The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-02-07

a. ds sIHasIFHHsa

not disguise from myself that In the
manner of obtaining them, we were
guilty of national larceny. The con-
ditions were peculiar and pressing.
The sugar industry, in which was in
vested millions of American capital,
was menaced with loss Of the open
American market, through possible
failure to renew the reciprocity treaty.
The alert, aggressive. adroit japanese
were colonizing in vast numbers, and
IT was feared would vote themselves
into power, Japanese" the government
and eventually annex it to the Mika-
dos kingdom, and all the material and
property interests of the Islands would,
as it then appeared. be promoted by
American annexation, and the mis-
guided queen was threatening to
change the constitution so as to dis
franchise all but native Hawaiians or
men who had married native Hawai-
ians.
The rights and wishes of the natives
seem to have been but slightly con-
suited They loved their little harm
less opera bouffe monarchy with its
fuss and feathers. They believed that
England and France would protect
them from japanese absorption. They
were not much interested in an in
crease in the market value OF sugar
stocks. or a rise in town lots in Homo
lulu for they had parted with the best
of their lands and the best or their
lots to white men. They had not as
simulated the spirit of the great Saxon
law of titles which applies to nat1onal
as to Independent possessions:
This was the law of Cedric's band
The law of man TO man.
That he must keep who gets the lana
And he must get who cam
They looked with enmity and distrust
upon those who annexed their coun-
try, and 1 fear it will take generations
to eradicate this hatred, so many gener-
ations that their accelerated decrease
in numbers will make of the kanaka
only a memory by the time the hatred
has died out.
In the meantime, what are you go
ing to do with them? They constitute
a majority of the voters of the Terri
tory. They draw the color line against
the white man and draw it sharply.
They elect legislators who will vote Tor
no law recommended by the Governor,
legislators who will often pass over his
veto any law he opposes, who will re-
fuse to confirm his appointees, and who
have to be called in extra session be-
fore they will pass the necessary appro-
priation bills to carry on the govern
ment.
The social conditions in Honolulu are,
to say the least, peculiar. Imagine
New England Sewing Society colonized
in the Jardin Mabille or the Closeri de
Lilas in Paris. Imagine dozen Lon
don Concert Hall singers acting as tn
choir and singing Johnny comes
Marching Home in an Episcopal Ca
thedral. Imagine a Salvation Army
CAPTAIN with a rooster under his arm
and Alkali Jake with a Bible fastened
to his cartridge belt, going arm in arm
TO a combination cock fight and prayer
meeting, and you may have some idea
of one phase of conditions in Honolulu.
The old missionary spirit-strong, UNI
yielding, fond of power, and uncom-
promising, still rules in the public af-
fairs, in business, and in social life
The adventurous Californian who came
here after annexation frets at mission
airy restraints and ways, anc, finding
opposition and defiance a weary and
profitless pursuit, sells out his business
to the old timers and returns to San
Francisco.
The Observation-Disclosures industrious,
living unto themselves and Indifferent
TO American citizenship which they will
scarcely take the trouble to acquire; the
Chinese.-patient and very quiet, ana
gradually returning to China; the Jap
anese,-proud, aggressive, quarrelsome,
saIf-seeking. ambitious and unreliable
these make up the cosmopolitan lie
of the Paradise of the Pacific. The
social life outside of the regular Amerl-
can society is a queer medley. Inere
was before it was broken, up by private
effort a great bagnio which was practi-
calIy licensed and under open ponce
protection. Among its six hundred in
mates there We're japanese, Chinese,
Portuguese and French women, but not
a single Hawaiian. And yet the Ha-
waifan women do not pretend ITO De
strict observers of the moral law Ihere
are hundreds of households in which
the births Of the elder children were
entered upon the family record before
the marriage ceremony was performed.
But neither their own visiting list nor
that of their parents was thereby re-
stricted, and in the olden days it was
considered by a husband a distinguish
ed honor, to have a chief for the father
of one of his wife's children.
The Hawaiian idea of civic duty was
expressed by an indignant native when
the Superintendent of Public Works
was removed from office by the Cover
nor for having 'swiped" public funds
under his control. The defaulter after
being discovered replaced the stolen
money. but his memorable excellency
removed him nevertheless. Thereupon
the native demonstrated against execu-
nr,1 r-oica6 Kanaka PUBLIC