The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1915-08-12
HAWAII CONFRONTED
 BY MANY SERIOUS
 ECONOMIC PROBLEMS

Seventeen years ago today the is- lands of Hawaii were formally annex ed to the United States. under the terms of a joint resolution of Congress passed the preceding month. The an niversary finds the Pacific islands en- toying a higher degree of material prosperity and intellectual progress than ever before, but facing many economic, political and racial prob lens which clanor for solution.
 The race question is now a grave issue in the islands, where the Orien- taLls have gained great numerican ascendancy. The 1910 census show ed the population of Hawaii, by color or race, to be as follows: Japanese, 79,- 674; Chinese, 21,674; Korean, 4,553;5 native born Asiatics 3.734; Hawaiians, IPortugueses 22, ,303; Spanish, 1900; other Caucasians including Ameri- cans, French, English and Germans, d4,S67; Porto Ricans, 4, ,890; Africans and multatos 695; all others, 2,736- 7 Since then the Japanese and Chi nese have further increased their nu- merican supremacy, and the rising generation of Asiatics present a seri- ous political problem. Thousands of Japanese and Chinese boys born on
 the islands will reach voting age within the next few years. A majority
 of these youths Of Oriental parentage' have become irnbued with racial and socialistic doctrines, and their par
 hciuation in politics is expected to constitute a. menace to those who
 would maintain conditions as they are.
 The land question is the great po- litical issue of Hawaii. A large pro-
 portion of the most fertile productive lands Of the islands is held in large estates, each thousands of acres in ex- tent These so-called- missionary I.,-r- 4<ak(1 sIye impossible for the vast majority of the people of Hawaii to become inde- pendent farmers.
 In a recent letter Judge T. B. Stuart, of the United States circuit court for Hawaii, pointed out to Secretary Lane, some of the faults of the Hawaiian land laws.
 seThe whole system is a one-man power he wrote, "and has been and is now used by the wealthy as against the poor to deprive those of lands that need homes, and is most thor oughly undemocratic. Lying by the side of rny-tract of land is tract of 40, 1000 acres that am roId is owned by the Rice estate, the members of which have for long years resided in Boston. Coming within three miles Of the city of Honolulu, there is a tract of over 0.0O0s acres, owned by MT. Damon, who obtained it as a gift from one of the royal Hawaiian fam fly. One-third of the lands of this country (75.oo acres1 belongs to the Bishop estate, which is placed in a
 close corporation for the ostensible purpose of supporting a college, but for the real purpose of taking care of the trustees and hangers-on, un- their successors Why should not the government take these lands under the law of eminent domain and divide them up among actual settlers? The
 power of the United States under the law of eminent domain is unrestricted and certainly could not be used in a
 more worthy or holy cause than fur nishing citizens of the United States with hornesteads.'' It seems that even under the bene- 1cent rule of Uncle Sam these isles of
 sweetness and sunshine have be- come an abode of discontented and
 the scene of strife between those of the house of Have and the house of
 Have Not. Apparently civilization has carried it's curse as well as it's 1 blessing to the Pearls of the Pacific.