876-879
| Previous Page | Next Page |
|
- So far from plotting revolution, the people who are today supporting the Government of Hawaii, and who aided in its establishment, were to a man, as I believe, opposed to the attempts at revolution which were under several discussions in the early part of the year 1892, and for which attempts the arrests for treason were made spring before last.
- For even defending those treason cases in court I found myself the subject of harsh criticism from many persons who are now staunch Government men and annexationists.
- Messrs. Blount and Nordhoff have fallen into the absurd but grave error for which Dr. Trousseau and Mr. Charles T. Gulick have made themselves responsible, of supposing that Mr. Stevens and his friends were trying to bring about the revolutionary results, for attempting which Robert Wilcox, V. V. Ashford, and some 16 other Hawaiians were examined before a judge on a charge of treason.
- Dr. Trousseau's suggestion to Blount that the ex-Queen propose a cession of Hawaii to Grover Cleveland and then abdicate, and that "all of us will assist," such result shows his view of the situation apart from his "point of view,"
- Alfred S. Hartwell
Adjourned to meet to-morrow, the 20th instant, at 10 o'clock a. m.
|
|
Washington, D. C, Saturday, January 20, 1894.
The sub-committee met pursuant to adjournment.
Present: The Chairman (Senator Morgan) and Senators Butler, Gray, Sherman and {{sc|Frye}, and Davis of the full committee.
SWORN STATEMENT OF JOHN A. McCANDLESS.
The Chairman. What is your age?
Mr. McCandless. I am 40 years of age.
The Chairman. What is your occupation?
Mr. McCandless. In the Hawaiian Islands, an artesian-well driller.
The Chairman. What is the place of your nativity?
Mr. McCandless. Pennsylvania.
The Chairman. Are you of American parentage?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. When did you go to Hawaii?
Mr. McCandless. I went to Hawaii in 1881.
The Chairman. Did you go there to experiment in the boring of artesian wells?
Mr. McCandless. No; at that time it had passed that state, and the fact had been proven that they could get an artesian well. They had half a dozen at the time I arrived there.
The Chairman. To what part of the Islands did you go?
Mr. McCandless. Except seven months I have been on the island of Oahu all the time.
The Chairman. Did you get wells there?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. Did you get water enough from the wells for sugar planting?
Mr. McCandless. Yes. On the island of Oahu they get water from artesian wells as well as from the mountain streams.
|
The Chairman. Are there large plantations on the island?
Mr. McCandless. Yes. In 1890 one plantation had a capitalization of half a million, and they ran in debt another half a million before they got started.
The Chairman. How many hands does that sugar plantation employ?
Mr. McCandless. 600. On the island of Kauai we get artesian wells, but the water does not rise over 6 feet above the sea level. In most cases they have to pump the water.
The Chairman. Can not siphons be run out?
Mr. McCandless. No.
The Chairman. Do you bore in the flats?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; the flats near the sea level.
The Chairman. Is the geological construction of the islands of such a character as would warrant, in your opinion, the belief that that is going to be a valuable source of water supply in the Hawaiian Islands?
Mr. McCandless. There is now invested in artesian wells in the Hawaiian Islands about a half million dollars. We have ourselves done $100,000 worth of the work, and it is quite an industry.
The Chairman. It is on the windward that they have the wells?
Mr. McCandless. On both sides of the island of Oahu. The artesian-water belt extends all around the island of Oahu, with a few exceptions, where we were unable to get water.
The Chairman. Do you find the water in pockets or in the stone?
Mr. McCandless. We find it in the lava formation of the islands.
The Chairman. You drive the well down until you find the percolation of the water of sufficient strength to force an overflow?
Mr. McCandless. It is in the decomposed lava and the washing of centuries, which make a packing to keep it in, and of course we go to the open rock and get the water.
The Chairman. Do you look forward to the artesian system as one that is going to be valuable to that country?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. Your labors in Hawaii, I suppose, have carried you amongst the people in the country?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. Have you familiarized yourself with the character and condition of the people of Hawaii?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; our business has taken us all around the island of Oahu.
The Chairman. Have you had occasion to visit other islands also?
Mr. McCandless. The first well we drilled in the Kingdom was on the island of Hawaii. We were there seven months. That was a complete failure. Outside of that I have not been off the island of Oahu.
The Chairman. I will ask you now to state briefly what you found to be the condition of those people as to the comfort of living at their abodes.
Mr. McCandless. They lived in the country there just about as the poor do in any country that I have ever been in, except, perhaps, they are more indolent than the poor of our country.
