Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1907-05-23
ARAB PATROL GREAT
PROMOTION SCHEME

lnOIt III TIE way VI pIOlilOllOu lOl
Honolulu and Hawaii than anything
that was ever done" This statement
was made this morning by j. Has
tings Rowland, Assistant Superinten-
dent of Public Works, who returned
from the Coast today on the China.
Mr.. Rowland was sitting at his desk
in the Executive building, trying
hard to bring himself down to earth
again after his flight into the heaven
of applause and adulation, where the
Honolulu patrol have been since they
left few weeks ago to attend the
Conclave at Los Angeles.
why" he said, "the people SIM
ply went crazy over Honolulu and
the Honolulu Shriners. We had it
handed to us all the way. 1t was
hurrah for Honolulu and for Aloha
Temple and for all the boys, separ-
ately and collectively, all the way
There wasn't minute when there
wasn't something doing, and we
made good all the time.
There is no doubt but that Aloha
Temple was the best-drilled patrol of
all the nineteen that were present at
the Conclave. We didn't have as
many men as some of them, and our
costumes weren't as gorgeous. But
when it came to drilling we were
there. We had the carriage and the
cadence. There wasn't a gutter in
the bunch. Every man went in with
the intention of seeing it through
and doing his best. And when we
gave our exhibition drill in front of
the 10000 people in that grand
stand they simply went crazy. When
we finished drilling and wound up by
singing Aloha Oe'-well, | thought
the people would never stop cheering.
1t must have been at least five min
utes before we could hear ourselves
think. All over the grand stand the
ladies were waving their handker-
chiefs and wells, and here and there
through the crowd you could see the
Hawaiian leis. 1t was the greatest
thing | ever saw.
And everybody wanted to know
about Hawaii. | must have talked
with at least a hundred men myself.
and every one of them said he would
never be satisfied until he came to
Honolulu. Promotion! Well, that
visit beat all the promotion schemes
that were ever proposed. If the mer-
chants of Honolulu don't get togeth-
er and send the patrol over every
year, they will be missing the biggest
opportunity to advertise the, Islands
that could be possibly found.
This time the boys all paid their
own eXpenses-and they were heavy.
Every one of us must have spent sew
eral hundred dollars. Some of the
other patrols came there with all
their expenses paid Some of them
were even paid salaries for the time
they spent. There was one patrol
the members of which | understand
are paid a salary of $3.50 a month.
They go to all the conclaves and drill
publicly right along at home. And
in spite of this, the Honolulu patrol
was the best drilled of any of them.
But we certainly had a good time
from the moment we got there until
we left. AS soon as we landed we
went up and registered, and every
one of us, our wives, daughters, who
ever was with us, was given a book
of coupons. These coupons entitled
us to free trips to Catalina Island,
San Pedro, Venice and other places;
to free auto rides, free Mexican
lunches. Everything was free. We
even had free entrance to the the
alters.
"The Los Angeles Shrine must have
spent at least million dollars on
that Conclave, exclusive of what the
merchants spent in the way of decor
atoms, etc. And | never saw such
decorations. The electric light dis
pay IHS III oI night We "clc LHclc
when the parade took place was the
most magnificent thing | ever saw. |
don't believe there was a square foot
of space on any building for blocks
along the line of march that was not
& solid blaze of colored electric light
And it extended even over the
streets, almost solidly. | never mag
ined anything could be SO gorgeous.
The flower parade was just as fine
They certainly know how to do
things in Los Angeles.
But there's no use in my trying
to describe it. | can't begin to do it.
1t was simply indescribable.
Some of our boys had never been
to the Coast before, and they simply
went crazy. They had intended to
come home with the rest of us, but
they couldn't do it, They wanted to
see it all. And all of us had invita-
tons from the other Shriners to go
to places all over the United States,
so the boys who remained are scatter
Ing all over the country. Some have
gone to New Orleans; others to New
York.
Yes, I'll try to get down to earth