Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-08-18

process was very slow, particularly II
/ the Kakaako district Every time q
social or religious worker went into
that part of the city the rowdiss
promptly chased him M.
Rider WEE .-----.uUTuI1 two years be
rcwent into Kakaako. He work
ed at his trade in the daytime and
assisted church workers at street
meetings nearly every evening. Be
ing compelled to work for a living
he had little time to devote to up
lifting the slum dwellers, and finally
decided to return to California. Be
sides, he was far from pleased with
the methods of those with whom he
was associated in social and religious
work. He had no objection to en-
phasizing the Importance of Christian
ity; but he knew that preaching was
only one feature of the welfare work
that was needed Others, however,
were helping the needy; but he was
sure they were not quite right in their
/, tactics
Luckily Riders decision to return
/ to the mainland was the means of
| bringing to him what he had longed
:
lulu. A night or two before he and
Mrs. Rider were to sail for San Fran
cisco, Rider was conducting a fare
well street meeting. ]. B. Anterior,
wealthy and public-spirited citizen,
happened along, and stopped to hear
what the carriage trimmer had to say.
/ The longer he listened the more in
terested he became. He had heard
Rider before; but his opinion of the
soap-box preacher had not been un-
usually high until this occasion. When
the meeting was adjourned Atherton
took Rider by the hand and said
"Rider, Honolulu needs you, and I
want you to stay. Nobody has ever
accomplished anything in Kakaako,
and I know the undertaking is dam
gerous one; but / believe you can
succeed. Say you'll stay, and I'll make
it possible for you to give all your
time to the work"
The bargain was closed, and during
the next week or two Rider made
personal inspection of the scene of
his future activities. He visited ev-
cry home in the district. and found
that thirty-seven nationalities were
represented in Kakaako. He had
walked through the district several
times before; but had never seen 1t
as it really was. When he did get
a true glimpse of 1t, he was Mortified.
That such reeking slum, with the
poverty. filth, disease, drunkenness,
immortality, race hatreds, and family
cruelty that he found, should be al
lowed to exist within few blocks of
the homes of Honolulu's wealthy up
per class was more than shocking.
What he saw set him to wondering.
and before his wonderings were over
he was quite certain the right man
had not tackled the job. And with
that conclusion came a resolution to
prove himself to be the right man, or
to die trying.
8 The people of Kakaako, he learned,
had always had profound distrust of
professional upliftersi and he soon
found that he was made no exception
to the rule Most of the people who
lived there had lost all hope of better
ing their conditions. They despised
the more fortunate classes, and want
ed to be let alone There was plenty
of proof of their temper In the fact
that all other social workers had been
driven out of the district by threats
of death or great bodily harm. When
it became known that Rider intended
going into Kakaako scores of his ac-
quaintances warned him that If he
tried to carry out his plans he would
in all probability be shot, stabbed. or
stoned to death.
L. tcsk ,i,.ly n
carrying food to hungry women and
children. He had very little money
to spend on them; but he managed,
one way or another, to relieve good
deal of suffering. Every days work
was wound up with a little street
meeting, and frequently, when Mrs.
Rider would sing and play little por
table reed organ, the ruffians of the
district would put out the torchlight
and kick the organ over. Threats
we're sent to Rider almost daily, and
he knew that some of the rowdies
were capable of committing murder;
but he kept right on, as If he had not
a single enemy in the whole Territory
of Hawaii. He know that any sign
of fear would cause the toughs TO sus-
pect him of being coward, and that.
of course, would have meant his fin
ish.
The Riders did not reside in Kaka-
ako at that time, and on the way home
Mr. Rider always took to the middle
of the street, because there was dan
ger of Mrs. Rider being hit by stone
or bullet aimed at him. Mrs Rider
was guarded in the streets by a giant
Fiji islander, whose devotion TO the
white man and his wife amounted al
most to idolatry.
The people of the district were the
most cosmopolitan collection of hui
man beings that ever inhabited spot
of ground the size of Kakaako, which
is about one square mile in area. Some
of them were the human "slag" of
the big cities of Europe and Amer
lea; some were almost savage people
from the wilds Of South America, the
South Sea Island, and Australia; a
considerable number were of the very
poorest and the criminal classes of ma
tive Hawaiians; and a great many
were vagabond criminals, who had
drifted into the district because it was
q pood nlace To lose their identity