HAWAII, AND OUR ANNEXATION POLICY.
Location of the Islands--Their Population--Honolulu, the Capital
and the Metropolis--Political History--The Traditional Policy of
the United States--Former Propositions for Annexation--
Congressional Discussion--The Vote in the House of
Representatives--The Hawaiian Commission.
A work of this character would be incomplete without mention of
the Hawaiian Islands, and their intimate political and commercial
connection with our own country. For many years prior to the
commencement of the war with Spain there had been a growing
sentiment in favor of their annexation to the United States, and
events in Washington during the first month of that conflict
showed conclusively that a large majority of the members of both
houses of Congress were strongly in favor of the measure.
The Hawaiians are a group of eight inhabited and four uninhabited
islands lying in the North Pacific Ocean, distant from San
Francisco about 2,100 miles, from Sidney 4,500 miles, and from
Hongkong 4,800 miles. They are the most important in the
Polynesian group, and were discovered by Captain Cook in 1788.
Their combined area is 6,640 square miles, and their population is
about 85,000. The islands are to a great extent mountainous and
volcanic, but the soil is highly productive. Sugar, rice, and
tropical fruits grow in abundance, and over ninety per cent of the
trade is with the United States.
FORTUNES EASILY MADE.
The world knows comparatively nothing about the great fortunes
that have been amassed in Hawaii in the last thirty years. The
children of the Yankee missionaries who sailed from Boston and
Gloucester around the Horn to carry the gospel to the Sandwich
islands in the '30s and '40s are the richest and most aristocratic
people in Honolulu. For mere songs the sons of missionaries
obtained great tracts of marvelously fertile soil for sugar
planting in the valleys of the island, and with their natural
enterprise and inventive spirit they developed the greatest sugar
cane plantations in the world.
When the United States gave a treaty to the Hawaiian kingdom putting
Hawaiian raw sugar on the free tariff list, the profits of the sugar
planters went up with a bound. For twenty-five years the dividends of
several of the Yankee companies operating sugar plantations and mills on
the islands ranged from 18 to 30 per cent a year. The Hawaiian
Commercial Sugar Company paid 25 per cent dividends annually from 1870
to 1882. The world has never known productiveness so rich as that of the
valleys of Maui and Hawaii for sugar cane. The seed had only to be
planted and the rains fell and nature did the rest. One tract of 12,000
acres of land on Maui was given to a young American, who married a
bewitching Kanaka girl, by her father, who was delighted to have a
pale-faced son-in-law. It was worth about $200 at the time. The tract
subsequently became a part of a great sugar plantation. It was bought by
Claus Spreckels for $175,000 and is worth much more than that now. The
Spreckles, Alexander, Bishop, Smith and Akers accumulated millions in
one generation of sugar cultivation in the Hawaiian islands.
HUNDREDS OF VOLCANOES.
The volcanoes of Hawaii are a class by themselves. They are not
only the tallest, but the biggest and strangest in the whole
world. Considering that they reach from the bottom of the Pacific
ocean (18,000 feet deep here) to over 15,000 feet above sea level,
they really stand 33,000 feet high from their suboceanic base to
their peaks. The active craters on the islands number 300, but the
dead craters, the ancient chimneys of subterranean lava beds, are
numbered by the thousands. The islands are of lavic formation.
Evidences of extinct volcanoes are so common that one seldom
notices them after a few weeks on the islands. Ancient lava is
present everywhere. The natives know all its virtues, and, while
some ancient deposits of lava are used as a fertilizer for soils,
other lava beds are blasted for building material and for
macadamizing roads. Titanic volcanic action is apparent on every
side. Every headland is an extinct volcano. Every island has its
special eruption, which, beginning at the unfathomable bottom of
the sea, has slowly built up a foundation and then a
superstructure of lava. On the island of Hawaii and on Molokai are
huge cracks several thousands of feet deep and many yards wide
which were formed by the bursting upward of lava beds ages and
ages ago. The marks of the titanic force are plainly visible.
Mark Twain is authority for saying that the two great active
volcanoes, Mauna Loa and Kilauea, on the island of Hawaii, are the
most interesting in the world. Certainly they are the most unique.
