The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-01-10
INEXCUSABLE ERRORS.

Springfield, Mass, on Dec. 21st. Mr..
Edward Atkinson, an eminent New En-
glander, a writer of great force, a
leader in industrial progress, and the
steadfast friend of humanity made the
following remarks regarding these Is
lands:
81 Will not deal with the so-caIled
moral reason--the missionary enter
prise. I have the greatest honor and
esteem for the missionaries. / have
not, however, a great regard for the
missionary enterprises in the Sandwich
Islands. We found there large num-
der of happy, contented people. They
enjoyed their lands and lives. There
is now left only a decaying remnant,
who are infected with disease, from
which they can never get clear. They
own a small share of their land, and
more than one-third of that land is in
the hands of the sons and daughters
OF those missionaries. Piety and pro-
fit have gone hand in hand"
Mr.. Atkinson, if he had chosen to
do so, could at any time, obtain the
truth about missionary enterprise in
these Islands, from impartial men who
are not missionaries and can be found
within a stone throw of his office. He
seems rather TO have preferred to get
his facts out of the Encyclopedia of
Lies, edited by the Father of Lies, and
compiled from the literature Of the ir-
responsible beach comber.
We do not defend all that the mis-
sionary has done in his philanthropic
work here, any more than We defend
the conduct of the Puritans in many
things. Whatever the missionary er
rors have been, they are not those spe-
CITED by Mr.. Atkinson. The universal
cause of truth is not promoted by the
ABSOLUTELY incorrect statements made
by him. We believe, moreover, that
Mr. Atkinson is not the kind of a man
to disparage unselfish, and valuable
work in the creation of little nation
atty in the Pacific, that has command
ed the respect of all nations.
The man who, in these later years
has done more to publish, as the actual
truth, the wild statements of the beach
combers regarding missionaries is
Julian d. Hayne who has just been
convicted Of forgery IN New York city,
and his trial revealed a rare record OF
villainy in many places. 1t was not
surprising to us that he and Capt.
julius A. Palmer were drawn towards
each other, while residing here, by a
al,
When Hayne discovered that the mis-
sionary had no use for him, he prompt
ly began to repeat the stale story about
1.-The robbery of the natives by the mis-
sionaries,' as they We're developed in
the dives This story is the slogan
Of every cad who has infiamed his
imagination with the rancid legends of
luxurious license of the tropics, and be-
lieyes that the missionary stands in
his way; of every wandering tramp
who has failed to become prosperous
and hates the sight of prosperity in
others
If Mr. Atkinson had looked up the
records of the transfer of real estate ON
these islands, he would have found that
the missionaries owned only a small
fraction of it, while those who are not
missionaries, the many corporations,
the ranchmen. the trustees of the great
Paualli Bishop estates, the property of
a native Hawaiian, and the government
itself, owned the far greater part of the
land The statement that more than
one-third of the land is owned by the
sons and daughters of the mission
aries is absolutely false.
MIR. Atkinson could readily have as
certained the fact that the kings, chiefs
and thinking natives, for many years,
warned the people against mortgaging
and selling their lands and that special
provisions have been made by law, for
securing homesteads to the natives, but
the natives have preferred to let their
homesteads go and flock to the towns.
Mr. Atkinson could have read, il he
had chosen to do so, the history of the
grand "mahele,'' and the persistent
work OF the missionaries in securing
for every native in the group fee SIM
pie homestead, without price in substi-
tuition for a feudal tenure.
Mr. Atkinson has allowed himself to
be betrayed into making a grossly I'M
lust charge, through his ineXcusable
Ignorance. The sons and daughters OF
the New England missionaries to these
Islands have the right to expect bet
ter comment from Mr.. Atkinson on the
honest efforts of the descendants of the
Pilgrims to create here a New England
in the tropics If the dead hear, the
ghost of one OF the late Chief Justices
of Massachusetts, would have risen and
checked those slurring words upon his |
own flesh and blood, and the efforts of