Читать книгу The Story of Hawaii: History, Customs, Mythology, Geography & Archaeology - Fowke Gerard - Страница 12

Table of Contents

Under the Republic of Hawaii many Hawaiians had refused to take the oath of allegiance and had, therefore, been unable to vote. Even the most intractable saw, however, that no dissatisfied element in a United States Territory would have the remotest chance of carrying through a revolution. Restoration of the monarchy suddenly became a dead issue. But to the leaders such restoration had never been more than an incident in the scramble for personal power and, instructed by Americans even more frankly rapacious than they were themselves, they saw in the control of the Territorial Government political opportunities that were well worth seizing. The Governor was appointed by the President. That office was, at least for the moment, therefore, out of reach, but the election of a delegate to Washington and the control of the home legislature were both worth striving for. A so-called Home Rule party was promptly formed —the meaningless name was intended to catch the ignorant and disgruntled—and all Hawaiians were urged by the agitators to cast their votes in the coming elections. The victory of the new party was overwhelming. It controlled the legislature and it sent as Congressional Delegate Robert Wilcox, a confirmed intriguer, who had in the past plotted against nearly everything, including the monarchy itself, and who had led the abortive insurrection of 1895. In Washington, to his great surprise, he found himself an extremely unimportant personage. Congressmen preferred to consult the unofficial representative of the Honolulu Merchants' Association and Chamber of Commerce, a man who really understood and would tell the truth about Island conditions and needs. Only a small amount of Hawaiian business was transacted by Congress, and even with that little the delegate's most staunch supporters were unable to credit him. At home, in the meantime, the Home Rule legislators were showing their incapacity. Bills of no importance were discussed at great length, and so much time was spent by the legislature of 1901 in the consideration of a bill for the encouragement of female dogs that it succeeded in immortalising itself under the name of the Female Dog Legislature. Its more absurd measures were naturally vetoed by the Governor, and the Home Rule party finally made itself so ridiculous that although it still exists in name it controls very few votes. Very soon, also, the two regular American parties had properly organised and have never been outnumbered by the Home Rulers except in the first election, that of 1900. The votes cast for the Delegate to Congress at that election were: Republican 3,856, Democratic 1,650, Home Rule 4,083. In 1910 the numbers were: Republican 8,049, Democratic 4,503, Home Rule 989. The Republicans, who have been in the majority since 1902, sent as delegate Prince Kuhio Kalaneanaole, a nephew of the Queen of King Kalakaua, and himself a chief by birth. The political machinery of the Territory is at present similar to that of any of the States on the mainland. As there is no prohibitive clause in the organic act there is no reason why the Territory should not eventually apply for admission to the Union as a State. There is every reason, on the other hand, why such application should not be made until conditions have become fixed and the American population is greater.

This ultimate possibility was recognised by the United States when the Islands were constituted a Territory instead of a "possession" with a distinct form of government such as was devised for Porto Rico and the Philippines. It was a possibility which Congress was willing to accept, since they saw that Hawaii was already American in language and institutions and that for it, in consequence, a Territorial Government was as proper as for Arizona, whereas a people whose ideals and language were Spanish must go through a long period of probation before they were fit to take their independent place in the American political system. From the beginning the policy pursued toward Hawaii has been a wise one. The Governors appointed have not been strangers, but citizens of Honolulu thoroughly conversant with Island problems. And to a large extent this has been the case with other Federal appointments. Hawaii has so far mercifully been spared purely political appointments dealt out as rewards. The result has been proper appreciation of Island needs because of proper representation at Washington, and at home steady progress that would not otherwise have been possible.

Looking at the matter purely from the Hawaiian point of view, American annexation has been, in the main, of great benefit. One often hears the remark, to be sure, "It was not this way before," —"before*' always referring to the years prior to 1898,—and certain it is that society, without the court as a picturesque centre, with many of the delightful English residents replaced by a purely commercial class of Americans, has lost much of its charm. Economically, also, the operation of the Chinese exclusion law has caused serious difficulties to Island industries. In contrast to this, however, the ever present, if perhaps unfounded, fear of seizure by Japan was at once removed. Trade bents, already enjoyed under the Reciprocity Treaty, were made certain for all time. The very difficulty of the labour situation should lead eventually to the forming of a more stable population and of a more dependable labouring class.