Mauna Loa is 14,000 feet above sea level. Every six or seven years
there is an eruption from its sides and several times the flow of
lava has threatened the ruin of the town of Hilo, thirty miles
away. The crater on Mauna Loa is three miles in diameter and 600
feet deep. Over the crater hangs an illuminated vapor which may be
seen at night over 200 miles distant. When Mauna Loa is in violent
eruption a fountain of molten lava spouts every minute over 250
feet in the air, bursting into 10,000 brilliantly colored balls,
like a monstrous Roman candle pyrotechnic.
Then there is Kilauea--a shorter and flatter volcanic mountain
sixteen miles distant. It has the greatest crater known--one nine
miles across and from 300 to 800 feet deep. And such a crater! In
it is a literal lake of molten lava all the time. At times the
lava is over 100 feet deep and at other times it is 200 feet,
according to the pressure on it deep in the bowels of the earth.
Signs of volcanic activity are present all the time throughout the
depth of the molten mass in the form of steam, cracks, jets of
sulphurous smoke and blowing cones. The crater itself is
constantly rent and shaken by earthquakes. Nearly all tourists go
to see the marvelous eruptions on Mauna Loa and Kilauea. Hotels
have been built on the mountain sides for the accommodation of
sightseers, and there are plenty of guides about the craters.
Oahu has many places of interest outside of Honolulu. One may
visit the sugar plantations, rice farms, and may go to Pearl
harbor or the Punchbowl. The latter is an extinct volcano rising a
few hundred feet above the town. Another resort is the Pali, the
highest point in the pass through the range of mountains that
divides Oahu. It is the fashion, and a very good fashion it is, to
see the Pali and praise its charms. It is the Yosemite of Hawaii.
The view from this height sweeps the whole island from north to
south. In the direction of the capital the land slopes to a level
two miles from the sea and then spreads flatly to the shore. The
hillsides are not, as a rule, in a state of cultivation, although
the soil is fertile. The land is now cumbered with wild guava,
which bears fruit as big as the lemon, and with the lantana, the
seeds of which are scattered broadcast by an imported bird called
the minah. On the lower ground small farmers, mostly orientals,
make their homes, and there are several cane plantations.
Honolulu, the capital and chief city, has a population of about
25,000, and presents more of the appearance of a civilized place
than any other town in Polynesia. Although consisting largely of
one-story wooden houses, mingled with grass huts half smothered by
foliage, its streets are laid out in the American style, and are
straight, neat and tidy. Water-works supply the town from a
neighboring valley, and electric lights, telephones, street car
lines, and other modern improvements are not lacking.
The arrangement of the streets in Honolulu reminds many Americans
of those in Boston or the older part of New York. All the streets
are narrow, but well kept, and, with a few exceptions, they
meander here and there at will. A dozen thoroughfares are crescent
shaped and twist and turn when one least expects. All the streets
are smooth and hard under a dressing of thousands of wagon loads
of shells and lava pounded down and crushed by an immense steam
roller brought from San Francisco.
THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE ISLANDS DECLARED.
In 1843 the independence of the Hawaiian Islands was formally
guaranteed by the English and French governments, and for a number
of years they were under a constitutional monarchy. On the death
of King Kalakaua in 1891, his sister, the Princess Liliuokalani,
succeeded to the throne, and soon proved herself to be an erratic
and self-willed ruler. She remained constantly at variance with
her legislature and advisers, and in January, 1893, attempted to
promulgate a new constitution, depriving foreigners of the right
of franchise, and abrogating the existing House of Nobles, at the
same time giving herself power of appointing a new House. This was
resisted by the foreign element of the community, who at once
appointed a committee of safety, consisting of thirteen members,
who called a mass meeting of their class, at which about 1,500
persons were present. The meeting unanimously adopted resolutions
condemning the action of the Queen, and authorizing a committee to
take into further consideration whatever was necessary to protect
the public safety.
The committee issued a proclamation to the Hawaiian people, formed
itself into a provisional government, took possession of the
national property, and sent commissioners to the United States
inviting this republic to annex the islands. The United States did
not respond, but continued the old relation of friendly guarantor.
A constitutional convention held session from May 20 to July
3, 1894, and on July 4 the constitution was proclaimed, the new
government calling itself the "Republic of Hawaii."
In refusing to grant this appeal for annexation, the officials at
the head of the United States government at that time were of the
opinion that such action would be in direct opposition to our
traditional policy, and the same argument has since been advanced
by the opponents of the plan.
