The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-01-10
CHAPTER XII.
The Annexation of Hawaii.

The Annexation of Hawaii.
When in ITS Capt. Cook, the famous
navigator, discovered the Hawaiian is
lands, or the Sandwich islands, as he
called them in honor Of his patron, the
fourth earl of Sandwich, he found there
a large population. According to his es-
innate there were 400, geo souls living I'M
der 4 form Of civilization which in its
main features cu11ously resembled the
feudal organization of medieval Eu-
rope. The king was sole proprietor of
land and sea and people. Under the
king were the great Chiefs the vassaIs,
and under them in turn the people, gen
uine serfs attached to the soil. In con-
nection with their religion, which in it's
external form was little more than the
worship of uncouth images Of wood and
straw, were certain rigid rules of life,
half ceremonial, half slavery, called eta
bus These rules prohibited men and
women from eating together, indicated
certain kinds Of food forbidden to women,
such as pork. bananas, cocoanuts, tur-
ties and some varieties of fish. Certain
days were also set apart, during which
no fires might burn nor noise be made.
At these times dogs were muzzled to pre-
vent their barking and fowls kept in
darkened places lest a cock should greet
the dawn.
Into this strange and indolent tropical
| life Capt. Cook and the sea rovers who
! followed in his wake brought the evil
features of our Christian civilization
| whisky, gunpowder and disease. The en-
! thusiasm with which the simple islanders
| greeted the advent of the first white
| man was within a single year changed
| into hostility, and in 1779 Capt. Cook was
| killed in a quarrel over a stolen boat.
| In 1889 the first American ships, the
| Eleanor and the Fair American, visited
| the islands A boat was stolen by the
natives and broken up for the nails and
| other iron which it contained. The cap
| tain of the Eleanor, believing that such
| treacfery deserved a stern rebulxe, waited
until the waters about his ship We're COW
| cred with native craft and then delivered
| q broadside with murderous effect. This
was the first contact of Hawaiians with
| Americans. Their subsequent intercourse
with our countrymen, if less dramatic,
was quite as deadly. The islands be-
came a famous rendezvous and fitting
place for Pacific whalers, and the evil
| habits and loathsome ailments introduced
| by these rough seamen did much to sap
| the vitality of race peculiarly indispos-
ed to resist the ravages of infectious dis
eases. From that to the present day
the gentle unresisting Hawaiian race has
| marched with rapid strides toward ex-
| tinction. In the place of the fourishing
population noticed by Capt. Cook there
remain at the present day but IS, 600 Ha-
waiians, including those Of mixed blood.
Such is the tragic story of their contact
with our civilization.
About the time of Capt. Cooks visit
certain chief named Kamehameha was
seeking to bring the whole group of ISL
ands under his control. Iron and powder
served his purpose well, and thus
equipped he succeeded in 1855 in carry
ing out his design and founded a dynasty
under whose reign the islands passed
from barbarism to civilization. His
queen, Liholiho, who succeeded him as
regent for their young son, Kamehameha
II, broke the ''tabus'' and burned the
temples with the idols. The old religion
had been outgrown and cast aside and
the Hawaiians presented the strange AMI
perhaps unique spectacle of a people who
had put aside their ancient faith with
out the impulse of a new propaganda,
but simply as a result of cultural devel-
opment, and stood there, religionleSs,
waiting for a new faith to take the place
of the old.
This faith was not long in coming. The
better part Of Christian civilization was
Fastening to repair, in 30 far as It was
possible, the Favages which the baser
part had caused. A band of devoted mis-
sionaries, organized at Park Street
church, in Boston, and consisting of sew
enteen members, arrived at Hawaii in
March, 1920 Their efforts produced re-
suits Of great value. They introduced
the morals and Institutions Of Christian
ity; they reduced the spoken languages
to written form and thereby paved the
way for education, and, what was of the
highest Importance they threw them
selves, at great personal risk, between
the simple natives and the brutal sailors
and labored to build up a sense Of sexual
morality.
Meanwhile the commercial value Of the
islands had begun to attract the atten-
ton of America and British traders. The
first product Of Importance was sandal
wood, and so thoroughly were the ISL
ands exploited for the Chinese market
that the tree has practically disappeared
from the Hawaiian flora. In the early
50s the cultivation Of sugar cane was
introduced and increased in volume until
the products now constitute nearly the
whole volume Of Hawaiian exports. Two
hundred and fifty thousand tons were
shipped to the United States in 1897.
To the sugar culture Is due not only
the wealth Of Hawaii, but also the GU
Tious mixture OF nationalities, OF which
the population is composed. The native
Hawaiian was physically unfit for the
continuous labor of the cane fields. In
order to provide for the needs of the
rapidly expanding industry recourse was
had to the importation Of alien races.
Portuguese from the Azores and other
Atlantic islands were the first corners.
With their descendants they now number
5000 out of a total population of 100000,
When more laborers were needed, access
sions came from China and from Japan
to such an extent that the Islands now
support japanese population of 25e
and Chinese to the number Of q 600. The
admixture of Asiatic peoples naturally
formed one of the chief objections to the
annexation Of Hawaii when that ques-