The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-07-16
DIR, JORDAN
ON HAWAII
Talks of His Work
In the Island
Waters.
HIS VIEWS ON
DOMESTIC POLITICS
Annexation Of Hawaii to Cali.
fornia Not a Vital
Question.

Among the passengers who are to
sail on the Sierra today is DR. Da-
vid Starr Jordan. the president of Stan
ford University, who has been in the
Islands for the past two months, max
ing Investigations along the line of his
ing of the work he and his associates
had accomplished and of his impress
sions of the Hawaiian Islands, DIR. Jor-
dan said yesterday:
During the time the Fish Commits
sion has been here it has captured 235
kinds of fish. Color notes have been
different fish we have caught seventy
are new TO science. Thirty-five of these
were found in the waters of Honolulu
and twenty of Hilo. Something like fif-
teen were found to be common to both
places. The work of making laws for
the protection of the fishing industry Of
the Hawaiian Islands will also devolve
to large extent upon the report of our
commission Unfortunately, we have
Everman, who was an invalid during
his entire visit However,, the rest of
US feel that we know the conditions and
the needs of things sufficiently well to
be able, under his guidance, to frame
such laws as will benefit the fishing in
dustry of this Territory.
LAS TO the transplanting of foreign
fish into these waters, I doubt if it can
), f,,1ly af..r-
streams are so small and their chan
nels are so precipitous, that l feel safe
in saying it would not be worth the
while There are certain forms of ed
ible mollusks that would, / think, do
well in the waters of the Hawaiian ISL
ands, and an attempt may be made to
introduce them here.
"On the next steamer from the Coast
we expect DR.. Oliver Jenkins, whoShas
had, until the present time, the largest
and most general collection of Hawaii
an fishes to be found anywhere. In
1889 he visited the Hawaiian Islands at
his own expense and made his collec-
ton. He began work upon them but
was shortly after called to the chair of
physiology of Stanford University, and
his duties in that capacity have been so
ldhlHS liIdl lie has NOT udu lIflt lol
anything else. OF late. since he has had
the trip to the Islands in view, he has
made some systematicl studies along
the line that we too are following. He
has also issued several pamphlets of
late on Hawaiian fishes. The most
recent of these came by the latest mail.
LAS to the political and social condi
tions of Hawaii, I was familiar with
A-s,. 1@1f
came. The state of things in the ISL
ands is being exaggerated to no little
degree in the East Affairs are not half
so bad as some of the newspapers try
to make out. The problems of the
Hawaiian Islands are those of the trop-
les, but under much more favorable
circumstances than we find them else
where The trade winds do. much to
preserve human life and make exist
ence durable. Still, as I said, all the
factors that are to be found in tropical
problems are to be found here Among
these, and one unsolved as yet, is this
one: Can the tropics be made to pro-
duce those social conditions that will
make all men free and equal? So far,
some form of slavery, either open or
disguised. has existed in all countries
grees south. The problem is a new
one, and its solution is yelled by the flu
ture.
"As to the native legislators they
will do their worst the first year they
are in power, and will improve, 1 am
sure, from one session to another. To
insure absolute equality, the elective
franchise theoretically should not be
h haId ait 10 49,,
Japanese, but whether this would be the
best thing for practical results is more
than / or anyone else can determine.
There seems to be a good deal of
quarreiing here among opposing fac
tons. This is always a characteristic of
isolated communities, and will wear off
as the Hawaiian Islands come more in
touch with the outside world and take
their place in the world at large.
AS to the annexation of the Hawaii
an Islands with California, considerable
talk has been INDUCED in both for and
against the measure. To me it seems
hardly worth the while talking about,
for l fail to see just now how or where
it is vital question. 1t can certainly
not take place until a cable connects
the Hawaiian Islands with California.
This, at the very least, will be not less
than three or four years hence. Then,
too, the people of California will have
to be consulted in the matter. / hardly
believe that the people of the State
which seems to have caused so much
unrest in the hearts of the people here,
would greet the proposition open arm
ed. The people of California would not
welcome the idea of having to wait for
the election returns from Niihau to
find who had been elected Governor.
II have been quoted as saying GER
tain things in the papers here on this
subject. The entire matter arose out
of chance remark dropped by me on
the street one day, and was Immediate
ly taken up, not because I had said
what I did. but because these very
same things had been said before by
others. My own opinion is that Hawaii
has her own problems to solve, and
that she should settle them. More than