The Chairman. Does nature furnish a larger supply of food to the natives of the Hawaiian Islands than it does to the natives of most countries, to relieve them of the necessity for labor?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; it does in this way: The taro patch (that is the food there)—I judge an acre of taro land, perhaps a half acre— will keep a large family in food the year round. That is in addition to the fish they catch.
|
The Chairman. Are fish abundant off the coast of those islands?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; but fish commands a higher price in Honolulu than in any seaport town I have ever lived in. That is because the native will not go fishing unless the price of fish is high.
The Chairman. They are expert fishermen?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. And they have control of the fisheries?
Mr. McCandless. No; the Chinese have most of the fishing rights. There is a peculiar condition of affairs there in regard to the fisheries. The water front of the islands is owned by the landlords—the people who own the land—and the privilege of fishing on this water front is leased out.
The Chairman. By the owner of the soil?
Mr. McCandless. By the owner of the soil. So that the Chinese have been rather encroaching on that privilege and getting most of the valuable fishing rights.
The Chairman. How far out in the sea does this privilege extend?
Mr. McCandless. I can not say as to that.
The Chairman. Do the Hawaiians and Chinese fish offshore in boats and with seines and other tackle?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. When they are fishing offshore this water privilege does not interfere with them, does it?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; it interferes, except in the case of Government lands; there it is open to the natives.
The Chairman. There must be some limit to this right. Is it three miles?
Mr. McCandless. I think that would be the limit, the international limit.
The Chairman. You do not know about that?
Mr. McCandless. No.
The Chairman. In this way the Chinese and Hawaiians have what we term a practical monopoly of the fishing industry, and will not fish unless the market price justifies them in going out?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; that is the case with the Hawaiians; but the Chinese do not stop at all, they fish right along.
The Chairman. Around the islands other than Oahu is this fishing carried on by the natives?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; principally by the natives, because there is no market on the other islands.
The Chairman. What I want to get at is whether fishing in combination with the taro is the real, substantial food support of the common people of Hawaii?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. Taro supplies the want for vegetable food?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. And takes the place of bread?
Mr. McCandless. Yes. I was going to say in regard to the natives, to show their indolence in regard to their crop, I have found it the case that the natives have leased out their taro patch to a Chinaman, and the Chinaman has worked it and paid the Hawaiian in taro, and still made a living off it himself. I have seen it many times.
The Chairman. Do the women in Hawaii work in the taro patches?
Mr. McCandless. Yes; but the men mostly. It is a crop easily taken care of.
The Chairman. Easily raised?
|
Mr. McCandless. Easily raised. Of course, there must be an abundance of water—it grows in a pond; it must be flooded with water.
The Chairman. Have you, prior to January 17, 1893, been in any way engaged in the political affairs of Hawaii?
Mr. McCandless. Yes.
The Chairman. Have you been in any office there?
Mr. McCandless. No.
The Chairman. Your connection with it then was as a private citizen?
Mr. McCandless. It was as a private citizen—to help right wrongs.
The Chairman. We will suspend the examination of Mr. McCandless, for the purpose of hearing Mr. Stevens, who, I am informed, is not well and is desirous of returning to his home.
SWORN STATEMENT OF MR. JOHN L. STEVENS.
The Chairman. What is your age?
Mr. Stevens. Seventy-three.
The Chairman. Your place of nativity?
Mr. Stevens. Mount Vernon, Me.
The Chairman. When did you first go to Hawaii?
Mr. Stevens. I arrived there in September, 1889.
The Chairman. Was that your first visit?
Mr. Stevens. My first visit to Hawaii.
The Chairman. You went as Minister of the United States to that Government?
Mr. Stevens. I did.
The Chairman. Who was then the sovereign?
Mr. Stevens. King Kalakaua was the sovereign.
The Chairman. Under what administration were you sent there?
Mr. Stevens. By President Harrison.
The Chairman. Were you present at the time Liliuokalani succeeded to the regal authority in the Hawaiian Islands?
Mr. Stevens. I was.
The Chairman. And you remained there until what time—what time did you leave the islands?
Mr. Stevens. The 24th of May, 1893.
The Chairman. Proceed and state what you know of your own personal knowledge in respect of the political affairs of Hawaii since your arrival there, the changes in political conditions, the circumstances that led to such changes, the effects produced by such changes; and we wish you to state also what participation you had at any time during your residence there in promoting the interests or welfare of any political party connected with the Queen's Government or opposed to the Queen's Government. When you shall have made your statement, or at any time while you are making it, the members of the committee will interpose such questions as they may desire, for the purpose of keeping your attention to the testimony we desire to elicit.
Mr. Stevens. Mr. Chairman and gentlemen, I will, of course, be under the necessity of condensing so far as possible. That inquiry might require a volume; but, of course, I understand the committee desires the salient facts. I will read what I think is better than I could verbally state, and we will have before us the events beginning twelve days prior to the overthrow of Liliuokalani. I can read of events prior to that; but I think I had better take twelve days prior.
| Previous Page | Next Page |