The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1898-01-31
THE Personal FACTOR.

the cause of annexation. The scene at
lude to many scenes of like enthusi |
asm which will take place wherever
he appears in public. And what is
believed in enthusiastically by the peo
pie, will be believed in by wavering
Senators.
OF the papers received from the
Coast, all, save the organ of the anti
anneXationists, speak in. glowing
terms terms of President Dole's arri-
val, and consider that he will render
material assistance to the advocates
of the annexation treaty. His appear
ance, his long and honorable service
as public man in Hawaii, his digni-
fled and polished manner, will do
much to set aside, says one paper, the
charges that the Republic is the crea-
ture of a gang of adventures, and that
annexation is their last desperate play
for safety.
There have been many who have diff
fered upon the ACCESSIBILITY of Mr..
Dole's visit. The question can only
be settled by the result, and the news
of two days is not going to settle who
is right and who is wrong. But the
question of Mr.. Dole's personal popu-
larity is settled. and the personal pop
ularity is factor in great movements
in great countries, just as it is fac
tor in the politics of smaller places.
The President has arrived in the
States at an suspicious time. The an
ti-anneation wave which rolled over
the States before Christmas, is now
having a reflex action, and Mr. Dole
will, as it were, be upon the very top
of the tide which has set in for the
cause that he represents.
The events in the East are hasten
ing with such alarming rapidity, that
the whole American people is being
aroused to the commercial danger
which threatens the United States. 1t
is becoming daily more apparent. even
TO those who give little heed to such
matters that if the growth and pros
perity of American manufactures is
to continue, the United States must
not only have markets open to her, but
she must occupy a commanding posi-
ton in the Pacific Ocean, which will
give her both naval and commercial
preponderance. From one end of the
States to the other the note of alarm
has been sounded, and it is being
readily taken up.
Those papers who have been against
annexation in a sort of half-hearted
way, are beginning to talk of pro-
tectorate This in itself is a sign of
the times. But a protectorate gives all
the responsibility of annexation with
out its advantages. \ protectorate
might allow "A party hostile to the
United States to grow up here, and
never word could she say to prevent
it. 1t would be an internal matter and
therefore not in her jurisdiction. The
experiment of tripartite protecto-
rate in Samoa has not been such a
brilliant success either for the protec-
tors or the protected that anyone,
with any knowledge of affairs, would
like to see anything of the kind re-
I,In do
must be one thing or the other. 1t
must be hold on completely with an
nexation, or it must be let go.
1t is at this juncture of affairs that
President Dole has arrived, and no
one can deny that his arrival, if it
ever We're to have IA good effect, must
have it now. We all know the quota
ton: "There is tide in the affairs
of men, which, taken at its food, etc. "
1t is as true of countries as it is of in
dividual men. 1t is by no means the
first time that the presence of one par
ticular man, in the nick of time, as it
were, has had an effect upon large
numbers. In looking at large masses
we entirely underestimate the per-
sonal factor Though the intolerant
spirit was there, it only took Peter the
Hermit, with his single voice, to launch
the chivalry of Europe upon the first
crusade. 1t was Renzi's single voice
that drove the medieval mobiles out of
Rome, and other and greater instances
might be cited. The single personality
is wonderful factor and should not
be underestimate, even when consid-
ering mass of seventy millions of
people. But when is added to the