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Tuesday, November 04, 2003

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

BY
EDWARD S. ELLIS, A.M.

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or more than a hundred years, the United States of America was confined to the American continent. Through the travail and bloody sweat from Lexington, in 1775, to the surrender at Yorktown, in 1781, the thirteen colonies were engaged in the struggle for existence, for life, for independence. The war of 1812 was necessary to demonstrate the right of the United States to a membership among the brotherhood of nations. The crucial test of all came a half-century later, when the house divided against itself had yet to prove that it should not fall. Such proof was given with a grandeur, with a majesty, and with a completeness of triumph and accomplishment that placed our country among the very foremost in the van of civilization, of progress, of humanity, and all that tends to make a people great.

When the constitution was adopted, the settled portions of the United States fringed the Atlantic coast from Maine to Florida. The western boundary was the Mississippi River. Beyond the Father of Waters stretched an expanse of mountain, river, and prairie, far exceeding in area the region which constituted the original United States. Then followed the acquisition of Florida, Louisiana Territory, and, later, the countries obtained by the conquest of Mexico, and, finally, the immense purchase of Alaska from Russia, our traditional friend.

Thus far, it will be noted, our acquisition of territory was restricted to the continent itself. It is a fact, of which perhaps not all are aware, that the present population of the United States can be expanded twelve-fold before its density will equal that of some of the most prosperous countries of Europe. But for the Spanish-American war, it is not conceivable that the out-reaching of the United States, or the “earth hunger,” as it has been aptly termed, would have extended beyond either of the enclosing oceans. To our north lies Canada, so immovably chained to the mother country that not a link can be severed ; south of the Rio Grande our tropical neighbor has acquired a prosperity and power, under the admirable rule of its President, which ensure an indefinite continuance of the greatness that has lifted it to a plane never before attained, and scarcely dreamed of by its most patriotic sons.

Never was there a more holy war than that in which the United States engaged for the liberation of Cuba. For more than a century her people had been ground into the very dust by the brutality of the most merciless nation in the world. Spain, from the very hour that her explorers first set foot on American soil, proved a curse and a blight, and the inherent ferocity of the Spaniard quickly shriveled into idiocy. When the wit of a child would have taught the groping visitors to cultivate the goodwill of the simple-minded natives, who were eager to show their friendship, and to provide plentiful food for the starving intruders, the latter, in pure wantonness, murdered, massacred, and tortured to the utmost limit of human ingenuity. Balboa, in the early years of the sixteenth century, was guided across the isthmus by a devoted band of Indians who willingly acted as slaves for him and his companions, and risked their lives to secure the indispensable food for them. Then, when Balboa climbed the rocky height on the western shore and looked out over the limitless expanse of the South Sea, and was thrilled and overcome by the thought that he was the first white man that had gazed upon the vastest ocean of the globe, he sank upon his knees, thanked God for his mercies, and then, like true Spaniards, he and his men turned about and cut and slashed the Indians to death.

The horrible crime of Balboa was repeated by all the Spanish explorers, without exception, who came after him. The story is one long, ghastly record of cruelty, treachery, crime, blood, and idiocy. Providential indeed was it for the future of our country that the interest of Spain was diverted to the far south, and that the United States was colonized by the English, the Dutch, the Swedes, and the French, --- peoples who were sturdy, honest, enterprising, and who believed to a practical extent in the Golden Rule. Had it been otherwise, and had Spain been our mother, the history of Cuba, with all its terrifying atrocities, miseries, and failures would have been our own.

The first conflict between the young Giant of the West and the decaying monarchy of Spain could have but one issue. The Titan blows of the resistless hammer crushed the paste jewel to powder, and the war, lasting but a few months, humbled the pride of the decrepit kingdom deeper than when the lusty sons of Albion and the storms of a wrathful heaven sent the Grand Armada to the bottom of the ocean. The forces of Castile were driven out of Cuba by the cyclonic heroism of the American regulars and volunteers; Admiral Cervera’s fleet was riddled like so much pasteboard; the campaign in Porto Rico resembled an opera bouff? ; and Admiral Dewey, sailing into Manila Bay on that memorable May morning in 1898, smote the opposing fleet and forts with his unerring cannon, as if they were so many children’s toys, set up to be demolished by those to whom the task was the merest sport itself.

If Spain had acted the zany for centuries, the time now came when her own existence forbade her to play it any longer. The Treaty of Paris followed, and by its terms the United States became sovereign over the Philippines, Porto Rico, Guam, (the largest of the Ladrone Islands), and subsequently acquired the ownership of the island and harbor of the Samoan island of Tutuila. Thus was ushered in the era of expansion, and our country gained a prestige and momentous interest in the Far East which give to the present work a value of the highest importance.

