The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1908-06-05
LETTER FROM HONOLULU.


States proper, and comes in contact
with the tremendous energies that
ply between our own country and the
| Orient, he comes into contact with a
new world of thought as he gets out
of the old
We are apt to think of Honolulu
merely as coaling station at the
Cross Roads of the Pacific, where
ships come and go, and where a lit
tie is being done in agriculture, but
tremendous enterprises are being
carried on here, which to the local
population are all important. The
one thing that is talked of perhaps
more than others is getting informa-
ton to the people of the United
States to let them know the true con-
ditions here in regard to the labor
supply with view of getting relief.
You will hardly get ashore until you
hear it, and every man you talk with
will welcome an opportunity to tell
you something of the great need of
laborers who can and will do the
peculiar work needed in the islands.
The growth and expansion of the
United States during the past ten
sessions is impracticable for the
years, brings new conditions and
| makes changes necessary in some of
the older laws. With insular terri
tory now part of the republic, old
problems need to be reconsidered.
The fortifying of Oahu and the tour
of the Atlantic fleet will emphasize
| the fact that Hawaii is to have a
place in the world of politics.
With our island possessions, the
whole question of immigration into
the United States, whether from the
west, must be considered in a new
light, and policies will change with
the new conditions.
1t seems as if there should be
some special arrangement whereby
Hawaii could receive Chinese labor
ers for the present, under different
conditions from which they could
land on the continent. With our ex-
panding jurisdiction the problem
becomes more complex. With Alas
ka, Panama, Porto Rico, Hawaii,
Guam and the Philippines, and the
diversified industrial system existing
a uniform policy that would be APP
plicable to all seems impossible.
What is suited to our insular pos
sessions is imparcticable for the
mainland.
1t has often been said, and truly
so, that of all nations, the United
States has been China,s best friend.
But in carrying out the exclusion
laws, it has often seemed that the
people of the United States were
against the Chinese as race, and we
have lost an Intensely rich trade as
the result.
Here are some things that one
comes in contact with in conversa
ton with thinking people here, and
it appeals to the writer as being
things that might interest the read
ers of The Republican to know, for
we are apt to think of China only as
an old sleepy nation with desire
to hold on to old customs and in
situations, but since the Boxer trou-
bles a spirit of progress seems to
have been born in the race and they
are seking the up-to-date things of
the world.
Railroad building in China, espe-
cially in South China.
Chinese national spirit; spirit
which is manifesting itself, among
other forms, in the creation of a
modern army, and growing appre-
citation of the need of navy.
The anti-opium agitation, which
has brought forth anti-opium edictsl
and much real effort to enforce them.
The anti-opium league in Honolu-
lu.
A constitution for China; what
American?
The visit of the Chinese Commits
sioners to America.
The spirit of the new education,
which is manifesting itself in so
many different ways all over China.
Among these manifestations are:
The establishment of schools for
girls as well as for boys in all parts
of China; the sending of Chinese
youth aborad to be educated, several
thousand of them being in schools
in Toxic alone; the Chinese Worlds
Students Alliance; and the prepara-
ton and development of new school
text books for Chinese children and
youth.
Chinese American citizenship in