The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-08-03

Hon. George L. Lilley, who was one
of the Congressional party in the Is
lands year ago, has the following
decidedly frank estimate of the Hawai-
ian people in an article contributed
to tThe Religious Telescope" of July
/. He says:
HWith the Congressional party last
spring, l visited our island possessions.
The character of the Hawaiian people
reflects their environment. The wonder
full phenomena of nature make them
poetieal and superstitious; the contin
uous beauty of the tropical yerdure
and the mildness of the climate make
them happy and care free. Their cheer
full carelessness impressed me strongly.
Could it be possible, l thought, that
these islanders expressed that Chris.
tian command: Be not therefore anx-
ious for the morrow; for the morrow
will be anxious for itself. Sufficient
unto the day is the evil thereof If
those words mean complete freedom
from worry, here is a people that full
fills the command. If native s pot
of poi runs low, the neighbor s pot
comes willingly to the rescue, even to
the last ounce.
"The native is a composite of super,
fatalities. He is born politician. Give
him a title and an Office and he is hap
ply. He viii not work at manual labor
but is proud to be coaehman. Like
the Indian, the Negro, and the Filipino,
he has not known the great moral or
conscience evolution of the Anglo
Saxon. His father and grandfather
were aimless, eare-free, immoral.
"Strange it is that the percentage
! of illiterates in Hawaii is lower than
| in Massachusetts This shows that
| education in the arts is not the most
important education to people.
"The Hawaiians are q race of chill
dren. From us must come education
and government From the native
chief to the lowest among them votes
are purchaseable A Hawaiian has no
conception either of personal independ-
ence or the innate value of character.
| Hopkins saws that the missionaries had
| the discretion ito see that the genius
of this people was utterly unfit for
self government
E'The sons of the missionaries have
realized that religion is more than sen.
!, timent and emotion, that there is a
world of truth in that statement that
She who makes two blades of wheat
to grow where one grew before has
done more in the service of mankind
than the greatest orator or preacher;
that there must be action in the line
of economic development. Today the
sons of missionaries are making the
soil put forth its best in insuring pros
peritv.
"The native may move in the march
of progress or may lie down to the
threat of extinction. God has decreed
for making a struggle for the mastery
Iof their environment. and in that
struggle they develop character and
recognize obedience to the moral laws
Those races that will not work. must
like the individual idler. drop behind
and suffer extinction
''Tt IS the right and duty of the
IAnglo-Saxon to rule the Hawaiians and
spread his higher moral standards and
civilization. Onr standards must be
put before them and they must be
made to conform to them.
"We must not make sueh mistakes
as we did with the Indian and foster
their Incidence with fat bounties. We
must not thrust statehood upon them
They are centuries behind us Their
greatest need is instruction in the key.
note of our progress. There should be
instilled into the fiber and marrow OF