The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1898-08-12
THE MISSIONARIES ACCOUNT.

AS Hawaii, at noon, becomes a part
of the national domain, the missionary
may also present his accounts at the
same time with the Christian civiliza-
ton that sent him here, seventy-eight
years ago. Today is day for bal
ance sheets. for general reckoning, for
taking account of stock.
The missionary offered. in 1920, to
teach the native rulers, and the sarfs as
well, reading and writing and the rud-
iments of education. He assumed the
responsibility of it. 1t was his phil
anthropy and the philanthropy of the
people who sent him
Neither trader or sailer, or whale
man or merchant shared in that phil
anthropy. Trader and merchant of
those days robbed the Kings and peo-
pie, debauched the women, and demon
allied the men with rum. Even New
England, in search of oil. which was
gold, set loose her legiOns Of heather,
in the garb of whalemen, upon these
simple people. The missionary fought
the heathenism of his own country as
sturdily as he fought the heathentsm
of Polynesia, because it struck at or
der, virtue and progress. Among his
dangerous foes were the descendants
of the Puritan, in search of gold in
the Pacific, for they threw away their
principles before they crossed the
equator, and believed the Devil reigned
under the Southern Cross. Churches,
schools, and good government stood
in their way.
The missionary, not in search Of
gold, opened the schools, and the
churches, and patiently taught the
Puritan theory of government. He
CROPPED greatly in the dark, as all men
CROPPED in the dark then, and do now,
and will do in the coming ages, until
the progress of the world is end-d. If
his light was dim, it was the aim light
of New England, the light of the tai
low candle, instead of the electric light
Of modern study ara knowledge
Only men and women who had the
time and were filled with devotion to
the caus3, could discharge the trust
they had assumed for American phil
anthropy After three-quarters of
century OF patient work, ably assisted
by those who had a common sympathy
with them, they fixed permanently in
these Islands a system Of education,
which has no peer in the tropics It's
defects are the defects of the Anglo
Saxon schools elsewhere. But the
system is now part of the life of the
people. 1t is this that has dispelled
the fear of American statesmen that
the native population would be a men
ace to good government, though it
might not be in itself sufficient for
self government.
The account which the missionary |
hands in today must be credited with |
the establishment of the form of good |
government during a half century, |
though he could not supply its sub
stance; of the planting of the institu-
tons OF civilization here, though he
could not maintain them in their in
tegrity.
The true balance sheet may debit
him with a want of a certain knowl-
edge and wisdom. But the noblest
and wisest philanthropists of their
time were equally deficient, just as
we, of the later age, see the dehcien-
cies of Cotton Mather and the Puri-
tan.
The result of their works, valuable
as it was and is, is still disappointing,
when measured by the standards erect
ed by their own hope and enthusiasm.
1t was not strange that they failed to
comprehend the conservative power of
the racial habits in mind and morals.
What the value of the assets which
are turned over to the American peo-
pie today, viii be in a century, no one
can estimate. Another balance, struck
off a hundred years from now, will
show.