The aid of the Federal Government makes possible the prosecution of necessary public works, which the limited resources of the Kingdom and of the Republic did not permit. The Islands have long been in dire need of adequate harbour facilities. The work of dredging, deepening, and building breakwaters is rapidly being carried on under appropriations of Congress, supplemented by grants from Territorial funds. Honolulu harbour is good but small, and is being enlarged, not only to satisfy present needs, but to meet the greater demands that will arise after the completion of the Panama Canal. At Hilo a breakwater 2,628 feet long has been contracted for, and docks are being constructed to accommodate the largest seagoing vessels. A breakwater at Kahului, the principal port of Maui, is being built as an extension of one already constructed by the local railway company. Surveys are being made to decide what harbour on Kauai is most suitable for extensive development. It is intended eventually to have, on all the important islands, landing places which will afford adequate shelter in all weather. So far the most notable work of the kind has been, of course, that at Pearl Harbour, already carried out by the Navy Department.

In the Archives Building in Honolulu was recently found an old letter written by Lieutenant Curtis on board the U. S. frigate Constitution— "Old Ironsides"—to the Hawaiian Minister of Foreign Affairs. In it he said: " Allow me to call your attention to the importance of Pearl Harbour, the perfect security of the harbour, the excellence of its water, the perfect ease with which it can be made one of the finest places in the Islands, all of which combine to make it a great consideration. While the harbour was clearing out fortifications could be built, troops could be drilled, the forts might be garrisoned. Government storehouses built. The amount of money to be expended will be but a feather in comparison with the almost incalculable amount of wealth that will result upon the completion of these objects.'* So, for the last halfcentury and more. United States naval officers have dwelt on the limitless strategic importance of this remarkable harbour, which actually came under American domination, not when the Islands were annexed under President McKinley, but when the Reciprocity Treaty was carried through during the administration of President Grant. Pearl Harbour, eight miles west of Honolulu, is connected with the open sea by a narrow channel only. It contains 10 square miles of navigable water that is absolutely calm in any weather. The only harbour of real importance in the Islands, it is much finer than any on the Pacific slope of the mainland. The difficulty in making it practicable lay in the shallow bar at the entrance and in the tortuous channel leading to the deep inner locks. In 1908 a contract was signed with a Hawaiian company for the dredging work, which included the removal of the bar, the straightening of the channel, and the excavation for a drydock. The first part of this extremely difficult work has been completed, and on December 14, 1911, the United States armoured cruiser California steamed through the entrance, up the almost straight fourand-a-half-mile channel, and anchored in the inner harbour opposite the partly finished drydock. This was the first large vessel ever to reach the inner harbour. Among the admiral's invited guests were Queen Liliuokalani and Judge Dole, first Governor of the Territory—a pleasant commentary on the relations between the warring factions of old. Thus, at a cost of about $8,000,000, this part of the great work is nearing completion, and to-day the entire United States Navy, or any navy that we may eventually have, might steam into the harbour and find safe anchorage.

Curiously have the old-time recommendations of Lieutenant Curtis to the Hawaiian Government been followed by the Army and Navy of his own country. While the dredging was being done seven great industrial buildings, including forge shops, a power house, a foundry, repair shops, and a storehouse, have been constructed. Marine barracks and officers' quarters are standing on the plain back of the harbour. Fort Kamehameha, with its powerful guns of most modem type, guards the channel leading to the sea. In different army posts throughout the Islands troops have been drilling. Lieutenant Curtis did not mention a drydock because he could not foresee the dreadnoughts of modem days. So, in addition to his recommendations, this is being constructed, a drydock 820 feet long, 110 feet wide, and 36 feet deep, which will require in the making thousands of tons of rocks and over $50,000 barrels of cement, which will cost $4,000,000 but will, when completed, hold the greatest naval vessels in the world. Connected with the station there will be also an administration building, a coaling plant, an immense floating crane, hospitals, and a powder magazine. Much work must still be done in the construction of sea walls, street paving, and in general yard development, yet it is expected that the station will be completed early in 1916. All this has, of course, given work to thousands of American citizens on the spot, and has been, as well, a stimulus to industrial enterprises in Honolulu, both in the furnishing of material and in the extension of transportation facilities.

