The Mellette County pioneer. [volume] (Wood, Mellette County, S.D.) 19??-1971, 1922-11-10

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ciety, Washington, ID. c.
Hawaii, territory Of the United
States, and most important strate-
gically of the lands Of the Pacific, is
not alone interesting because of its
military and naval value to Uncle
Sam, emphasized some months ago
by the deliberations at Washington in
regard to the worlds greatest ocean.
1t is in many ways literally an island
paradise.
Scarcely anywhere else in the world
may one roam through tropical jungles
with never Il thought of poisonous in
sects or snakes. Such creatures do
not exist in these fair islands. Even
poison ivy and similar noXious plants
are unknown. And though in the
edge of the tropics, Hawaii has Il
cooler temperature by ten degrees
than any other land in the same lati-
tudes. Moreover, one may change his
climate at will by a journey of Il few
miles; for the northern half of each
island, swept by the trade winds, is
rainy and heavily wooded, while just
over the mountain ridge is II drier,
warmer region.
In a way, the United States may
well thank Boston and its daring
traders and missionaries of the early
DAYS for the fact that Hawaii now
flies the Stars and Stripes rather than
the tri-color or the British union jack.
A Spanish navigator first discovered
the islands in 1866, but his country
laid no claim to them, n they were
practically forgotten. The British
Captain Cook visited the Hawaiian
group in 177S, and named them the
Sandwich islands. Still the islands
were practically unknown. Then, fol-
lowing the close of the American Rev
the seven seas in growing numbers,
and in 1889 the first ship flying the
Stars and StripeS-from BOstOn-vis-
tied the Hawaiians. 1t was the first
of many from the same port, carrying
traders, whalers and adventures; and
soon the natives had learned Of the
republic on the continent TO the east,
and came to consider the united
States and Boston synonymous.
The Boston traders found each of
the islands under a separate king, with
two rival rulers on Hawaii, the largest
of the islands. One Of the latter OBJ
tanned firearms and ammunition from
the traders and got their assistance in
building q navy With this Ameri-
can help he became the Napoleon of
the Pacific" conquering the other Is
lands, and, as Kamehameha /, ruled
over the consolidated kingdom.
Hawaiian Trade Was Valuable.
The Americans found the Hawaiian
trade a good thing. They sold the
king and his mobiles everything from
clothes and jewelry to billiard tables
and steam yachts, and in return cart
ed away shiploads of valuable sandal
wood. Strong liquor was not forgot
ten among the imports, and in Homo
lulu among the naturally light-hearted
natives the American sailors contrib
uted to the creation of a gay Pacific
resort, q sort Of %fOrerunner of San
FranciscO's Barbary Coast of later dec
AIDES. Deserters from American ships,
in the delightful haven Of a barbarous
paradise, helped to heighten the fame
or the infamy of the Honolulu OF
those days. The situation became such
that in 1920 President Monroe sent an
agent to reside in Honolulu and look
after American interests In regard to
commerce and Seamen.
A shipload of missionaries, also from
Boston, arrived in the islands in 1870,
much to the disgust of the traders as
well as those who had deserted the
sea to tread Hawaii's primrose path.
The complaint Of the traders was that
the missionaries taught the natives
"the value Of things" and so made
trading Improbable. American ways
and teachings at their best made n
great impression on the more thought
full Hawaiians, and when they re-
shaped their government they made
the Ten Commandments the basis Of
their laws.
More and more Americans visited
and settled In the islands and the
Hawaiians' looked upon America as
their best friend among the nations.
When pioneers from the United States
were pushing west toward California
lust before tho Mexican war. which
added that state to the Union, a Brit.