The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-02-13
TOURIST
QUESTION

io keep The charms ~ the Paradise -
ihe pacinc before the eyes of New
EnEianders Nowh,r, has your cor
respondent found such widespread and
genuine interest in the subject ~ Ha-
Val. but nowhere Is there more pro-
found ignorance Of the history and
present status Of the Islands. Some
examples of this may b. interesting
4 Harvard freshman. hearing that
your correspondent was from Honolu-
lu. remarked with evident pity In his
icne, o.! suppose your parents are mis-.
aiunaries' on being informed that
there were few white residents II
Honolulu who were not missionaries,
he asked again. How many white peo,
PIE are there In Honolulu dozen or
hfteen. ! suppose in order 10 show
that this Is not merely the ignorance
OF a freshman. the bland query of
Methodist eN-missionary to India, who
stated that he had Travelled $4,000
miles. including a trip to Australia
tvia India), may be quoted. This gen
tleman after q lecture on India asked
me whether Honolulu We're not In the
neighborhood OF Singapore. Later, to
do him justice. he recollected that it
was in the Sandwich Islands. some
where in the Pacific" A graduate stu
dent at Johns Hopkins recently asked
charming young lady if her home
were not on an island just off the
coast Of China.
And so it goes. Instance after in
stance Of this ignorance among people
Of culture might be related A story
is told of Rev. Dr. Kincaid, who is
well-known for his careful attention
20 details OF dress. A gentleman who
bad been listening to a discourse by
DIR. Kincaid remarked, "Do the people
out in Honolulu wear clothes?" II
do" was the answer Of the astonshed
divine. Another subject which is the
course Of a great deal of misapprehen-
sion is the leper settlement. which in
the minds of some people is the main
thing in the islands. After public
| address on Hawaii last month your
correspondent was introduced to a lady
who thanked him for his description of
| the Molokai settlement. She said that
she had been afraid to go to the is
lands because of the supposed danger
OF leprosy. The complete isolation of
the Kalaupapa and Kalawao settle
ments is not at all understood here,
where people do not know whether the
settlement is one or five hundred miles
from Honolulu.
Hawaii can largely blame herself for
many of the erroneous impressions of
the islands that prevail here. In a
great deal Of the promotion advertis-
ing the modern improvements of the
islands are not given emphasis enough.
| This Is not true of Mr. Logan's book,
Hawaii" or the folder of the same
| title. But 1t is nevertheless true that
most of the pictures on Hawaiian
| subjects which circulate through the
Enst are of the hula girl, waving
palm, and spouting volcano order.
A HINT TO PHOTOGRAPHERS.
Before coming to New England the
writer vainly searched the stores of
Ho lolulu for any photograph or book
of Views of Honolulu that should do
justice to her business streets. Con.
trary to the custom in California
cities, where views are taken when the
streets are crowded. Honolulu photog-
raphers seem to have waited until
evely street car had vanished and only
one or two native loafers were on the
sidewalks before swapping their cam
eras. The promotion books of the
western states always present views
which show buildings in their best
aspect. If the Honolulu street pic
| lures can possibly include some tum-
bledown shack they usually do it.
What are needed are some good pic
lures of busy streets with up-to- date
| trolley cars, of imposing buildings, fine
| residences, parks and a good harbor.
A few tourists may be attracted by
scantily-dressed hula girls and prehis-
toric grass huts, and a few of these
pictures are desirable, but If Homo
lElu wants white citizens to come and
live within her borders or even a large
number OF tourists, she must assure
them that ox-csrts are not the COM
mon means of suburban rapid tran
sit, that one-story shacks are not the
| only business blocks. that grass houses
are not the only residences and that
| Honolulu harbor Is open to the COM
| merce of the world-in short, that a
busy. wide-awake American city has
been transported to the center of an
earthly paradise-a sort of Garden of
Eden with all modern conveniences.
a PROMOTION AGENT.
Your correspondent called at the
Boston Office OF the Hawaii Promotion
Committee recently and, without re-
veallng his Identity. made some in
auirles about Hawaii. The office Is
located on Boylston street. the main
artery 10 the residence section. and Is
in connection with the Collver Tours
Company. There IL "A small sign In
gold letters on the window among the
signs OF other agencies. The location
ls fairly good one, although the
window display Of the agency has
been unchanged FOR three or four
months at least. A window display
at one of the big railroad agencies on
Washington street dhe Broadway OF
lioslon) or even here, would call u
great deal OF attention 10 Hawaii II
properly arranged
The genllemanly agent In charge ~
The ONCE was qulie well-informed, evil
denily having read the two pamphlets
on Hawaii dlslrihniei by the agency,
10 gave 4 very good description ~ the
lklauUN and ilg uuuaFfuullaa Ilar.