The Days of a Man 



situation 



An Of the original Asiatic population a few had by 



obvious sheer energy previously extricated themselves from 



r1 AH r i 



serfdom. All were set free by annexation, a move- 

 ment initiated by Lorrin A. Thurston and his asso- 

 ciates, a small group of energetic Americans. In any 

 discussion of "the Japanese in California," these facts 

 should not be ignored as they frequently are for 

 in taking over Hawaii the United States had no 

 illusions as to its inhabitants. 



It is, of course, Hawaii's misfortune that in setting 

 out as a self-governing commonwealth she turned in 

 her need for labor to the lowliest and weakest. 

 Furthermore, if the rich lands constituting the sugar 

 plantations could have been divided into small 

 holdings or homesteads for individual farmers, the 

 outcome socially would have been very different. 

 Democracy As matters are, we have grafted democracy on the 

 tou g n old tree of racial oligarchy. But the problem 

 will adjust itself in time, partly through the Anglo- 

 Saxon instinct for fair play, partly because con- 

 ciliation pays better than antagonism in any and 

 every country. 1 



Being once asked during my stay how Hawaii was 

 to retain its privilege of exporting sugar, duty free, 

 to the United States if it became a mere "possession," 

 I jestingly replied that by making itself a county of 

 California it could ensure absolute freedom of export. 

 Next day the legislature passed a vehement resolu- 

 tion asserting that Hawaii would never be "a county 



1 Since 1900 mutual interests and far-seeing good will have simplified Hawaii's 

 social, racial, and political problems, and harmonious cooperation is at present 

 (1920) a most remarkable social feature of the islands. An effort has been made 

 in places to develop small farms through homesteading, but this system can 

 hardly become general as the sugar industry requires large capital, costly irriga- 

 tion plants, and laborers able and willing to work in the heat. It is better 

 fitted to pineapple culture, now become a strong rival to sugar. 



C96 3 