But the work at Pearl Harbour is in preparation for only one of the many military posts that are expected to make Oahu one of the most strongly fortified places in the world. All these posts will be on the southern and western slopes of the island, since the precipitous mountains on the windward side make an attack from that quarter physically impossible. What is more, the impregnability of Oahu will make untenable in case of war the permanent occupation of any of the other islands, since there are in them no harbours suitable for battleships which could possibly be defended. At the base of Diamond Head, Fort Ruger, with its concrete buildings for barracks and quarters and its heavy seacoast guns, garrisoned by two companies of the Coast Artillery Corps, is the headquarters of the Artillery District of Honolulu. Fort de Russy at Waikiki, a fortified post without, as yet, permanent barracks, is the headquarters of the Engineer Battalion. Fort Armstrong, guarding Honolulu harbour, is also a fortified post and serves as saluting station of the port. Fort Shafter at Moanalua, a few miles northwest of Honolulu, is a post consisting of frame buildings, and is garrisoned by a battalion of infantry. Schofield Barracks, on the upland plains between the Waianae and Koolau ranges of mountains, is garrisoned by a large force, which includes all branches of the mobile forces. The District of Hawaii, which includes the Hawaiian Islands and their dependencies, was, in October, 1911, created an independent military department, with headquarters in Honolulu. All the garrisons are gradually being increased, and it is probable that eventually 10,000 men, exclusive of naval and marine forces, will be stationed on the Island of Oahu. Already the military is almost as much in evidence in Honolulu as it is in Gibraltar, and, unless the city continues to grow, it seems as though in a few years the civil costume would be the exception rather than the rule.

All this costly military preparation may seem to the unthinking, or to those so peace-loving that they see in every gun a threat of war, a waste of national funds. It is, on the contrary, profoundly foresighted, since the Pacific Ocean is rapidly becoming the theatre where world powers are striving for commercial and military supremacy. The Hawaiian Islands, situated at the cross-roads of traffic, the only available stopping-place in the whole vast extent of the North Pacific, will enable the United States absolutely to command the ocean against an Asiatic or any other power, by making an overseas attack too dangerous to be attempted. No modem war-fleet would dare to get 4,000 miles away from a base of supplies. This great, impregnable oasis of the ocean, moreover, will insure the safety of the important trade routes and will thus supplement the international value of the Panama Canal.

The Territory has been, aside from its naval and military value, a paying investment for the United States. The customs receipts have increased every year, and in 1911 amounted to more than $1,650,000. Imports from the mainland have increased in value from $18,000,000 in 1903 to $22,000,000 in 1911. By the terms of annexation both the Government and Crown lands became the property of the United States, lands aggregating over half of the real property in the Islands. It has always been a disputed question with regard to the Crown lands as to whether or not some compensation should be made to the Queen, the income of these lands having been at the personal disposition of the sovereign. Legal opinion seems to hold, however, that the lands were held by the Crown in virtue of office, and that the transfer of the sovereignty carried with it transfer of title. In spite of this, most inhabitants of the Territory feel that it would not have been a straining of justice to give the Queen some compensation, and that the courtesy of the act would have done away finally with any lingering resentment among the Hawaiian people. Laws relating to all public lands are enacted by Congress and have been so framed as to offer every inducement to bona-fide homesteading, and at the same time to discourage occupancy for speculative purposes. The amount of arable land is comparatively small, and it is rightly considered wiser to get whatever income is possible by leasing than to allow it to fall permanently into other hands than those of desirable settlers, men who will not only improve their own holdings, but will raise community standards.