We were thus brought face to face with the question, "What is
American policy?" Many statesmen of recent years have declared
that our great growth and increasing importance among nations
imposed obligations which should force us to take greater part in
the affairs of the world. Following the lead of European
statecraft, they also asserted that we should adopt this policy to
encourage and protect our expanding commercial interests. Not only
were we facing problems the war directly presented, but other
nations seemed to think that we were about to cast aside the
advice of Washington concerning entangling alliances, and
establish the relation of an ally with Great Britain.
Edward Everett foresaw the extension of the republican idea, and
declared that "in the discharge of the duty devolved upon us by
Providence, we have to carry the republican independence, which
our fathers achieved, with all the organized institutions of an
enlightened community--institutions of religion, law, education,
charity, art and all the thousand graces of the highest culture--
beyond the Missouri, beyond the Sierra Nevada; perhaps in time
around the circuit of the Antilles, perhaps to the archipelagoes
of the central Pacific."
The treaty of 1783 with Great Britain defined the western boundary
of the United States as the Mississippi river, down to the Florida
line on the 31st parallel of north latitude. The original colonies
comprised less than half of this area, the rest being organized
several years later as the Northwest Territory. In 1803 the United
States purchased from Napoleon for $15,000,000 the province of
Louisiana, over 1,000,000 square miles in area, including
Louisiana, Missouri, Arkansas, the Indian Territory, most of
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa, Minnesota, the two Dakotas, Montana,
Colorado, Idaho, Oregon, Washington and most of Wyoming. With this
cession came absolute ownership and control of the Mississippi.
By the treaty of February 12, 1819, with Spain, Florida was next
acquired, and Spain abandoned all claims upon the territory
between the Rocky mountains and the Pacific, embraced in the
Louisiana purchase. Texas was annexed in 1845. Under the treaty of
Guadaloupe Hidalgo, in 1848, which ended the Mexican war,
California, Nevada, parts of Colorado and Wyoming, Utah, New
Mexico and Arizona became a part of the United States. The Gadsden
purchase of 1853 acquired the portion of this territory south of
the Gila river. Fourteen years later the territory of Alaska was
purchased from Russia.
Territorial acquisition has been the policy of successive periods
of American politics. Hitherto annexation has been confined to
contiguous territory, except in the case of Alaska, separated only
by narrow stretches of sea and land. But in the case of the
Hawaiian Islands an entirely different problem confronted us.
HAWAIIAN ANNEXATION IN HISTORY.
The question of annexation of the Hawaiian Islands has been before
the American people in some form for nearly fifty years. In 1851 a
deed of provisional cession of the islands to the United States
was executed by King Kamehameha Ill., and delivered to the United
States Minister at Honolulu--the act being subsequently ratified
by joint resolution of the two Houses of the Hawaiian Legislature.
In 1854 a formal treaty of annexation was negotiated between King
Kamehameha and the Hon. David L. Gregg, in the capacity of
commissioner, and acting under special instructions of Secretary
Marcy, then Secretary of State under President Pierce. The King
died, however, before the engrossed copy of the treaty had been
signed, which prevented the completion of the act. But for this
there is every reason to believe that annexation would have been
an accomplished fact at that time, as the administration of
President Pierce was thoroughly committed to it. The policy then
distinctly enunciated was not to have the islands come in as a
State but as a Territory.
President Grant was a zealous advocate of annexation, and in 1874
a reciprocity treaty with the islands was entered into by
Secretary Fish, under which the Hawaiian government bound itself
not to "lease or otherwise dispose of or create any lien upon any
port, harbor, or other territory ... or grant any special
privilege or right of use therein to any other government," nor
enter into any reciprocity treaty with any other government.
Thirteen years later (1887), under the administration of President
Cleveland, there was a renewal of this treaty, to which was added
a clause giving to the United States authority for the exclusive
use of Pearl River (or harbor) as a coaling and repair station for
its vessels, with permission to improve the same. Article IV of
this treaty bound the respective governments to admit certain
specified articles free of duty and contained the following
provision:
"It is agreed, on the part of his Hawaiian Majesty, that so long
as this treaty shall remain in force he will not lease or
otherwise dispose of or create any lien upon any port, harbor, or
other territory in his dominions, or grant any special privilege
or rights of use therein, to any other power, state, or
government, nor make any treaty by which any other nation shall
obtain the same privileges, relative to the admission of any
articles free of duty, hereby secured to the United States."
