Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-02-19
BACKGROUND OF EVENTS
BY PAUL Y. COLLINS.

There is a humorous side to an act
of Congress which was passed last week,
and which President Coolidge is in
clined to hold unfavorably. even posi-
bly, to the point of veto. 1t is Senate
Concurrent Resolution q" alias IS. j.
Res. ITO. a joint resolution for annex
ing certain islands of the Samoan group
to the United States, and for other pur-
poses" When the matter first came
up, it was in Leap year, but now we are
not in Leap year, and Uncle Sam Is
Sinking and blushing and exclaiming
that This is so sudden!" We have al
ready had these American Samoan Is
lands for 30 years-and so why be so
impatient to legalize. their possession
by actual acceptation?
**
ment and, as the population numbers
about 5000, they protest that in the
course of human events it Is wicked to
suffer taxation without representation.
Ever since We annexed part of the group
of Islands and Great Britain and Ger
many annexed the rest in 1898, the ma
tives have felt hurt, and they resent
the oppression of taxation of SO q year
put upon every male native as soon as
he becomes five feet two inches tall.
The tax is devoted mostly to main
tanning public schools, which is wild
extravaganza, since the Samoans don't
care whoop whether school keeps or
not-in fact, they prefer to abolish
schools as wasteful and ridiculous ex-
cess of civilization.
Nobody could possibly know when a
native became ''of age" l. E., twenty
Of 10 f<xyf n
teal inch Of stature, regardless of age.
genealogy or previous condition of
avoirdupois. There is no other tax. No
wonder Robert Louis Stevenson moved
in; there may yet be a great hegira of
writer's to that same place, where in
come tax does not disturb the type
writer's.
1t would be impossible for Samoans to
stage Boston tea party, for obvious
reasons. but they may at any time break
out with copra party and dump a
shipload of dried coconut into the deep
blue sea, to demonstrate their patriotic
rebellion. 1t Is hoped that President
Coolidge will consider this, for he comes
from the region of the tea party and
might remember what followed. And
that is really the milk in the coconut."
Civilization makes soap of coconuts.
BarbarianS never use 1t, so they sell
their coconuts to civilization.
X y 4
Before 1898 the Samoan Islands were
governed by native kings. independent
of civilization. Then King Malietoa
died, and the Samoans were unable to
agree upon his heir, and so they quar-
relied among themselves, as stronger
kingdoms have been known to do. Had
they not a setting for a war of the
roseS-or coconuts? To show the proper
neutrality of civilization. the navies of
the United States, Great Britain and
Germany made a combined lombard
ment of the disorderly villages, killing
quite few natives, who ought to have
known better than 30 fight each other
in place Of building navy OF their own
at least few cruisers-to defend
their ports and keep the home fires
burning.
We won the war. The three navies
announced there's glory enough for
ALL" and proceeded to divide up the
islands into three parts for
the three nations of heroic conquerors.
So on February 10. 10000 years ago
Mckinley issued an
executive order, as follows:
THE Island of Tutuila, of the Samoan
group, and all other islands OF the
group east of longitude Ill minutes
west of Greenwich are hereby placed
under the control OF the Department
of the Navy for a naval station. The
Secretary OF the Navy shall take such
steps as are necessary to establish the