The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-04-25
SCHEME TO GRAB HAWAII?
TH0USANDs OF JAPANESE POURING
INTO THE ISLANDS.

Tho N1ikado suspected or an intention First to
Obtain Political Control or Hawaii nnd
Then 60 Annex Theu-worId-wide Plans
OF Acknowledgement Attributed 10 Japan.
Los ANGELES, April 19.-whcn tho cruiser
Philadelphia was despatched TO Honolulu there
was q very general feeling Of satisfaction
throughout all tho Pacific coast States. That
sentiment was duo to the belief that the Jup-
anose Government has for month been steadily
pouring subjects Of Japan into tho islands, in
order TO get control Of political affairs, and
eventually gain possession Of Hawaii.
Men familiar with affairs In Hawaii say that
It has been the intention of tho Japanese Gov
eminent to wait until tho Japanese in the
islands should number moro than the native
Hawaiians, and moro than all the other foreign
ers. and then to demand for them the same
political rights as the natives enjoy. Even with
limited suffrage they would soon DO In practical
control Of the Government, and Its affairs would
be administered as the Mikado's Government
saw At. And should some crisis arise. such as
diplomacy can always create, Japan would
step in and take actual possession. A
gentleman who spent nearly all Of last
year in Hawaii says that during his stay there
the Japanese Government has been simply pour
ing its people into the islands. There was no
demand for plantation labor, as tho sugar PLAN
tations had time contracts not yet worked out
with all the laborers they will need for months to
come. Many Of the new arrivals evidently were
not accustomed to work. and they did not att
tempt to find work after they landed in Hawaii.
They were young men, with no funds of their own,
and yet thcy were supported in idleness, appar-
emily by the same power that sent them there.
Chief Justice Judd of Hawaii gives the num-
Der Of Japanese in the islands as 24,4OO. Of Chi
nese 21,600, and of Hawaiian natives 81 600.
He says that recently / 500 Japanese were landed
in one week, and that the regular increase has
been from 1900 to 1000 a month. t this rate.
overrun the islands, And what We most fear
then is that they will think they ought to have
Agentleman Of this city, whose business makes
it necessary for him to spend much time in ia
pan. takes an even more startling view Of the
case than those already quoted. He spends
Japanese, living intimately with them in their
lagos. He has been doing this for SO many years
that he knows them as he knows his own coun-
the sending of two Japanese warships to Hawaii:
1t has been evident to me for q long time
to do it gradually, in just this sly. stealthy way.
They are amazingly ambitious, as a nation, and
v world. wf But to to do ee t6nt so sfs Of f thiaaS tnfes on m1 seS
and seize whatever they can lay hands on which
And this sort of colonization Job which
they have been practising on Hawaii is
tIo WHY Cdp IA VI II liz IL
and be SO eTqpisitely polite as to dis
guise their real intention, whether that be
grabbing territory or making a foreigner pay
three times its value for a piece of pottery. But
they never forget for a moment what they want,
and let them get as much as one finger on it and
they never let go until they get it. From max
ing treaties down to selling paper lanterns they
can drive a harder bargain than a Yankee and
lie more braZenly than a horse trader, and be so
suave and so courteous all the time that they
can make you believe you are cheating them out
OF their eyes when they are really skinning your
very teeth.
I'm politics they have the same patience that
other occupation slowly and cautiously. max.
ing little apparent progress. but keeping their
own ends in view and never making a mistake.
They mean to be some day the biggest, greatest,
strongest nation in the world. and from the
Mikado down to the poorest laborer in the tea
fields there isn't a Japanese but Is willing to
contribute what he can toward bringing about
that result, though it may be two hundred years
In coming. For my part, l can't help believing
s shst t 6sy w W d. %aoe 1R9 Il ib whs anss re the iSG really nS
states-they haven't got it yet-we are
going to have the biggest fight with
them We've ever had with anybody,
the Chinese that they think they could whip any
other nation. But they are shrewd enough to
keep out OF entanglements of that sort until
they can raise revenues without squeezing
in Hawaii. and they, will get Hawaii, too, with
out much clay. IL this Government doesn't an
mex the islands and compel the Nikado to keep
his hands of. l am anxious. about what will
happen when the Philadelphia and these two
are going to put up a bold front and demand the
last letter of their treaty rights, and as much
more as they think they can get