Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1899-11-16
.-s- .as HAWAII ANNEXED.
Its Remarkable Advance In Activity
and Prosperity.

and Prosperity.
1t is almost incredible to see what a
substantial and rapid progress has been
made throughout Hawaii since anneXa.
ton TO this country. Before anneXa-
ton there was complete prostration OF
every kind. Now all is changed
Much of the old poetic, picturesque
life remains. The stalwart Hawaii
aness" goes her stately way clad In the
flaming holoka which so becomes her,
wreathed and crowned with leis; the
street laborer and the train driver pur-
sue their vocations also decorated with
flowers. The sound of the paro patch
tddle still sounds through the groves
Of shadowy algaroba, and the strains
of Hawaii Ponoi' yet delight the
heart. But with the old there is new
and vIrile Hawaii the natural and in
evitable successor of that which has
served its time. Honolulu itself has
changed astonishingly. Fine business
blocks have already supplanted the old
buildings and the others are il process
Of construction: the stores are crowded
with the latest fashions i'll millinery
and dry goods; in the fine, well-appoint-
ed book stores David Harum,' The
Rough Riders" and prisoners of
Hope" are placed conspicuouSly on
sale, while the windows are filled with
wonderful photographs illustrating the
recent overflow of Mauna Loa. In one
street gangs of men are laying the
track for new rapid transit line to be
operated by electricity; in others the
new sewer is being constructed which,
when completed, will make Honolulu
one of the most sanitary cities in the
world.
Real estate that was a drug on the
market n year ago can hardly Dd
bought now at any price. In the whole
city and its environS there are hardly
4 dozen lots advertised for sale Hun
dreds of houses have been built, many
of them spacious aud costly villas tha.
are perched upon the lower slopes of
the mountains, but still within tie cor
porate limits of Honolulu. With these
more ambitious dwellings are hundreds
of cottages, not one of which is iacant,
while those not yet completed have
been bespoken for months. new
suburb, Pacific Heights, on the lower
slope of Round Top, commanding a
magnificent view of the city, The har-
Dor and the ocean beyond, has been
surveyed and plotted, and the streets
are being rapidly opened. 1t viii not be
three years until this will be completely
built up, with electric car liues, an
abundant supply of water, and all the
modern improvements of any metro
politan suburb. The electric light plant
for the city itself has been greatly en-
larged. so that even the large grounds
and driveways, az well as TIC resi-
dences themselves, are brilliantly light
ed
OF course, the leading industry of the
islands, sugar planting, has rad an
enormous stimulus, and people CT mod
crate means have grown rich Within
the past year buying and selling
stocks. New plantations are being
opened up with capitalizations running
up into the millions. On those where
irrigation is used the most costly and
perfect machinery is employed-pumps
that force stream of water to the in.
credible height of six hundred feet
thing hitherto believed to be impossi-
BILE. This has redeemed the highlands
which have been supposed to be un-
claimable, and has added to the ara
bic lands throughout the islan+s.
The yield has been almost doubled
in the irrigated lands where cane cul-
ture Is carried on in the most scientific
manner.
Indeed, the sugar industry is hardly
past its infancy, and the future of
these great Hawaiian plantations can
| hardly be forecast 1t has rather cast
coffee growing in the shade, witch is
rather a pity, since no coffee in the
world not even that which passes for
Mocha, can be compared in strength,
| ID, +, 10 II I'M
| to the islands, This, however, will i'm
prove, and no doubt, when the same
energy and knowledge are brought to
bear, coffee plantations will rival the
cane fields. One difficulty has been
that at least three years must elapse
before capital invested In coffee yields
any returns.
Furthermore. while the appropria-
tions made by the Hawaiian legsla.
lures two years ago will carry on the
| Government until January, 1900. should
Congress have made no provision as to
finances after that date the country
Will be placed in very difficult posi-
tion for the United States viii then
be the legal custodian of public moneys
and nothing can be paid without its
sanction. And Congress should bear in
| tlllllu wien lllt CAUSE Ol lthNilll comes
up for consideration. that this is not
a new possession acquired by the force
of arms, but that it is territory that
voluntarily sought annexation to the
United States; that it voluntarily be-
came part of the Union, and that it
cannot be ranked in the same category
with the Philippines, Cuba or Porto
Rico. 1t cause should have precedence
over all the others, and there should be
no delay In completing annexation
which exists, at present, only in the
naIpe, and makes itself felt, chiefly
through its custom house officials.
At present, there is no place for un-
skilled labor or for men without capi
tai. There have been pitiabIc cases
and many of them, of men without
means or trade who have come out to
the islands to become a public charge
who have spent their small savings and
who have had to be sent back. desti-
tute and disheartened. Men who have
sufficient capital and some culling in
wait one or two years, will do well. no
doubt when they finally find Their