The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1898-07-08
The Inhabitants of Hawaii.


Now that Hawaii has really become
American soil new interest attaches to
the article in the current Forum by the
inspector general of Hawaiian schools,
Mr.. Henry S. Townsend, upon THE
People of Hawaii" We noted recently
what he had to say with reference to
their education. Let us now follow his
testimony concerning their character
and morals.
OF the 1O1 900 inhabitants of the is
land 81, 900 are native Kanakas- docile.
inoffensive, charmingly hospitable and
light hearted, honest in business and
in the main trustworthy but with lax
ideas on the subject of social purity
which are incurring retribution in the
form of steady decline in the birth
rate. This element in the population
offers a field for missionary work but
presents few difficulties to a success
full government. Next Mr.. Townsend
considers the Portuguese element.
numbering in 1896 about $4,000. This
class were imported beginning some
eighteen years ago, to do plantation
labor under contract. They have al
ways been industrious. thrifty and law
abiding. Most of them, having served
out the term Of their contracts, are
now working for themselves as small
farmers, teamsters, mechanics, mer-
chants and overseers of labor. They
are not noted for good education but
Mr.. Townsend says they stand among
the foremost as frugal and peaceable
citizens. He compares them to our dis
advantage with the cheap labor i'm
ported into the Pennsylvania mine
fields from Hungary, Italy, Bohemia
and Poland.
The Chinese, who number 1876. have
in Hawaii the same faults which are
noticeable among the Chinese on this
continent. They gamble, they violate
the laws relating to opium, and they
constitute a menace to women. But
otherwise they are not hard to govern.
The fact that there are ten male
Chinese to one female is indicative that
their stay is transitory and not per-
manent. The stoppage of additional
immigration of this kind, provided for
in the Newlands resolution, will open
the way to their gradual elimination
Yet even as they are there are worse
persons in the United States than the
| Chinese
The Japanese, numbering 24,4O7, are
| of the lower class. Were they repre-
sentative of the intelligence and cul-
| ture of the Mikado's empire no better
| citizens could be desired. Yet even as
| it is Mr.. Townsend represents them as
| being reasonably industrious and we'll
| disposed. 'As a class" he says, they
are law-abding; though individuals of
this nationality commit a fair per-
| centage of our crimes. Yet the officers
| of the law have never encountered any
| serious resistance to their authority at
| the hands of the Japanese. Sudden
outbursts of temper have caused a
| number of them to commit the most
serious crimes during the past year
| These crimes have been directed
| against their own countrymen, and in
most instances have been attributed to
the disparity of the sexes; there being
four times as many men as women In
all such cases the law takes it's even
course being scarcely resisted by the
criminal himself, and never meeting
with any organized resistance on the
part of the japanese" The problem
here presented, while large, is evil
IDENTIFY not discouraging.
The remaining inhabitants of our
new possession consist of Americans
(3,0S6), British (2,250), Germans Q,4S2)
and Norwegians (37S), to which we may
add S,4S5 part Kanakas, who approx
mate the Caucasians in vigor and intel
ligence The men of white skins asso
ciate and assimilate naturally as they
do in the States. Their character in
telligence, perseverance and energ,
need no explanation, being fully win
dicated in what they have made o
Hawaii in the few years that Anglo
Saxon genius has been at work upoi
its reconstruction and uplifting to tn
plane of a civilized state. But Mr.
Townsend, in closing his article. note
a few points without which this cur
sorry review of Hawaiian condition
would be incomplete. He says ther
are no lynchings out there and no ad
vocates or apologists for any. ME
sleep in safety of property and perso
In houses unlocked; and women traye
! unattended and without fear in ever
district of the Islands. We have nei
ther almhouses nor mendicants; an
: there is nothing in our population t
, correspond with the tramp or tn
, beat" A community of which thi
can be said is by no means a dea
Z weight on American civilization. II 800
: | Americans working against such odd
| can do so much it will not take 20, 900
/ 600 Americans long to complete tn
' islands regeneration.
a | -
The news that the Spanish prisoner
, | of war will be located ar portsuou