The schools in the Territory, all of which are conducted in English, had enrolled in 1911 26,122 pupils, of whom 20,697 were in the public schools, 5,525 in the private. There was a total of 799 teachers, of whom 374 were American. Education is compulsory and free, and is as efficient in Hawaii in all branches below those of the university as it is in any part of the United States. It was said a few years ago that, excluding the Orientals, the proportion of illiterates in the Islands was lower than in the State of Massachusetts. A public library, toward which Mr. Carnegie gave $100,000, is building in Honolulu. By legislative enactment it will have an income of $15,000 a year, and will contain at the outset some 20,000 volumes, including the important collection belonging to the Hawaiian Historical Society.

Nowhere is more efficient care taken of the public health. This is essential, since Honolulu, with its cosmopolitan population, its tropical climate, its immigration from all parts of the world, its situation at the junction of Pacific trade routes, is peculiarly liable to infection. And the very reasons which make it so liable are the same which make freedom from disease imperative. The water supply and the sewage system of Honolulu are excellent, as indeed they are rapidly becoming in all centres of population. The Territorial Board of Health has almost unlimited powers in the inspection of immigrants, of whom they send away hundreds annually, in passing on imported fruit, in the cleaning up of unsanitary districts, in the control of tuberculosis, and in the enforcement of pure-food laws. The legislature, realising the dangers, is very liberal in its appropriations to cover this work. The counties assist various hospitals, and the Territorial Government itself is interested financially in several general hospitals, in four tuberculosis hospitals, and in the dispensaries, and supports entirely the insane asylum and the leper settlement on Molokai.

It is said that fear of leprosy deters many from visiting the Islands, yet probably in no part of the globe is there less danger of infection, because nowhere is the disease so well understood, nowhere so well cared for, and nowhere are the patients— even those in whom there is even a suspicion of leprosy—so rigorously isolated. The leper settlement is situated on a triangle of land on the north side of Molokai, separated from the rest of the island by practically impassable cliffs. Here, during 1911, were treated 649 patients, of whom 669 were Hawaiians. There are in Honolulu a receiving station and homes for non-leprous boys and girls of leprous parents. Thoroughly scientific investigation of the disease is being conducted, and it has lately been found possible artificially to cultivate the bacillus, an advance in knowledge which augurs well for the ultimate discovery of a cure. Leprosy is not contagious, can be contracted only through inoculation, and takes years to manifest itself,—three facts which prove the nonsense of the frequent scare headlines in American newspapers about the disease. Many devoted men and women have given their lives to service in the leper settlement, and none, with the exception of Father Damien, has contracted the disease. Stevenson's magnificent philippic, cruelly unfair to Dr. Hyde as it was, has made the name of Father Damien known and reverenced the world over. All honour must be given to him as the pioneer, as the first man willing to isolate himself for the benefit of the unfortunate patients, a self-sacrifice even more noble since he evidently expected to die a leper, as he did. Because he took the disease, however, is often the reason that he is praised, whereas, as a matter of fact, he contracted leprosy only through gross carelessness and because he did not take the trouble to keep clean. Because he was the pioneer he is a hero, but hardly less heroes are those who have followed him, who have not contracted leprosy because they have been reasonably careful and willing to bathe. Lepers are never seen in the Islands. Practically no Americans have become lepers. The inhabitants of the Islands never think of the disease except to glory in the splendid work which is being done toward finding a cure.

Since Hawaii became a Territory it has grown rapidly in population, its old industries have increased and new 'industries have been developed. The trans-Pacific cable has put it into immediate communication with the rest of the world, enabling its business interests to keep constantly in touch with the great marts of trade. It is fortunate in having as the backbone of its population a force of intelligent citizens who have loyally transferred their allegiance to the United States, but who love their own little land and put its well-being above all personal considerations. Its affairs have been wisely conducted in Washington, so that it is justified in looking forward toward a bright future, in which it will have its own honourable share in the progress of its mother country.