The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-05-18

The United States has had, for near
~ ninety years, men and women her
who represented all that is best il
American life. While there had beer
American traders coming and going 70
some years before yet the American
5zing of Hawaii really began when tn,
men and women sent out by the Amer
lean Board landed in 1920 No on.
can understand, in even a faint way
the history of these islands who is not
familiar with the story of these mis-
sionaries and their consecrated service
for the people.
There were other influences here, but
the chiefs and kings selected mission
aries as their friends and advisers. The
missionaries have been blamed for tax
ing an interest and part in civil affairs,
but the situation was peculiar, and the
chiefs showed that they had at heart
the good of their people when they
selected missionaries instead of adven-
turers.
Under. American influence the chiefs
and kings gave privileges to the people
which other nations had purchased by
years of bloody strife. The Declaration
sf Rights in 1889, the proclaiming of
. Constitution in 1910, the. giving to
the people in fee simple lands which
they cultivated in 1s4s These were
accomplished under American influence,
rs was the drawing up of code of
laws by William Richards and the
development of them by John Ricord,
and the placing of the judiciary sys-
tenn on a good basis by w. L. Zee,
who, on his way to Oregon in 1916,
was induced to remain in Honolulu
In the forties and fifties remarkable
set of men came to Hawaii who SYM
pathized with all that was done for
the uplifting of the nation. The Scotch
man, r. G. Wyllie, devoted his remark
able talents to procuring for the little
Kingdom just and fair treatment by
the European Powers. Hawaii, through
che efforts of Mr.. Richards and Sir
George Simpson, of the Hudson Bay
Company, had obtained recognition
of the independence of the kingdom
by the United States in 1912, by Eng
land and France in 1S43, but petty
grievances still occurred.
Hawaii was most fortunate also in
the men who went into business in the
Islands. They were not all Americans,
but they were men who in remarka-
be way were interested in the develop
menS of the islands and in the raising
of the social life of the people, and
so far in sympathy with the mission
aries. I'm the period of the forties
and sixties men came whose names |
stand at the head of large business
houses, and they, with the missionaries
sons, who went into planting or mer-
ehandise, have for ability, foresight |
and integrity put the business of the |
who came were Charles r. Bishop, |
Paul Isenberg, German;
Theodore Fl. Davies, Englishman. Long
ago, since 1926, the American house
of Brewer & Co. and other firms had |
carried on trading business, but now
came the opening days of the sugar
and the coming in of the alien
population.
There was strife in all these years
rs to whether British or American in
auenee should prevail, but the Amer
eanizing of Hawaii went on. Hawai-
an born Americans kept up their
and the Fourth of July was,
n the boyhood of men now old, fept
is holiday in the old-fashioned way,
md Thanksgiving was celebrated with
turkey and pumpkin pie.
In 1854. in order to protect himself
against foreign aggression, the King
sought annexation, and
.or a. while it looked as if it were to be