The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-01-20

Mr.. President, Ladies and Gentle
men: The contribution which Hawaii
has made to the United States. and
the contribution which [ believe she is
making and will make to our common
country is a contribution in aid of
amellorating if not etfacing race pre-
JUDGE. One contribution which she has
made is we'll known to you. General
Samuel &. Armstrong was product
Of her schools, of her life, of the great
plan of Christian civilization laid down
by the American board to the early
missionaries; and through him it was
transmitted to Booker 7. Washington.
perhaps the most valuable American of
these days. But beyond that she IS
doing something now. It is true there
are race prejudices there, perhaps a
score of race prejudices, and in the
very number, to a certain degree, there
is safety, for there is no predominant
race prejudice. If one predominates
more than another it seems to me to be
that prejudice between the Chinese and
the japanese. One reason why race
prejudice must be fought and overcome
lies in the conditions of labor there.
Our country, its civilization, it's life
rests upon the sugar plantations, as
they have been called, our great
Baronial estates. Upon them system
somewhat feudal in its character is
maintained, but / wish to remind YOU
that this is all under democratic in
situations and in a country having a
popular government and the manage
ment of these plantations have to re-
spond to the instincts of manhood, to
those demands of equality between
men, of fairness and justice For in,
stance, there are different races jealous
of one another, unless justice is done
to each. Again they have endeavored
to purify and sweeten the conditions of
domestic life upon the plantation,
which is not only in the interest of a
better and higher manhood and woman
hood amongst the laborers, but con-
ducive to more profit in the manage
ment of plantation. Hundreds of
thousands of dollars have been spent
In providing better quarters and little
garden spots around the homes, thus
making life happier and more whole
some.
Outside of that, in politics, there are
conditions demanding the suppression
of race prejudice. / wish to say here
that one of the causes of hope in the
islands is the gradual improvement in
the character of the legislatures elect,
ed there, as everywhere, by a popular
vote, and one in which the Hawaiians
predominant. There were more Hawai-
ians and fewer white men in the last
legislature, but / think it is fair to say
each succeeding legislature from 1901 to
lxNN.
| predecessor. Another thing L would
| like to mention whilst / am on this
| subject'is the weight which the young
Chinese voter has thrown into the po-
litical scale. In the last election there
was moral issue at stake. The issue
was primarily whether gambling should
| be suppressed. Naturally the China
man was not ON the side of suppressing
gambling but the election was decided
| by the young Republican Chinese
voters, who the day before election,
after looking the matter over carefully
| and weighing it, came to the conclusion
| that irrespective of gambling itself, the
preservation of the integrity of the
reinforcement of the law was of so SUI
perior consequence that they cast their
| vote upon that side. Their vote de-
cided the election.
| would like to say something upon
the social life in this respect; IL At
here, as well as in the political life
education has done much to ameliorate
race prejudice and to raise the ideals
of these foreign peoples. Take ont
thing alone, the only thing to which
| can allude, the teaching of domesti,
science in the public schools. | have {
letter here from one of the schoo
teachers, which relates number o.
instances where the home, not only tn,
table, but the table manners and thu
character of living has been entirel,
changed under the influence of educa
| ton in domestic science. | want t,
name another thing, bigger and broade
than all this, and | will do so in closing
Two or three Sundays ago | Yisite'
] Metropolitan Museum. The splendi,
picture of the youth of different race
seeking the finest and best IN art il
the Metropolitan Museum was a har
| piness | can not express. But Their
] was no picture there, to me, so fin
! as that of young couple. He wit
( his baby in his arms, as if it were i
! a cradle, the faces of both father an
| mother lit up, lifted to God, as the
= saw set before them the great though
- which some artist had seen nature strus
Cling to express.
/ think as Governor Carter has sai(
! quoting from Zangwill, that the cruc
] BILE of God is a solvent But Zangwi
only speaks in his play of the Greel
the Roman Catholic, the Jew, the Pro
testant, perhaps the Mohammedan; br
lin Hawaii, we have in addition to thes
those who all look up to Abraham 8
their father, those who follow the r.
ligious teachings of Buddha, and thos
who follow the ethical teachings {
Confueius.
I want, in closing, to tell littl
story to illustrate the influence o
China of Hawaii. At the time of IL
boycott $4,000 was collected from Il
Cinnamon in Hawaii After the b0,
colt was called off there was a que
ton as to what should be done wit
the money. A faction of the Chimes
called the Honolulu Reformers, who
represented, wished to use it fl
patriotic purposes. The eorservativ
Chinese wished to return it to the su
scribers, claiming that to be the en-
proper thing to do. They fell upc
each other, literally mohbed each othe