The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-13


dren are seen. The superintendent
and his assistant are men of family
and the children look like fine healthy
youngsters. Set in the waste of sea
the solitude of Midway is not only
Iendurable, but there are many who
long for the chance to enjoy it,
Half way between California and
China-that is why they are named
the Midway Islands upon the charts
Half way between Australia and Alas.
ka, that is an added reason for the
Midway name. They say alongshore
in Honolulu that these islands lie half
way between Vladivostok and Valpar-
aiso-sheer intoxication of the double
success in the geographical allitera-
ton, for glance at the map will show
that these barren dunes OF sand do
not split the distance between Siberia
and Chile.
1t is a matter of no great import
ance, this third and impossible pair
Iof alliterates, for commerce has never
yet felt the need of track for great
argosies between the two dissimilar
VS.. There is just this vestige of
truth in the sailor accounts Of the
manning: when the LackawEnna Wis.
tied the islands in 1867 to take pos
session in the name of the United
States the name Midway was assign
ed in place of the earlier name,
BrooF.s's Islands, which pertained by
discoverer's right.
In 1867 the tiny group was suppos ed
to possess a certain Importance: the
Pacific Mall Steamship Company had
an idea that it might use them for a
coaling station and it was for that
reason that the Lackawanna was des-
patched to hoist the flag. 1t was not
so much a strategy of annexation.
Any act of annexation beyond the
limits of the American continent was
in 1867 a measure of somewhat more
than doubtful legality. The only pro
vision in the Revised Statutes where
by unconsidered trifes of outlying
land might be picked up was the sin
gle clause which allowed American
citizens who discovered guano islands
to annex them temporarily by declara
ton and to retain them under Ameri
can sovereignty so long as they re-
NAMED upon the ground and worked
the deposits
But at the time the Pacifs Mail
company was in deep distress over
its coal supply The coal fields of the
Pacific coast had not yet produced a
good steaming coal. The Goals Of the
Atlantic seaboard were then, as now
barred by the prohibitive cost of the
long sea carriage. At the Asiatic end
the hands of the British, rivals for
the Pacific carrying trade and not
disposed to make any concessions in
favor of the American company The
Goals of the Hunter River and other
Australian sources were practically
shut out of San Francisco by the
tariff.
The most convenient place for coal
ling was at Honolulu, for the Austria
liam coal could there be held in hulks
at a very satisfactory price. Just
about that time the government OF
the Hawaiian Islands forgot the debt
'of it's development which it owed to
the Pacific Mail saw only the chance
to collect a new revenue by laying
a charge upon the imported coal and
thereupon proceeded to cut off its
nose to spite It's face after a policy
not singular in the grotesque ordering
of affairs in that ludicrous kingdom. In
the strategy of business the Pacific
Mail secured the solemn act of an
neXation of the Brooks Islands, es
} tablished the new name of Midway
and took formal possession as a coal
ing station.
The threat was made complete. a
Pacific Mail boat followed the Lacka
wanna to Midway, a shed was erected
certain coal was stacked up in neal
pile and King Kamehameha ", who
/ as Prince Lot had proved a bumpti
GUS citizen, was brought to face the
possibility of seeing his capital cut of
, from such dignity as attached to i
as way station of the great line o
, travel across the Pacific, The threa
carried its own sharp lesson the re
! strlctions in the way of the Pacific
! Mail coal were promptly removed
Next year when the Lackawanna, un
2 der command of Capt William Rey
) nolds, visited Honolulu upon a purely
! social errand both King and people
p were hardly to be convinced that h'
was not going to gobble up their king
, dom with no more hesitation than h
had shown in swapping up the Brooks
} Islands.