The White Pine news. [volume] (Treasure City, Nev.) 1868-1906, 1898-02-05
RBV. FATHER EDMOND HAYES
TELLS OF HIS TRIP TO
HAWAII.

While we differ with him on the sub
ject of annexation, his views, being the
result OF personal observation, are at
least worthy of careful consideration.
A reporter of the Friday World called ON
Father Hayes and in the next issue OF
his paper says:
ut was our pleasure to meet the rev
erend gentleman next day, while yet
his room was strewn in delightful pro-
fusion with the eurios he had brought
with him and the hundreds Of papers
and letters that had accumulated in
his absence. He offered us a cigar
made In Honolulu that cost Zoe by the
box, and we sat down together and he
told us many interesting things about
his trip. He went because he enjoys
travel-it's a splendid education. He
went first to White Pine County, Me-
vada, where he has brother and sis
ter living, and where he delivered a
lecture on tOur Country, which was
sketched by the local paper. 1t ex-
pressed some excellent ideas on the land
question. As he iourneyed across to
Portland he took in all the notable
sights enroute, and sailed from San
Francisco in company with Princess
Kaiulani--that ia ON the same ship
bound for Hawaii.
1t Is about this interesting island that
We are most eager to hear Father
Hayes speak, because the question oil
annexation has been made national
issue by the Presidents message which
fayors annexation. Father Hayes made
a thorough study OF the question on
| q ii. l. t.
posed to the annexation project which
he characterizes as the mercenary
scheme of the sugar trust to increase
the value of its property there and pre-
vent IL from ever having to pay n re.
venue duty on its importatiOns into
this country of Chinese raised sugar.
| The scheme further contemplates the
spreading of mortgages all over the ISL
and. He says the military Importance
of Hawaii to this nation has also been
evolved from the Imagination OF the
trust magnates and agents. The islands
are 5000 miles from our shores. They
are peopled by races which can never
be depended upon, and millions OF dol
lars would have to be expended to make
them of the slightest use in war, while
| Il would cost millions more for new war
ships to defend them. Otherwise they
1 could easily be captured by any foreign
nation, and then TO hold them would
| involve this nation IN war
But as beits his calling, it is on mo-
al grounds or considerations Of right
2 nd Justice that Father Hayes opposes
annexation. The islands belong to the
| IIawaiians and we have no right to
seize their country and usurp their gov
eminent. The 40 600 natives are unani-
mously opposed to annexation. He
| found only one native who favored it
and he was rich fellow whose financial
Interests we're with the sugar trust, but
! 9 admitted that patriotism and tho
| welfare of his race were ON the other
side. Father Hayes says that the pres
ont government is downright usurpa
ton and fraud on the part of few
white schemers who voted themselves
| into power. President Cleveland )
prompt action in compelling the usurp-
ers to haul down the American flag from
place where it had no right to be, was
among the best acts of his administra
| ton. The natives want their queen;
she was an expensive luxury TO be sure
at $50, 900 year, but they have the
natural right to choose their own form
of government and we are the last
people on earth to deny that right.
1t is true, Father Hayes says, they are
vanishing race. The white mans
civilization has reduced the population
from 400, 900 to 40, 000 yet he brings
photographs to show1h they are not
lacking in marvellous physical beauty
and perfection. They are very hos
pita bic and pleasant people; not stirring
and pushing but docile and easily
crowded out by the white race.
Father Hayes was infatuated with the
natural beauty of the islands. They
are perfect paradise, perpetual sum-
mer garden, where wild flowers grow
In profusion aid delightful palm groves
abound. The roads are the finest he
ever saw and are lined with pleasure
drivers. The scenery throughout the
islands is of intimate variety and beauty
and In some cases awe inspiring, as in
the case OF the volcano of Kilauea, a
veritable lake of fire. There were only
two drawbacks to the country which
he discovered-lack OF news facilities
and mosquitoes, the latter being so
thick that it is impossible to sleep ex-
cept with mosquito-bars spread over
the bed clear to the floor.
The islands are wonderfully produc-
tive, and rent to the Chinese and Japa-
nese at as high as $50 an acre for rice
and coffee farms. Bananas grow to per-
lection and their skins burst with rich
ness like chestnut burr when frost
comes, while the cocoanuts yield Jersey
milk. The principal food OF the natives
is fruit and bread called poi, made Of
-four from a lilylike bulb called taro.
But the sad feature of this magnifi-
cent trip was the visit to the leper island
OF Molokai, where l, 300 human beings
are isolated from all the world beside
and doomed to a slow and loathsOme
death. Some go about with their ears
nose and fingers eaten away, and in all
stages OF the disease. The government
provides for them literally and there
are two priests and four nuns who have
sacrificed their lives in the interest of
these unfortunates. Only the love Of
God and fellow men could prompt them
to it, for no money could reward them
for the terrible fate which is sure to
overtake them, to perish beneath the
frightful scourge. No protestant mis-
sionaries have ever attempted what
these Catholics are doing. There is
only one white man among the lepers,
a carpenter who had unknowingly used
tools belonging to leper."