The herald., 1898-02-09

At the conclusion OF Chambers r,
marks. the senate, on motion of Davi
chairman of the foreign relations con
; mittee, went into executive session, an
at 500 adjourned.
THE EXECUTIVE SESSION
WASHINGTON, Feb. S.-Senator Pet
tigrew of South Dakota was the onl
speaker on the Hawaiian annexatio
treaty in the executive session of tn
; senate today. He opposed the treaty
resuming his speech where he had lef
off week ago, taking up the line of hi
argument in connection with his asser
tions concerning the area and population
of the islands. He asserted that tn
area capable of sugar cultivation
amounted to fully half-million acres
and said that, as the land was yer.
productive, there was no doubt that al
the sugar necessary to supply the de
mands of the United States could be pro
duced in Hawaii. He quoted officia
statistics to the effect that in clever
months of last year there had beer
496, 100000 pounds of Hawaiian sugar i'm.
ported into the United States. The sen.
ator then undertook to show that all the
sugar grown on the island must be pro-
duced by Asiatic labor, repeating and
celebrating the argument that no col
onies of the Anglo-Saxon race had ever
been successful within the tropics. He
replied to Senator Teller on this point
saying that the facts were against the
Colorado senator's contention, and that
the Hawaiian islands would prove no
exception to the rule that the white man
could not and would not labor in a trop-
ical climate.
He said that of the 100000 people in
Jamaica fewer than Is, 900, including the
British garrison, were white, and in the
straits settlement not l per cent of the
residents were English. He asserted that
in Hawaii there were no European labor
ers, aside from the Portuguese, en-
gagged on the sugar plantations today.
If. he argued, we should annex the is
lands, the Japanese would inevitably
take possession of them, and we could
not in any degree check their inroads
under our new treaty with Japan. which
goes into effect next year. In view of
this fact, he contended that whatever
bounty we give or tariff we levy, the re-
suit would be in the interest of Asiatic
labor in Hawaii. Senator Pettigrew
held that the result of the encourage
ment of this species of labor would be
to the detriment of our own commerce,
which, he contended, is already decin-
ing in the Hawaiian islands. The Asiat-
les, he said, do not buy nor use any
thing we produce. In consequence of
this fact, our exports to that country
have declined rapidly during the past
seven or eight years. He quoted stat
stics to show that this decline since
1891 had amounted to fully s1,O00000,
which. he said, was a large figure for
that country. In the face of this fact,
he said the population has increased to
the extent of about 25,000 in the same
length of time. 1t was true that this
increase of population had been almost
exclusively among the Asiatics, but this
fact only served to emphasize his point
that the Asiatics buy only Asiatic goods
He took issue with those who con-
tend that the islands are in the track of
commerce, saying that they are not in
the way to or from any place or any
If, he said, we would fortify
any outposts in the line of our travel to
the orient, it should be one of the Aleu-
tian islands, which were directly in the
way of the commerce between the two
hemispheres. He held that a fleet
would be necessary for the protection of
the islands if we should own them. and
that if hostilities should be begun
against this country, with our fleet at
we should be in an awkward
nrfn Il 70 oh hot
If our warships do not carry sufficient
coal to bring them from Honolulu to San
Francisco under force draft, while others
carry only little more than enough !.
for that purpose.
Suppose, for instance" he said, "San
Francisco should be attacked by the
enemy, and we should cable to Honolulu
for the fleet, cable having been sup
posedy constructed. Many of them
would not be able to reach our coast, and
if the others should be engaged for day
or two off the coast, their coal supply
would be exhausted, capable neither of
their journey to San Fran
cisco nor of returning to Honolulu"
If, on the other hand, he argued, the
islands should be in the possession of a
hostile power, we would be perfectly Sc
cure from an attack from that source
for the same reason. Then the hostile
vessels would not be able to cover the
great distance between the two coun-
tries, under forced draft, because of the
to carry sufficient coal for
that purpose.
1T is as absurd" exclaimed the SEN
ator, 'to talk of defending San Fran
cisco from Hawaii as it is to talk of de-
New York from Ireland, for the
distance is about the same"
Senator Pettigrew at o'clock, an
nounced that he had not concluded his
speech, but would continue tomorrow.
NOMINATIONS
WASHINGTON, Feb. S.--The Presi-
dent today sent these nominations to the
Senate:
State-Alonzo c. Yates of Virginia, to
be Consul at Patras, Greece.
Justice-Robert e. Morrison, Attor-
ney for the Territory of Arizona.
Navy-Commander Francis A. Bunce.
to be Rear Admiral.
John C. Boggs to be Postmaster at
Cal.
COMBINATIONS
The senate confirmed the following
)ostmasters:
California-C. A. Withrow, Santa
Clara.
IN THE HOUSE