The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-01-13

tofore annexation may haVe been largely
question of sentiment, it hs~ now prao-
tically come down 10 q queStio- of bust
ness dealing. This being the Case il is
pliShed that there viii he any disposition
on the part of the United States to tau
pose such conditions as viii ultimately
result in detriment to Hawaii: that is to
say, we are placed more upon an equal
footing far as treating upon the queS-
ton is concerned than We were in 1898:
1t is most likely that special session
of Congress will be called soon after the
Inauguration of the new President, and
while the main feature of that session
will probably be the discussion of the
tariff il is likely that the Hawaiian ques-
ton will receive attention at the same
time. Much. of course, VIII depend upon
the attitude of the incoming admlnlstra-
ton, and while we may not expect to be
referred to in either the President IN
augural or his first message to Congress,
there seems every reason to believe that
the question Will be brought forward
early in the session.
There are various methods of bringing
up the question for discussion. one Is
by the re-introducuon OF the treaty OF
1898 which has never been finally disposed
of. although withdrawn by President
Cleveland soon after his inauguration
Another method is by joint resolution
of both House and Senate consenting
TO annexation, and another is by the
concurrent resolution of the House con-
senting to and recommending annex
alton leaving the details to be settled
by a treaty confirmed by the Senate.
Certainly never before and perhaps
never again Will the opportunity occur
for the more favorable discussion and
action upon this question.
At the close of the Minister'S speech,
Mr.. Thurston said he would introduce n
gentleman who had been called by the
Advertiser 1.-The youngest member of
the Legislature" The gentleman is
no &c
men are coming to the front, and it was
not necessary for men to be old to
know what was best for a community
Young men could know as much as
men with gray hair or even those who
had no hair at all on their heads" He
then introduced Hon. A. G.. M. Robert
son. who said:
Mr.. President and Gentlemen:-AnneX-
alton is no new subject with us and does
not need Introductory. L am an an
neXationiSt because it is the best thing
for the country, those who are here
now and those to come. BY annexation
we get stability; without it we will have
retrogression. 1t is true that while we
have had Stagnation in the past, we have
also progressed through the reciprocity
treaty, and l say that that reason is
enough, even if there was no other. The
opponents of annexation offer no argu-
ment against annexation; they growl and
opponents may be divided into three
classes-those who are afraid they won't
make enough money, those who oppose
through sentiment, and those who have
no reason. We might consider those who
oppose on financial reasons and who owe
all they have to the reciprocity treaty,
but, gentlemen, if that treaty was abro-
gated, to use plain words, they would be
bankruptS.
Those who oppose through sentiment de-
sire independence such as we had during
History does show
that their independence amounted TO
much when little French man-of-war.
could come along and dictate terms. And
again, when the English man-of-war
with Lord George Paulet came along
and hauled down the flag. In 1876 there
was another opportunity for display of
independence when a French man-of-war
came along and demanded return of har-
Dor dues that had been paid into the
Government years before In 1874 when
the King was held on his throne by
British and American bayOnetS was no
evidence of its Independence. Again in
1887 when the matter of Neckar Island
as a cable station was under discussion
and President Cleveland was appealed to.
that was not an evidence of very great in
dependence. Let us go back only to 1893,
when it is said that a squad of marines
from the Boston dethroned the Queen
and set up a republic. Does it show much
independence when a little vessel like the
Boston could come down here and over
turn the Government? (Applause.)
It may be that some runaway criminals
and refugees from justice are here and
oppose annexation. 1t may be true be-
cause the country is safer for them today
than when we become part of the
Union. With annexation it will not be
necessary to go to the trouble of taking
out extradition papers, and these fellows
will not be as comfortable. 1t has been
said that there is an objection to annex
alton because there would be a lot of car
petbaggers come to Hawaii If men are
willing 10 come here with capital and eS-
tablish themselves in business, even tho
they come with carpetbags, L have no OBJ
lection. There number of our best
who came here as carpetbaggers;
our ancestors were such, and for one am
willing to have annexation II IT VIII BRING
more of them.
At the close of Mr.. Robertson's speech
there was loud and continued applause.
Mr. Thurston said there was gen
tleman present capitally fitted to speak
on the subject, and he might be able
to say what the Hawaiian Congress
would do in the matter. He then IA
troduced Senator J. A McCandless,
who said:
Mr.. Speaker and conference.-the pre-
vious speakers have the advantage of me
because they are lawyers and are accus-
toned TO committing their strings of ideas
to memory. With me it is q little differ
ent. / have been so busy the last few
days, boring wells, that I have not had
time to memOrize, so have had to scr1b-
bic down a few things which / want to
say to you. This Club was organized
about four years ago for the purpose of
assisting in the annexation of the Ha
waiian Islands to the United States. q
measure which l believe has been in con-
temptation by the various administra-
tons of affairs of that Government for