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sugar producing country in the world, as it may be seen from the fact that the average product of sugar in other countries is two tons to the acre, while in the islands it is four, and often eight tons in exceptional cases. Heretofore the annual exports of the islands for several years have been of the value of about $115 per each man, woman, and child in the whole country-a larger percentage to population than enjoyed by any other country in the world. This year the first six months customs statement shows that the average for the year in sugar exports alone will reach about $110 per head for each inhabitant-a large increase. Cane sugar is not raised here above the 1,500-foot level of the sea. Experiments that promise success are now being made in raising the red Australian cane above the 1,500-foot level. If the effort is successful the sugar crop will be vastly increased. Above that level is now raised as fine coffee as is produced in any country in the world. But coffee cultivation has not been pushed, sugar raising being more profitable.
"But with the advent of Yankee methods both the coffee, rice, and other products of the soil will be enormously increased. Hawaii is truly an exceedingly fertile land abounding in rich products. It only has to be "tickled with a hoe to laugh with a harvest." Do we want it? Well, the Americans ought to know enough to take a good thing when it is offered for nothing, and is needed for the purposes of commerce and protection. To reject annexation now, and to crush out by bayonets an American government over what is really only an outlying American colony, only to restore it to heathendom and the rule of the Kahunas, would be the greatest political crime and blunder that the Americans have committed in this century, only excepting the efforts of the rebels to destroy the Union. In this case the instrument of the crime employed by the administration is one who endeavored to pull down our flag and to put in its place that of the confederacy,-and one who has already pulled down the stars and stripes in Honolulu, and is now engaged in the anti-American effort to run up the Britishized flag of the heathen Queen in its place.
"COMMISSIONER BLOUNT'S REPORT.
"While I write Commissioner Blount's report has just been brought in. It seems to have fallen lifeless, limp, and dead upon the public as being anything like a true and living witness against annexation. As the late American minister, Mr. Stevens, promises to dissect Blount's cadaver, it is only fair that his scalpel shall have the first slash at it. I only say here that I do know that Blount's report is a wicked perversion of the facts, as I had the opportunity of gathering them in Honolulu before his arrival there and after. The story of a Stevens conspiracy is utterly absurd. The plain facts, briefly, are these: There was great excitement over the passage of the opium and lottery bills at the close of the legislative session, and the whole civilized and Christianized part of the community was up in arms against these measures, which had been bribed through the Legislature and mothered by the Queen.
"The Christian ladies of the city called on the Queen in the interests of morality, asking her not to sign these bills. The Queen promised not to do so, and asked the ladies to unite with her in prayer that God would give her strength to resist the temptation. They did so, and the whole city knew of it. Next morning the city was shocked to learn that she had played the hypocrite and signed the odious bills. A popular ferment ensued. On that day, when the session had closed finally,
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the community was still farther shocked when the Queen, on her own volition, without the consent of her cabinet, proclaimed a new constitution, cutting off the franchise of a large portion of the whites and practically handing over their liberties and properties to the tender mercies of the native Kanakas.
"This last straw broke the camel's back. The revolution instantly broke out, which resulted in the establishment of the Provisional Government. Mr. Stevens was absent, and had been for days previous, on board a United States war vessel, the Boston I think, which had gone on a cruise in the outer islands for target practice. Neither Stevens nor the United States cruiser arrived back in Honolulu until after the revolution had been under full head for fully forty-eight hours, and he and the officers of the vessel were in utter ignorance of what had happened until they landed. Then he and they acted promptly. That does not look much like a Stevens conspiracy. It was the fact that the Queen's party took advantage of his absence to establish a new constitution and to make a revolution of their own, and she lost her throne in the attempt."
The Chairman. When you were in Hawaii did you know Paul Neuman?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes.
The Chairman. What relation did he hold to Liliuokalani?
Mr. MacArthur. He was her attorney-held the power of attorney that he had here when he originally came.
The Chairman. The same as is printed in Mr. Blount's report?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes.
The Chairman. Were you personally acquainted with the Queen?
Mr. MacArthur. I met her in California. She was at the same house that I was. I knew her husband in California, and I should not have been able to see her but for a previous acquaintance. She was not receiving anybody.
The Chairman. What year was it that you first met the Queen?
Mr. MacArthur. I think it must have been in 1887. I was in California three or four times. I am not quite sure of the year; I think it was in 1887. The Queen's husband was over there trying to float some Government bonds.
The Chairman. That was before the Queen's accession to the throne?
Mr. MacArthur. Before her accession. She was Mrs. Dominis then?
The Chairman. Did you have with Mr. and Mrs. Dominis a personal acquaintance?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes; to a limited extent. I spoke to them frequently at the hotel in California.
The Chairman. Did you have frequent conversations with her?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes; some.
The Chairman. When you returned to Hawaii after this revolution had been inaugurated, did you see her again?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes.
The Chairman. Did you have any conversation with her?
Mr. MacArthur. Yes.
The Chairman. On political topics?
Mr. MacArthur. Not very much; I did to a small extent.
The Chairman. I would like to know what you know in respect to Paul Neuman's authority to represent Liliuokalani, and of any overtures that were made by him, with her consent, or, as he asserted, with her consent, to surrender her crown to the Provisional Government,