This treaty was to remain in force seven years (until 1894), but,
after that date, was declared to be terminable by either party
after twelve months' notice to that effect.
There have been two treaties relating to annexation before
Congress within the last five years, the first negotiated by
Secretary of State John W. Foster during the administration of
President Harrison in 1893, the other by Secretary Sherman under
the McKinley administration on the 16th day of June, 1897. The
first was withdrawn by President Cleveland after his accession to
the Presidency. Both were ratified by the Hawaiian Legislature in
accordance with a provision of the constitution of the republic,
and that body, by unanimous vote of both Houses, on May 27, 1896,
declared:
"That the Legislature of the republic of Hawaii continues to be,
as heretofore, firmly and steadfastly in favor of the annexation
of the Hawaiian Islands to the United States of America, and in
advocating such policy it feels assured that it is expressing not
only its own sentiments but those of the voters of this republic."
The necessity for a closer relation of the two republics than that
provided for by a commercial treaty, terminable at the pleasure of
either, has been recognized by nearly every President and
Secretary of State from John Tyler down to President McKinley, by
none more strongly than by Daniel Webster in 1851 and by Secretary
Marcy in 1854, while like views have been favored by Secretaries
Seward, Fish, Bayard, Foster, and Sherman since.
The strategic value of the islands in case of war and their
commercial value at all times are so bound up together that it is
impossible to separate them. The former has been testified to by
such eminent military and naval authorities as General J. M.
Schofield and General Alexander of the United States army and
Captain A. T. Mahan, Admiral Belknap, Admiral Dupont, and George
W. Mellville, Engineer in Chief of the United States navy, and
many others. Their commercial value is demonstrated by the fact
that their trade with the United States for the fiscal year,
ending June, 1897 (amounting to $18,385,000), exceeded that with
either of the following States and confederations: Argentina,
Central America, Spain, Switzerland, Venezuela, Russia, or
Denmark; was more than twice that with Colombia or Sweden and
Norway; nearly three times that with Chile; four times that with
Uruguay; nearly four times that with Portugal; nearly seven times
that with Turkey; ten times greater than that with Peru, and
greater than that of Greece, Peru, Turkey, Portugal, and Sweden
and Norway combined.
VOTE FOR ANNEXATION.
By a vote of 209 to 91 the House of Representatives on the
afternoon of June 15 adopted the Newlands resolutions, providing
for the annexation of Hawaii. The debate, which was continued
without interruption for three days, was one of the most notable
of Congress, the proposed annexation being considered of great
commercial and strategic importance by its advocates, and being
looked upon by its opponents as involving a radical departure from
the long-established policy of the country and likely to be
followed by the inauguration of a pronounced policy of
colonization, the abandonment of the Monroe doctrine and
participation in international wrangles. More than half a hundred
members participated in the debate.
Notable speeches were made by Messrs, Berry, Smith and Hepburn
for, and by Messrs. Johnson and Williams against the pending
measure. Few members were upon the floor until late in the
afternoon and the galleries had few occupants. As the hour of
voting drew near, however, members began taking their places and
there were few more than a score of absentees when the first roll
call was taken. The announcement of the vote upon the passage of
the resolutions was cheered upon the floor and applauded generally
by the spectators.
The resolutions adopted in a preamble relate the offer of the
Hawaiian republic to cede all of its sovereignty and absolute
title to the government and crown lands, and then by resolution
accept the cession and declare the islands annexed. The
resolutions provide for a commission of five, at least two of whom
shall be resident Hawaiians, to recommend to Congress such
legislation as they may deem advisable. The public debt of Hawaii,
not to exceed $4,000,000, is assumed, Chinese immigration is
prohibited, all treaties with other powers are declared null, and
it is provided that until Congress shall provide for the
government of the islands all civil, judicial and military powers
now exercised by the officers of the existing government shall be
exercised in such manner as the President shall direct, and he is
given power to appoint persons to put in effect a provisional
government for the islands.
Mr. Fitzgerald spoke against the Newlands resolutions. In the
course of his speech he emphasized the failure of the majority of
Hawaiians to express their desire relative to annexation. He
insisted that every people had the right to the government of
their choice. Speaking further, Mr. Fitzgerald opposed annexation
on the ground that an injurious labor element would be brought
into competition with American laborers.
