Evening star., 1925-07-16
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

| tions bordering on the Pacific Ocean
would be mutually profitable. Preju-
dices might be smoothed out if they
! but knew each other. Modern edu-
! cation would broaden their horizons
and teach them capabilities and re-
! sources which would bring plenty
! and peace.
| Ford began organizing the Orient
/ First, he found surf riding at Hawaii.
| The sport was unknown outside the
{ islands, except TO travellers in the pass
/ ing ships. He organized a surf-riding e
club, and travellers stayed over for
! later ships in order 10 stride the boards
\ and conquer the waves. Great sport
( Tell the folks back home! The club
gained 1000 members, then its founder
1 turned for more worlds to conquer
namesake of the Macedonian.
| Next, he told the wealthy sugar
| planters that their scenery was superb
/ They had not thought about that. He
needed $4,000 to make paths and
trails so that tourists could ascend
! the mountains. OF course, he got it
1t pays to advertise. Folks back home
began to talk about the wonderful
| Hawaiian Islands. He started a maga-
zine to help them tell straight stories
and not eXaggerate. But the publicity
was only preliminary.
X X x x
/ He checked up the prejudices Of the
| Orient, the islands and the countries
of Asia. He visited their capitals and
suggested to their premiers that it
would be of great value for them to
| confer with scientists of other coun-
! tries concerning the trade and produc-
| ton of the Pacific countries, which
| had much in common. He never vast
| ed time talking with underlings; his
/ vision was only for the chiefs of peo-
| pies. He called a conference of scien-
| titic Representatives of all the coun-
| tries-no, of all the peoples.
! That meant that Koreans-not mere
! ly their japanese rulers, but the
( Koreans also, were invited to that first
| pan-Pacif1c conference. Our Secretary
/ of the Interior, the late Franklin
Lane, attended, and was welcomed by
a score of nationalities, in procession,
each marcher bearing an American
| flag and the flag of his own country.
| The scene overwhelmed Mr.. Lane,
| even to tears of deep emotion. That
was, indeed, a vision of a new world
a parliament of man, not yet har-
monious in politics. but one in hu-
manity and one in needs.
K x X X
! Mr.. Ford had begun his travels
around the world in 1908; his first pan
| Pacific conference was held in Homo
lulu in 1911. Out Of that conference
grew the Hands s-Around-the-P Pacific
Clubs. and out of those clubs grew
the Pan-Pacific Union.
The union is similar to the Pan
American Union, whose headquarters
are in Washington, except that the
! Pan-American Union is made up of
| official representatives, diplomats of
all American nations living in Wash
| ington, always presided over by our
Secretary Of State. The Pan-Pacific
| Union has no official power, but ii is
actively indorsed and supported by the
governments Of % nations bordering
on the Pacific, from the Arctic to the
| Antarctic.
Starting with discussions of their
common problems of science, the dele
gates soon found that their fellow
scientists were serious. thoughtful
and intelligent men, regardless of the
difference in color and speech. Soon
political topics, also, could be infor-
mally discussed at luncheons, and
| even in general debates.
! In 1920 there was pan-Pacific
| science conference; in 1921 an educa-
| ton conference, together with two
press conferences, In 1922 there was
a commercial conference. in 1924 a
! food-conservation conference. There
was also a. Y. NJ. c. A. conference
planned for 1925 in Honolulu, but not
under the Pan-Pacif1c Union, which
could not offend its memSers Of non