The first step of our country, however, toward its entrance into the ranks of Powers whose interests touch both hemispheres, was taken during the progress of the Spanish-American war by the annexation of Hawaii. In answer to a petition from the islands, Congress passed an act, on July 7, 1898, to annex them, and the formal ceremony of raising the United States flag took place on the 12th of the following August. This group was formerly known as the Sandwich Islands, and includes eight inhabited and four uninhabited islands, which are situated about one-third the distance between San Francisco and Sydney, Australia. They are the most important of all the Pacific islands, and their acquisition by the United States was not only valuable, but a necessity, in order to prevent their falling into the possession of some other power which, in case of war, would have used them with disastrous effect to our interest. These islands were first opened to the world by American whale men, and, with the decline of that industry and the increase of general commerce, they became recruiting ports to the merchant marine. Americans own nearly all the fertile area, and the larger part of their commerce is with our own country. Hawaii is one of the greatest sugar producing countries of the world.

Although the transition of these islands from their independent form of government to a possession of the United States was attended at first with some friction, yet on the whole the change was effected quietly, and the government today is of the most orderly and praiseworthy character.

As evidence of the prosperity of the islands under the new regime, the exports from the United States to Hawaii nearly doubled in the year following annexation. In the year ending June 30, 1905, our trade with the islands amounted to $47,865,235, of which nearly three-quarters was sugar imported from the island ports. Among the other products of the island are rice, fruits and nuts, coffee, hides and skins, and copra or dried cocoanut. The goods imported by the islands include wheat flour and all kinds of manufactured articles.

The natives of Hawaii are called Kanakas, and are rapidly dying off, but their places are more than filled by a new population. There was a danger at one time of the islands being overrun by Chinese coolies, but they are now excluded. Emigrants are mainly composed of Portuguese, Americans, and Japanese, and the increased productiveness of the islands is due to their industry and enterprise.

Few countries have more interesting history than Hawaii. Leaving the vague, misty traditions running backward for centuries, it is shown in the following pages that the discovery of this group of islands was accidentally made by the famous English navigator, Captain Cook, who, in the month of January, 1778, sighted the island of Oahu, followed a few days later by the discovery of other islands. Captain Cook, however, did not see Hawaii until the following year, when, sad to say, like many another pioneer, his life paid the forfeit of his great achievement. A singular fact, having no connection with the incidents just narrated, is that the widow of Captain Cook survived his death for more than half a century.

Since Hawaii is now an integral part of the great Republic, all relating thereto is of the highest interest and value. The author of “The Far East” sets forth in accurate, well-chosen, and graphic language the fullest information regarding the topography of the islands, all that is known of their history, the numerous productions, the facilities, the picturesque people, their social and civil condition, the cities, towns, and settlements, and indeed, all that the student or immigrant can possibly wish to know.

The Treaty of Paris made the island of Porto Rico an American possession. It ranks fourth in size among the West Indies, has a length of ninety-five miles from east to west, and about thirty-five miles from north to south. Since its population is estimated at nearly a million, it will be seen that it is one of the most thickly settled regions of the world. San Juan, on the northern coast, is the capital, while Ponce, in the south, is the largest port. It exports a fine quality of coffee, sugar, and tobacco, and imports manufactured goods, flour, and fish. Porto Rico, in 1905, exported goods to the United States to the amount of $15,633,145, importing nearly as much, its total business with the United States now being seven times as great as in 1901.

Another possession acquired by the United States through the Spanish-American war was Guam, the largest of the Ladrone Islands. Its area, however, is so insignificant that its importance is due to its being a convenient telegraph and coaling station on the voyage from Hawaii to the Philippines.

The island and harbor of Tutuila, Samoa, passed by treaty of Great Britain and Germany into the hands of the United States in 1899. The island has only a few thousand inhabitants, and possesses little commercial importance, but it has one of the best harbors in the Pacific, and gives to us a fine coaling station on the route from San Francisco to Australia.

The greatest and most valuable possession secured to the United States by the Treaty of Paris was the immense group of islands known as the Philippines. These are more than a thousand in number, with a land area exceeding a hundred thousand square miles, or greater than the combined extent of the six New England States and the State of New York. From north to south, they extend fully a thousand miles, with a breadth of six hundred from east to west. Naturally, many of the islets are uninhabited. The principal islands are twelve in number. Luzon, the most northerly, is as large as the State of Ohio, and contains the city of Manila, the metropolis of the Philippines, while Mindanao, the most southerly island, is of less extent. The chief products of these islands are tobacco, sugar, hemp, and coffee. Tobacco has been grown for more than a century, and the export of cigars to Europe amounts to a hundred millions a year. The famous Manila hemp is produced from the fiber of a species of banana, and is also used as a paper stock. Our exports to the Philippines were only $1,150,613 in 1899, but in fiscal year 1905 they had increased to $5,761,498, while the imports rose from $3,840,894 to $15,668,026.

