1054-1055
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Mr. MacArthur. Yes.
Senator Davis. Do you regard them as a progressive people?
Mr. MacArthur. I do. I regard them as the most progressive of all the three natives brought in there-Chinese, Portuguese, and Japanese.
Senator Davis. You do not classify them with the Asiatics?
Mr. MacArthur. No; not at all. They dress well; they have little gardens about their houses; they cultivate various things. The Azores is very similar to the climate of the Hawaiian Islands; it is the same class of soil-volcanic soil.
The Chairman. Did you understand from your examination of the condition of the Portuguese in Hawaii that their coming to the islands was a voluntary act on their part for the betterment of their fortunes?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes; betterment of their fortunes.
The Chairman. Not compulsion?
Mr. MacArthur. No; they sent out agents. They wanted to advance the thing, partly Japanese, partly Chinese, and somebody went over and by arrangement brought these people there.
The Chairman. Not under the cooly system?
Mr. MacArthur. No; the people of the Azores are the most liberal-minded of any of the Portuguese.
Senator Davis. Do they have their wives with them?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes; and children. They have brought their wives; they have little villages in Hawaii-the sugar companies build for them Japanese houses. They did not like these houses, so they went to work and made Japanese villages for them-little wicker things.
The Chairman. So that, I understand you, taking a general survey, the Kanaka population, the white population, and the Portuguese population, it would be a disastrous economic movement on the part of the United States to incorporate those people into our body politic?
Mr. MacArthur. No. But for the future the laws of the United States would prevent----
The Chairman. I was speaking of it as an economic question-whether you think it would be advantageous or disadvantageous to the United States to incorporate such a population as you have been describing into our body politic. Do you think it would be an advantage or a disadvantage?
Mr. MacArthur. I think it would be an advantage.
The Chairman. You do not include the Chinese in that statement?
Mr. MacArthur. No, not altogether. I think the Chinese are the worst population of all, perhaps.
The Chairman. Do they bring their families with them?
Mr. MacArthur. Not to a great extent.
The Chairman. Do they intermarry with the native women?
Mr. MacArthur. Not much. Some of the Japanese do, and I think some of the Portuguese.
The Chairman. They come there as denizens, and not to become citizens?
Mr. MacArthur. They cannot become citizens now.
The Chairman. I am speaking of their motives.
Mr. MacArthur. They come there to make money and go home.
The Chairman. This article which you published in your newspaper November 20,1893, seems to contain a statement of your views on a number of questions. I want to ask you whether you regard that as your sincere impression now?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes.
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The article is as follows.
"[From the New York Mail and Express.]
"INTRODUCTORY BY THE EDITOR OF THE MAIL AND EXPRESS.
"Hon. Charles L. Mac Arthur, the venerable editor of the Troy Northern Budget and formerly State Senator, has complied with a request of the Mail and Express for an article on Hawaii, the circumstances that led to the overthrow of the Queen, and the personnel of the Provisional Government.
"Mr. MacArthur went to Hawaii shortly after the revolution and enjoyed the same facilities for observation as Mr. Blount had. A graphic and entertaining writer, the veteran editor has made travel a habit for years, and when he wants to find facts or objects knows just where to look for them.
"IN HAWAII WHEN COMMISSIONER BLOUNT WAS THERE.
To the editor of the New York Mail and Express.
"Sir: You have asked me to write for your paper on the subject of the Hawaiian Islands, now an absorbing theme of public discussion. I premise by saying that I was in the islands with my wife the best part of last winter, for weeks at the same hotel in Honolulu with Commissioner Blount and his amiable lady, saw them daily, and had fairly as good opportunities as he had to get at the bottom facts of the situation, the same sources of information being open to me as to him. Besides, I had greatly the advantage of him in that I saw and conversed with all classes of people and got at their inner ideas, whereas his reticence repelled rather than invited free intercourse. It was unfortunate for the object of his mission that he remained secluded in his quarters most of the time, instead of going about with his eyes and ears open and bringing into requisition the Yankee habit of asking questions. It was also unfortunate that he did not visit the great coffee and sugar producing island of Hawaii, the largest of the group, which has an area seven times greater than that of Oahu, on which Honolulu is situated, and six times larger than Maui, the next largest, with double the production of sugar and other commercial products of any other island.
"As I understand it, Mr. Blount only visited the island of Maui outside of Oahu, and then only paid a visit to see the great Spreckels sugar plantation, the largest in the world, where he was, of course, handsomely entertained. What he should have done was to have visited the great island of Hawaii, the garden island of Kauai, and the island of Molokai, and have seen the conditions of these islands for himself, and have conversed with the leading men of all parties throughout the group, instead of shutting himself up like an oyster in Honolulu and getting most of his information at second hand. I do not, however, desire to make any adverse criticism on Mr. Commissioner Blount, at least until his report becomes public, for he is a very amiable and courteous gentleman, and all my intercourse with him was of the pleasantest character. But I can't help saying that a trained newspaper man would have bored into all the sources of information and have swept the field cleaner and more thoroughly in gathering material for a satisfactory report by the methods ordinarily in vogue with newspaper men than was possible by the methods and means adopted by the honorable chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee of the last Congress
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