Supporting the resolution Mr. Berry devoted much of his time to
showing that annexation was in line with democratic policy. He
reviewed the territorial additions to the original states to show
that practically all had been made by democrats.
Mr. Berry digressed to speak of the Philippine situation, and
while not advocating the retention of the islands he declared the
United States should brook no interference upon the part of
Germany. He said America should resent any intervention with all
her arms and warships. Mr. Berry's remarks in this connection were
applauded generously.
William Alden Smith, member of the committee on foreign affairs,
advocating annexation, said:
"Annexation is not new to us. In my humble opinion the whole North
American continent and every island in the gulf and the Caribbean
sea and such islands in the Pacific as may be deemed desirable are
worthy of our ambition. Not that we are earth hungry, but, as a
measure of national protection and advantage, it is the duty of
the American people to lay peaceful conquest wherever opportunity
may be offered.
"It has been argued that our constitution makes no provision for a
colonial system, but if President Monroe had been merely a lawyer,
if he had contented himself by looking for precedent which he was
unable to find, if he had consulted the jurisprudence of his time
and planned his action along academic lines the greatest doctrine
ever announced to the civilized world, which now bears his name,
though in unwritten law, but in the inspiration, the hope, the
security of every American heart, would have found no voice potent
enough and courageous enough to have encircled the western
hemisphere with his peaceful edict.
"Precedent, sir, may do for a rule of law upon which a fixed and
definite superstructure must be built, but it is the duty of
statesmanship to cease looking at great public questions with a
microscope and sweep the world's horizon with a telescope from a
commanding height."
Mr. Johnson then was recognized for a speech in opposition. He
laid down the three propositions that annexation was unnecessary
as a war measure in the present conflict with Spain; that
annexation was unnecessary to prevent the islands from falling
into the hands of some other power to be used against us, and that
the proposition to annex was inherently wrong and was the opening
wedge upon an undesirable and disastrous policy of colonization.
Advancing to the danger of annexation being the first step in
colonization, he said gentlemen could not deny that the holding of
the Philippines was contemplated already. What was more deplorable
and significant, he said, was the expressed fear of the President
lest Spain should sue for peace before we could secure Puerto
Rico. Mr. Johnson said men were already speaking disparagingly of
the Cubans and their capacity for government, and it was useless
to attempt to hide the truth that American eyes of avarice were
already turned to Cuba, although but two months since action was
taken to free and establish that island as independent.
REPLY BY MR. DOLLIVER.
Mr. Dolliver, speaking in support of the resolutions, complimented
the speech of the Indiana member, but suggested its success as an
applause-getter would be greater than as a maker of votes.
"I cannot understand," declared Mr. Dolliver, "how a man who
distrusts everything of his own country can fail utterly to
suspect anything upon the part of other great powers of the
world." Concluding, Mr. Dolliver refuted the charge that
annexationists had any hidden motives looking to colonial
expansion. As to the future of the Philippines, Cuba and Puerto
Rico, he declared that he knew nothing, but he had faith that in
the providence of God the American people would be guided aright
and these questions would be met and disposed of properly when
occasion should arise.
Mr. Cummings, in a ten-minute speech, supported annexation and
indulged in severe denunciation of former President Cleveland for
his effort to re-establish the monarchy in Hawaii and the hauling
down of the American flag by Commissioner Blount.
Mr. Hepburn was recognized to conclude in support of the
resolutions. He believed the people of the country were familiar
with the issue involved, and the time was opportune for a vote and
final action. Answering the claim that annexation would mean
launching upon colonization, he disavowed any such understanding.
He said he hoped to see every Spanish possession fall into the
possession of this country in order to contribute to the enemy's
injury, and that being accomplished the question of their
disposition would arise and be met when the war should end.
The House resolution extending the sovereignty of the United States over
Hawaii was adopted in the Senate by a vote of forty-two to twenty-one,
and President McKinley's signature added that country to our
possessions. The President appointed as commissioners to visit the
islands and draw up for the guidance of Congress a system of laws for
their government, the following gentlemen: Senator Shelby M. Cullom, of
Illinois; Senator John T. Morgan, of Alabama; Representative Robert R.
Hitt, of Illinois; President Sanford B. Dole, of Hawaii; Justice W. F.
Frear, of Hawaii.