The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-02-19
M|D-P PACIFIC
THINGS
F. G. Carpenters Letter
From Hawaii.
INTERVIEW WITH MR. DOLE
Most Famous Of the Travelling Cor
respondents Writes Entertain
ingly on Local Subjects.

HONOLULU, Jan. 2, 1900.-At the
crossroads of the Pacific, 2,100 miles
from San Francisco, 3,400 miles from
Japan, about 1000 miles from Austria
liza and an almost equal distance from
our new possessions in the Philippine
Islands, l begin this series of letters
for my American readers. am in the
United States of the eastern Pacific.
The American flag floats from the pal
ace, which was not long ago occupied
by King Kalakaua, and in it sits the
President of the Republic of Hawaii,
ready at any moment to give place to
the new government as soon as its ex-
act form has been determined by Con-
gress. l am in the city of Honolulu,
the capital of the Islands, one of the
most beautiful cities of its size on the
globe. Its wide avenues are lined with
palm-shaded gardens, fenced with
hedges OF oleanders and other beauti-
| fnl flowers. It's velvety lawns are at
| their greenest now, in the heart OF
midwinter, and the soft ozonic airs OF
the semi-tropics are ever washing it
clean. Behind me rises the Punch
bowl, an extinct crater, large enough
to hold the drink of all the gods Of all
the nations, and not far below 1t are
the vast plantations on which is annu-
ally raised enough sugar to sweeten
the punch of all humanity.
| Circl1ng the Pacific.
But before l write more about Homo
lulu as 1 see it in passing, let me give
you the outline of the tour which l an
making in the interests of this paper
1t will comprise more than 25, 900 miles
of out-of-the-way travel through the
lcountries and islands of Pacific ocean
including Japan, China, Malacca, the
Dutch East Indies, the Philippines
Australia, New Zealand, the Samoa.
and the Fills. 1t will be a circle of the
Pacific, ending after another visit tx
these Islands at San Francisco, where
it began. l shall spend some months
in each OF the above countries describ
ing the present conditions, investigat
ing the chances fer American trade
and picturing in pen and camera tn,
wonderful changes which are going OIL
: in the Far East.
: l want to describe Japan under th
new treaties, by which Americans cal
now do business in any part of tn
empire; to travel over China, maxim!
my way into the interior; to look int
railroads and other undertaking
} which are now there under way; to de
! scribe how the English manage thei
colonies at Hongkong and the Strait
, settlements, and to visit the wonderful
|, Island OF Java, colony of Holland
, which supports more than $4,000, ,00
tpeople on an area about as large as tn
State of New York. From Java l ma,
possibly visit Sumatra and Borneo, an
, thence make my way down to Austria
: liza, the greatest of England's colonia
possessions. Australia is a continen
IN Itself. and is fast being opened u
, to American trade. 1t has vast cite
2 and is a world of its own.
The Philippines in 1900.
! My first field of work will be tn
= Philippine Islands. 1 shall leave to
morrow for Japan, where / remain lon
: enough to prepare couple of letters
and then push on rapidly via Shangha
! !, and Hongkong to Manila, so that ca
be there month from today.
From Manila expect to make expe
ditions from island to island, as tn
state of fighting will permit. 1 wan
to look into the resources of the coun
try, to describe the plantations, tn
D mines and the forests, and give vo
pictures of the customs, habits an
character Of the people as possi5l
1 American citizens. l go without pref
! udice and with the one aim of ascer
tanning and writing the truth as it j:
: What the Islands are Really Wortl
The real value of the islands an
their possibilities as an investmer
I field for Americans will be anothe
? matter into which l shall look. l wan
t to tell you how business is done, tn
| methods of buying and selling, tn
1 questions of wages and the money
e be made or lost in the various enter
= prises common to the country. Som
5 of the islands have millions of dollars
e worth of sugar estates; others haV
D plantations for raising hemp; ther
l are pearl banks OF the Island or Ba
5 silan, and 1 am told rich deposits {
coal and gold exist in other places. IN