The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1899-07-16


and nothing but the truth about Hawaii
is certainly "a unique undertaking For
wears I'M. press of the United states has
been printing letters that purported 10 de-
scribe things as they We're ON these IS
lands. but L have found that much OF
the matter has emanated from the pens
of subsidized correspondents or from
writer's who relied too much upon their
imagination for their facts. The plain,
unvarnlshed truth about Hawaii mas
been told so seldom as 20 have been over
looked. buried as it was beneath such
O mass of misrepre
That Hawaii is beautiful no one can
DENY That these Islands are among the
choicest Of our new possessions theIe
can be no question. but that they consul
tute an earthly paradise for man ont
of a Job is q statement that IS not u"e
TO fact. For some time the opinion mas
prevailed that AN one had % do was 70
10 to Hawaii and that wealth would
follow as a necessity. on the contrary
Hawaii Is the very last Of all our coIohlal
possessious TO which / should advise a
man 10 20 unless he has sufficient caDi-
tai TO make him independent of circum-
stances for a long time as well as enough
surplus 10 allow him 10 take advantage
of his opportunity when il presents itself.
Even then I question If he would not be
inst as we'll of ina the end If he turned
similar energies and the same amount OF
money TO some line Of business some
where I'm the United states.
/ have many good friends i'm Hawaii
men and women who have received me
kindly and have enabled me TO study the
situation Just as il Is. and / would be
the last person to discourage the settle
ment Of a good class of citizens I'm the
country. but it is only Just to the IN
tending settler as well "a 90 those VINO
will have to feed him and pay his pas
sage back TO the states after he gets
there that he should know just what he
will have 20 contend with when he
reaches this far away Island.
NOT A NEW COUNTRY.
First. il must be remembered that Ha-
Wall is not new country Honolulu
was a city before San Francisco was es-
tablished and the people Of California
sent their children here TO be educated
before 1850. 4 new and undeveloped
country has inducements to offer the
settler but there are no such opDorlunl-
ties here The population or the ISLANDS
IS limited and the mercantile field Is
filled. There are just as many physicians
dentists. and lawyers in Honolulu as
there are I'm any city Of the same size
I'm the United States and almost with
out exception they are men who nave
been educated In the best colleges M
America. This leaves nothing open pul
agriculture and there certainly are OPP
portunitles II one has the capital 10 so
into this business To do this requires
from 5000 10 5000 at the least and u
must be admitted that the returns viii
not no much greater than they would be
from similar investments in the States.
In other words Hawaii IL getting along
very we'll as lt is. and under the present
circumstances any great influx OF colo
nists Is the thing least to be desired.
Eight islands compose the Hawaiian
eroup. the largest Of which IS Hawaii.
II has an area of over four thousand
souare miles and while IL Is very noun
famous it's fertile valleys are flled with
sugar. coffee and rice plantations. Maui
is more generally cultivated, however
for the Hawaii Commercial company has
its HEADQUARTERS here. II Is also the
location OF dozen other plantations and
its sugar interests alone represent a cap
ital Of nearly forty million dollars. There
are some sugar plantations on Molokai,
bur as the leper settlement. 10 which an
the AFFLICTED are banished, Is located
there. IL is not regarded as such a de-
sirable place OF abode as the other is
lands The principal island Of the group
is Oahu on which the capital. Honolulu.
is situated Nearly all the wealth and
population OF the Hawaiian Islands make
their home on oahu. and more cos
mopolltan condemnation OF popula-
ton il would be difficult to imagine.
According 10 the last census that has
been taken the population OF Hawaii was
10000. OF which 80. 436 were kanakas, as
the natives call themselves. N,6oO were
Chinese. Is 600 Portuguese; q 400 Japanese;
s 600 American: 300 English and Scotch,
while the remainder were divided In ma
tionallty among the French, Dutch, Sean
dinavians. Peruvians, Spaniards. and sew
eral other peoples.
The more common people OF Hawaii
are a picturesque and interesting study
fo- while they have a pretense or adopt
inc the customs Of those with whom
they have been thrown In contact they
have stnl retained the traits that hava
been the characteristics OF the race since
the earliest days of savagery. They still
feast on taro, raw fish. and poi that
oueer mixture that looks like paste. feels
like cold yeast and tastes Ike butter
milk. and they arc still the careless.
lazy people they always have been. The
Kanaka man wears a white negigee suit.
much like that OF his more civilized bro