The Pacific commercial advertiser., 1897-07-16
JAPANESE IMMIGRATION TO HA-
WAII.

q
accepting the offer which has been
made for annexing this group to
its territory, is the necessity of Sc
curing control of an outpost of I'M
mense value as a naval depot and
base of supplies in the event of
war. No European or Asiatic
power possesses any important nav
al station in the North Pacific near
the American coast, except Eng
land, and it is not likely that there
will ever be war between her and
the United States; while it is not
improbable that war may take place
with some other power. In these
days warships are wholly depend
ent on coal, and without a sufficient
supply of it, they are utterly help
less at sea as war vessels, and OF
course must be at the mercy of any
more fortunate rival. The very
possession of Hawaii as a naval sta
ton, might prevent threatened
war, especially with Japan, the
only nation that can now be con-
sidered as a rival to the United
States in its possession, and which
will most surely acquire it, in some
way or other, and in the near future
too, if America declines the offer.
The fact that there are 10000
Japanese males now here, possess
ing no rights of citizenship, nor
any special rights save those of do
micil, granted alike to all foreign
ers, many of which japanese are
intelligent and more or less edu-
Gated. some of whom have been
trained as soldiers-leaves an open
question whether if the demand
should be made by the japanese
government, the present Hawaiian
government would not be COM
PEELED by pressure to amend its
law and grant to them the rights
of citizenship. If positively de-
MED, what consequences might re-
suit need not be predicted. Some
may say that this is idle talk, but
revolutions have sprung from
smaller causes than this. No one
would object to the large immigra-
ton of japanese, were a like num-
Der of Americans or Europeans to
migrate hither, with their families
and settle. But it is the large num-
Der of one nationality, that do not
speak a language understood by
any other nationally here, that
now attracts attention. Very large
numbers of Europeans enter the
United States annually, large ma
jority of them being strangers to
the English language and customs.
But they speak a dozen or more
different languages, and can never
be banded together as menacing
element. In few years their ma
tive dialects and habits are lost in
the vast English-speaking crowd of
Americans, whose customs, habits
and speech they adopt. Not so
with japanese in Hawaii. They
are a separate distinct class, speak
ing a language of their own, living
and doing business in their own
peculiar way, and such, are a me-
mace to the peace of the country,
unless controlled by a stronger
arm than that of Hawaii. Herein
lies the risk attending this new ele-
ment of our population, which
must be guarded against in future,
or Hawaii will become japanese
colony within very few years. In
the earlier days of japanese mod
ern history, thepeople were forbid
den to leave that country, and very
few went abroad to remain. 1t was
this fact that disarmed the negoti-
ators of our first treaty with Japan,
made in 1871. Neither Minister
Long nor the Kings Ministers here
anticipated any change in the ex-
listing regulations, and therefore
made no provision for a contingen-
CIV which was never anticiDated as