Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1916-09-25
CELEBRATING BALBOA DAY.

II was on September %, 1913, that vaseo Nunez
= Halboa looked down upon and out over the south,
efn Sea, Of which he had been,told by Central Amer
len Indians and today the four hundred and third
anniversary the event is being duly observed and
cemnemorated.
IL is perhaps misnOmer TO term the arrival of
Balboa at a point where he could look out upon the
ocean of which he bad heard a discovery since he
had received positive and authentic information OF
its existence. Contrary. too, to more or less gen
orally held idea the name Pacific" was not bestow.
ed upon II by him but by Magellan seven years lat
er Balboa called it Mar del Sur" the southern
sea. But the event. whether discovery not was
Of sufficient Importance TO warrant its observance
and commemoration especially in the light Of events
that have followed and are to follow by all OF the
countries which border upon the Pacific Ocean.
Positive knowledge of great ocean lying beyond
the aNew World" melted it's exploration in the hope
OF discovery Of other and rich lands Those sub
segment explorations and discoveries made inevita-
BILE the minging OF eastern and western civilization
The admixture was slow in some instances, and
in one Is only just at hand for il is only very
recently that China has accepted the idea that its
: ancient and long proven civilization might learn
and adopt much from another and younger though
more yirile civilization, but it has been brought
about
The observance of Balboa Day by the peoples OF
the Pacific is emnently fitting. II marks the earliest
beginning OF an era that was to mean the setting
of unsettled lands the advent of civilization Win
consequent education and progress to unclvllized
places and the eayenng of the already existing civil
Izations of China and Japan Thus from the era
the beginning of which may be said to be marked
by the arrival Of Balboa the borders OF the South
ern Sea, has every country on the Pacific already
reaped a rich harvest Of benefit and thus is there
planted the seed tp. insure richer and more album
daht harvest in the years and centuries that are TO
come.
Balboa Day thus furnishes an occasion when every
nation and every colony in or bordering upon the
Pacific Ocean, irrespective of race or of creed can
meet upon common ground, One and all have they
benefited by the I'D of the western civilization ana
progressivism. That is their common meeting
ground, their common view point.
In Christian Europe there is one day of days that
all can unite in observing Christmas But in the
lands that border on the Pacific there exist other
creease:snd aocfriaes and religions than those of
Christ 1saiboa day can furnish nothing to compare
with the deep and tender significance of Christmas
tide with All offs attendant customs, but it at least
furnishes the one day when ali of the peoples may
mite ia 4 ceremonial observance, gives an added
meeting point and brings them closer together II
wiI|Itls give them !. closer acquaintance with and
better understanding Of one another
TIE IDEA of a ..Pscihc Brotherhood" may be al,
,fttie and far from naturalization just as is the
eIirI|h6rhoodsof the World" and the brotherhood
az Mnhr but the finding of an occasion upon which
the fnI0us peoples have and can see that they have
reason m celebrate together is at least step in that
difk<(6n and tends to add to the cordaliy of rela
lions and to at least strengthen friendship