ships there to get it in order to defend
San Francisco and the Oregon coast il
strategy that must appear incomprehensibl
to the average mind. 1t is said, too, that thu
islands lie in the path of commerce betweel
the Pacific coast and japan and China. A
a matter of fact they are 900 miles south o
the line OF direct sailing.
The pending treaty proposes that the Unite
States shall assume the debt of $4,000, 900 con
tncted by the Dole oigarchy, and pay 1t
After that. in order to make the allege
strategic position defensible-only by an al
most impossible combination of circumstance
can it become valuable-S5, ,0o0 000 or Si,0000 00
more will be needed And that will be onl
Il the beginning in vain effort which will
! profit no one and benefit not at all the peopl
of Hawaii.
1t is further urged that England is maxim
a new Gibraltar at Esquimalt, and that W
need balance to her developing strength O.
the northwest coast. 1t may be So but let
l be on our own coast. Let it be a Gibralta
that defends and protects something. Their
) are strategic positions at the mouth of tn
= and Seattle. and the port of San Francisc
has possibilities for an iceal defense. Il
then, a naval and military stronghold
needed on the Pacific let it be where tn
people of this country will profit by it, wher
2 1t may serve to defend our own people an
property, and not the interests OF race allie
: in spirit and character to our own. We hav
k one color problem unsolved. We do not seer
L to assimilate the black people who are ou
fellow citizens. the red men who are no
and it is more than certain that we will als
fail with these children of the islands of tll
sea who can ooly repay our intimacy wit
4 the leprosy that is their racial heritage.