The Hawaiian gazette., 1897-09-24
DANIEL wEBSTER'S SHORT VS.
ION.

49,
When we think Of the teeming popu
lzfion which now fills many portions o
our country west OF the Rocky Noun
tains. and remember how famous
all over The world, is theil
singular beauty and their incom
parable value to the tourist, the
health seeker, the agriculturist ant
the horticuIturist, as well as the miner
tits interesting TO read what so intelli.
gent . statesman as Daniel Webster
thought Of them just fifty years ago
and 10 know that his views were
shared by many other prominent pub
lie men Of the time. In a speech de
Iivered in the United States Senate in
1874. with regard to the proposal that
mail service should be established
between Missouri and the Pacific Coast,
Webster said: What do We want
with this vast worthless area, this re-
Eion Of savages and wild beasts, of
deserts. Of shifting sands and whirl-
winds Of dust Of cactus and prairie
dogs To what use could We ever hope
TO put these great deserts, or these
endless mountain ranges, impenetrable
and covered TO their bases with eter-
nal snow? What can we ever hope TO
do with the western coast, a coast of
81. -A-,.-,~a vile. rob bound
cherries and uninviting, with not
hzrbor on it, What use have we for
such country? Mr.. President, I will
never vote one cent from the public
treasury to place the Pacific coast one
inch nearer Boston than it is today
Scientific American.
And yet this statesman, who
failed 70 see the great value of the
Pacific coast, said in 1912, to
General Marshall Of these Islands,
who, while on his way TO London
as Hawaiian Commissioner. visited h
him while Secretary Of State, IF
England iuterferes in those Islands
1.-THE Hawaiian we Will make a fuss
about II" His craftsmanship fail
ed 20 grasp the inevitable growth h
of the nation. Far-sighted as he
was. he had never studied the posi- I
biliries Of national growth. He Z
was hardly in advance Of the early /
and ignorant Virginia pioneers, (.
who in 1905, pushed their way in I
boats mp the James river to Rich
mond, in the hope Of finding Just Y
beyond that place, the entrance to {
the great South ocean" As they +
utterly failed TO conceive the vast
boundaries Of the continent, so I
Mr.. Webster, two hundred and
fifty wears later, failed to detect the
possible growth of the Anglo-Sax-
on race on the same continent.
The singular aspect of the case
Is, that his Imagination could take
a fiying leap over the continent and
the sea. and with almost superna-
tural vision, see the value of this
Pacific domain, while it utterly
failed to conceive of the magni-
fioent empire lying before it.
In justice to the memory of Mr..
Webster, it must be said that the /
reasons which led him to take this
apparently far reaching view of
Americas relations TO Hawaii, were
the fourishing whaling trade in
the Pacific, and the great import 8
anoe Of these Islands as a resting
and supply station. There was no
speculation about 1t. 1t was an ex-
listing fact. The semi-annual call
At tins port Of several hundred :
whale ships compelled the vigi-
lance Of the American Govern I
ment. lest some other power should d
seize the Islands and cripple the !
industry. But the whale men
slaughtered the whales, Just as the c
seal men Kill off the seals, reckless L
" and without note of the future. Q
The real present, the Importance of 5
Hawaii, fell into temporary abey- L
anoe, only to rise again as the sky +
become dark in the Orient. e
10
THE DEPARTING GUESTS. p