The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-05-31
HAWAII NOT A
FREAK COUNTRY
But That is What Mainland
Commentators Try to
Make it.

on tn. mainland poor Hawaii is made
the butt Of many jokes, which, while
innocuous on the whole, display in a
ma jority of cases a profound paucty oi
wit. Joke to contain pith must have
| a close application to some reality. lht
| Mainland funny writers are woefully is-
norant OF Hawaiian customs and anairs
/ and that is why their humor falls with
"A dull thud when it reaches these parts.
There is Just as much crude material IN
Hawaii for the manufacture of Jokes as
anywhere else, but the fellows whose
business is 10 tickle the pubics risibil-
ties are not here to pick 1t up. The an
tique jests about cannibals, missionar-
les and the Hawaiian army are thereto c
rearranged occasionally and served In
the funny columns of the press.
But the Joker is not the one who makes
himself really ridiculous. 1t is the cru
dite editor of the influential daily or III
erary magazine, who, in patroniZinS
way, undertakes to direct the course OF
Hawaiian political and commercial af-
fairs. Probably he never saw this coud-
try or met its people but, like kiLlng' )
armchair warrior, believes his theory su
perior to the experience of those In the
field of action Sometimes this distant
editor is caustic critic, and then his
reason, theory and everything else. Re
cent utterances of The ArgOnaut and
San Francisco News Letter wherein all
things that the editors did not know
about Territorial politics We're thorough
ly aired, are excellent samples of this
class Hawaii is not embraced III the
slope and nothing further than super
fetal comment of matters here is expect
ed of the California press. After the ed
itorial writer comes the cheerful CORE
Spondent, who stops over steamer or
two in Honolulu and dashes off couple
of columns about the whole Hawaiian
Islands. He works himself up to hign
pitch OF aesthetic emotion over native
symphonies. extols the graces of Il Ia
kaako hula and expatia on the beauty
of the bronze skin of the hawaiian faii
ones. AS this writer is generally ro.
mantle and would like to have been borI
! in the eighteenth century, he regrets
that schools, factories. the English ian.
guage and other elements OF civilization
have stepped in to mar this paradise
This same correspondent, during a week d
sojourn at a hotel, acquaints himself
with our political and social necessities
and suggests various reforms.
All in ALL the majority of the commit
nifty are SHOWN before the world as a
laNy, ptOplt, htpl
the heel of the minority, who are rep
resented as money grabbing missionaries.
There seems to be n disposition among
many writers 10 make this a sort of
freak country, wonderland, as II were.
where Americanism IL in the baby STAGE
of its development. while in truth .he
Hawaiian Government has been con-
| fronted with and had its wisdom exerc!s-
ed on as many judicial problems-civil
national and international-as come be-
fore most executive bodies. Its deci-
sons have been usually upheld by Wash
ington and by European capitals. Erro-
neous statements coming from whatever
source are annoying and injurious; out
perhaps as time wears on and cable
reaches out to these shores the world
will grow better acquainted with Hawaii
and the occupation of the romRncer. the
editorial instructor and the shallow jes-
ter will be gone.-Paradise OF the Pa
cifc.