The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1907-07-05

Japan says she does not want Ha-
vail, while at the same time she
keeps sending her people to the island
by the hundreds and thousands.
There are at the present time some
$4,000 of the loyal subjects of the
mikado on the island, and these, to
the thinking of some Americans, are
a menace to the interests of the
United States and are but the initial
step to the confiscation of the group
of islands by Japan when favorable
opportunity shall present itself. On
the other hand, if we are to take
Japan's word for it as expressed by
her most prominent and influential
statesmen, Japan has no more thought
of gaining possession of this outpost
of Columbia in the Pacific than she
has of going still farther west and an
neXing California, thing which some
alarmfsts at San Francisco are trying
to make themselves believe is posi-
Bile.
1t is not only claimed that Japan is
encouraging her people to settle in
Hawaii, but that she is sending for
mer soldiers there who are prepared
to take orders from representatives
of their emperor in preparation for
war However much or little there
may be in all this talk, it is certain
that Hawaii is rapidly being Japanned
The little, aggressive brown men out
number the whites seven to one
There are more than $4,000 Chinese
and only about $4,000 of other people
But when one talks of conquest, mill
tary or commercial, one counts only
the able bodied men, men who can
carry hoe or a gun, WELD a sword
or a pen-and of these there are more
than $4,000 and perhaps 10000 Japa-
nese, forming from 81 to 60 per cent.
of the male population. With the TO-
900 Chinese men three-fourths of all
the people capable of performing the
duties of soldier are Asiatics. OF
whites, the men who are sworn to de-
fend American interests, there are
fewer than 10000, and many of these
are Portuguese and other Europeans
without concern in the glory, of the
Stars and Stripes.
1t is apparent that in Hawaii the
balance of manual strength lies with
the Japanese. Joined by his brethren
of the queue, it would mean three to
one against all others here, and seven
or more to one against the whites.
Rather a long, shot for Uncle Sam
to play in these troublous times, even
if the race is straight and to the
speediest.
But what are the Japanese doing
here? One may listen to strange
stories Of honest laborers assembled
by company and regiment in moonlit
fields, Of drills at midnight in lonely
places and other weird, incredible
tales of warlike preparations by the
mikado's men in Hawaii now. Sift
them and you have but a thin sub
stance for the ominous mass said to
shadow our sovereignty. Perhaps a
band of Pake youths, Chinese cadets
in Christian schools, flash their tin
bayonets in the cool of the evening
out Kalihi way or wave their pewter
swords under the plumy palms or in
the clearings of the sugar and paddy
fields.
Ask Gov. Carter or the police and
they smile indulgently, as if to say
many have been bewitched by the sea
of kimonos and wooden clogs. But
whisper to Bob" Kidd, a leading
journalist here, or to "Scotty," the
leading dispensary proprietor, or to a
hundred others not helping to rule the
islands, and they will draw vivid pic
lures Of what they have seen. Differ
ences of opinion are many, but the
man in the street here believes Japan
just waits to take into her NAV these
fair coral dots, that the ambition of
Nippon is to float the red ball on the
white field over Capt. Cooks discov-
cry, and that every last mothers son
of Japan will arise at prearranged
signal and seize the government.
These ideas Fave become prevalent
only since the peace between Russia
and Japan was made. They arose
primarily from Japan's sudden bound
into the family of the great nations
and her startling exhibition of mill
tary and commercial genius in war
and peace since the century began.
Whereas until a few years ago the
entire importation of japanese was of
the laboring class, now a different
kind enters. And this despite the de-
sires of the sugar planters, who foster
the immigration. To understand this
one must go little into the history
of the Japanese movement to Hawaii.
There In little else grown in Hawaii