Jere Krischel at 08:50, 5 January 2006

2006-01-05T08:50:57Z

Jere Krischel at 04:51, 12 December 2005

2005-12-12T04:51:03Z

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8 5 6 HAWAIIAN ISLANDS
- Senator FRTE. It touches it only so far as to indicate that this thing
was of gradual growth. As we have been taking testimony this is
undoubtedly admissible. It is nothing that you would object to.
Senator GRAY. I withdraw my objection.
The CHAIRMAN. DO you confirm the statements made in that paper?
Mr. OLESON. Yes; I would say that I have incorporated facts here
that I was not cognizant of. That is not the case with my statement
just read. But such facts have gone on record in the papers and
records of the Legislature.
The CHAIRMAN. So far as the statements in that paper are within
your knowledge they are true?
Mr. OLESON. Exactly.
The statement is as follows:
"SOME ELEMENTS IN THE POLITICAL EVOLUTION OP HAWAII.
"At a recent meeting of the Congregational Club, in Horticultural
Hall, Mr. William Brewster Oleson read a very interesting paper on
Elements in the Political Evolution of Hawaii, as follows:
"I shall confine myself on this occasion to the period of twenty years
ago, from January, 1873, to January, 1893. I shall also limit myself
to a mere allusion to the more salieut events in that brief period of
constitutional development.
"An important factor in the political evolution of Hawaii was furnished
by the career of Kalakaua, the immediate predecessor and
brother of Liliuokalaui.
"In 1873 he advocated his election to the vacant throne by promising
to abolish the poll tax, to fill all Government offices with natives,
and to remove the prohibitions on the sale of liquor to the aborigines.
He was unpopular with his own people, and his rival, Lunalilo, was
enthusiastically elected King.
" Soon after Lunalilo died, and on February 12, 1874, Kalakaua was
elected King by the Legislature. It was charged, and generally
believed, that he was elected by the use of bribes. It is sufficient here
to say that he was protected from a mob of his own people, for a period
of five days after his election, by United States troops.
" During his reign he dismissed capable and upright officials and filled
the civil service with political adventurers, who brought scandal to
every department of the Government. He caused grogshops to be
licensed in the country districts against the protests of his own people.
"He raised the cry, 'Hawaii for Hawaiians,' hoping thus to curry
popularity by exciting race jealousies against foreigners. He sought
to create a state church of which he should be the head. His visits to
the other islands were utilized for the recrudescence of lascivious orgies
of the old heathen religion. He rehabilitated the trade of sorcery, and
turned the influence of the Kahunas to his own political advantage.
"He stationed soldiers with side arms in double rows at polling
places, thus intimidating voters and pushing men out of line who were
suspected of opposition to his schemes, thus forcibly preventing their
voting. He appointed legislators to lucrative Government positions
while they continued to retain seats in the Legislature.
"He had the Legislature in 1886 adjourn for three weeks so that
members who were tax assessors might go home and perform their
duties. These men he employed to carry through the Legislature pernicious
and extravagant legislation in opposition to the sentiment of the
people. Heusedtheroyalfrankingprivilegetopasstkrough the custom-
HAWAIIAN ISLANDS. 857
house, free of duty, liquors belonging to certain firms, thus, In one
instance, defrauding the Government of revenue to the amount of
$4,749.35.
"For this service he received hundreds of cases of cheap gin, which
he sent to every voting precinct to secure the election of his candidates
to the Legislature. He went personally to one country district, with a
company of soldiers, and by their votes defeated Pilipo, the lion of
North Kona, Kalakaua's staunchest opponent in the Legislature.
" He laid claim to the ' primacy of the Pacific,' and sent royal commissioners
to the New Hebrides and Gilbert Islands and Samoa to prepare
for a Hawaiian protectorate over those islands. He warned the great
powers of Europe, in a grandiloquent protest, against any further
annexation of islands in the Pacilic Ocean, claiming for Hawaii exclusive
right ' to assist those islands in improving their social and political
condition.'
"Finally, he accepted a bribe of $71,000 from a Chinaman, named
Aki, for an opium license, which he had already sold and delivered to
another Chinaman, who had paid $80,000 for it.
" '1 his career of Kalakaua's had a twofold effect, viz, of arranging in
increasing antagonism and bitterness the progressive and retrogressive
elements in the population, and of bestowing leadership, on one hand,
on the servile partisans of the King, and, on the other, on intelligent
Anglo-Saxons, who have, from that time to this, counted as their
adherents the more stalwart and independent Hawaiians.
"Another element in the political evolution of Hawaii has been the
decay of the native race.
"The census of 1823 showed the population to be 130,313. According
to the census of 1890 the native Hawaiians numbered 34,430, a
decrease since 1823 of 95,877. The annual decrease since 1800 has
averaged 1,085. Thus, since 1860, when the native Hawaiians numbered
66,984, the decrease has been 50 per cent.
" The native Hawaiians now number about one-third of the population.
Thus the total population in 1890 was 89,990, of which the 11 awaiian
numbered 34,430, the Chinese, Japanese, and Polynesians 28,249,
and the white foreigners, many of whom were born in the land, 27,305.
This decrease of Hawaiians and the corresponding increase of foreigners
have depressed the native race, but with an opposite effect on the
two radically diverse wings. Thus, on those more susceptible to the
corrupting influences of the throne who have fallen into dissipation,
and who are seeking their own personal advancement at the expense
of ail political morality, this alarming decrease has had the effect of
exciting intense race hatred.
"Of those, however, who are allied to the churches, who have been
stalwart in their resistance to Kalakaua's demoralizing influences,
who are to-day the personification of the character and conscience of
this remnant of a race, this decrease has had the eifect of drawing them
into closer and trustful fellowship with the better class of Anglo-
Saxons.
"Another element in the political evolution of Hawaii has been the
growth of the Anglo Saxon population, which has naturally resulted
in the bestowment of political privileges, not otherwise enjoyed even
by the Hawaiian people themselves.
" This foreign population pays four-fifths of the taxes. It has furnished
the capital and skill in the development of every business and
industrial enterprise in Hawaii. It is a resident population, with
permanent homes and schools and churches and libraries, and social,

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Jere Krischel at 08:50, 5 January 2006

Jere Krischel at 04:51, 12 December 2005