The natural wealth of these islands is prodigious. Stretching through fifteen degrees of latitude, with mountains of considerable elevation, with numerous streams and fertile valleys, these productions display the choicest richness of the torrid and temperate zones. In the depths of the vast forest are found the most valuable species of woods, such as cedar, ebony, mahogany, logwood, sapan-wood, gum-trees, and scores of other kinds of woods, unknown on the American continent. The panave and malave are two woods which have been exposed to the action of water for hundreds of years, without showing the slightest deterioration. Probably the most attractive and useful tree is the bamboo, which seems to grow everywhere, and supplies an endless variety of needs. It is the chief material in the construction of bridges, houses, and even churches, while from it are made baskets, mats, chairs, vessels for liquids, measures for grain, musical instruments, household utensils, vehicles, rafts to float on the rivers, and head-gear. Indeed, there seems to be no vegetable production so calculated to meet the general wants of man. The tender shoots of the bamboo are considered a delicacy by the inhabitants, and the horses and cattle are fond of the leaves. One variety of the cane contains a stone said to be a sovereign remedy for many of the ills of the flesh, while still another kind produces a gum which is a specific for inflamed eyes.

Though it would seem, from what has been stated, that the bamboo is the most valuable tree of the Philippines, yet the inhabitants gain a larger income from the cocoanut-palm, which is universally cultivated. The demand of the foreign market for the fruit is never fully met, and there is no part of the tree itself which is not utilized. The framework of the native dwellings is made from the smooth trunk, the roof from its leaves, and the chairs and tables from its wood. The fiber of the tree furnishes the native with the mats on which he sleeps ; its nuts form his meat ; the shells his household utensils, while the value of the “milk in the cocoanut” is proverbial. The sap yields an oil which, in a cool climate, becomes a solid, and is made into soap and candles. It may be said that every hut and house in the interior is illuminated by means of cocoanut-oil. Moreover, the delicate flowering stalk affords a delicious beverage, known as the tuba, and the most comfortable of raiment’s is made from its fine, fibrous particles.

Another highly useful plant is a species of bush rope, which sometimes attains the astonishing length of one thousand feet. It may be described as a natural rope or cord with no end to its diversified uses.

The mango is the most important fruit of the Archipelago. Its meat is creamy and delicious, and the tree grows to great size. Two, and sometimes three, pickings are obtained every year. There are over fifty varieties of bananas. The papaw yields a fruit resembling in shape and flavor the melon ; guavas, tamarinds, pineapples, lemons, huge oranges, the custard-apple, citron, breadfruit, strawberry, and other products peculiar to the tropics flourish in great luxuriance. A remarkable fruit found in the western islands is the durien, --- a dainty, delicious production which, however, bears only once in twenty years. Investigations made since our acquisition of the Philippines have brought to light numerous plants and herbs of great medicinal value. A striking proof of the amazing fertility is afforded by the common sight, seen on the same plot of land, of the planting, cultivating, harvesting, going on in alternation. In the words of the author, “From the great storehouse of natural treasures of Luzon, the largest and richest of the pearls of the Pacific, to the hundreds of smaller gems, all resplendent in a vegetation which clothes not only the plains and the lowlands, but the mountains and the seashore, with a verdure of many hues and never-fading gloss, the florist finds his paradise, the botanist his wonderland.”

Although the Philippines group for centuries has poured treasures into the lap of Spain that are beyond estimate, yet it would be unjust to overlook the many serious drawbacks which must be encountered by every settler among the islands. Our soldiers, who have spent weary months in the attempt to crush the rebellion led by Aguinaldo, tell of the seasons described as “six months of mud, six months of dust, six months of everything.” The northern islands are swept by the Chinese typhoons, which in one season destroyed four thousand houses and three hundred people. Earthquakes are so numerous that multitudes of lives are lost every year from that cause. In 1863, one-half of the city of Manila was tumbled into ruins, and more than three thousand of its inhabitants were killed or injured. Tidal waves have been equally destructive to life and property. Fever, malaria, and other tropical diseases are common, and the heat is especially oppressive to un-acclimated persons, women and children being particularly subject to the perils of the climate. The experience of our soldiers in Cuba and in the Philippines, where sanitary conditions have been bad, has been attended with many fatalities. Such men, from natural carelessness, are certain to suffer severely. Still, the Philippines are not as unhealthful as would be supposed from the foregoing statements. When American thrift and enterprise shall have had time in which to introduce modern systems of sanitation, the improvement will be marked and decisive.

Animal life in the Philippines is less prominent than in many other countries of the same latitude. The wildcat, wild boar, buffalo, hog, deer, and monkey abound in the forest. The reptiles and venomous insects are a pest, the most prominent being frogs, lizards, snakes, centipedes, gigantic spiders, tarantulas, hornets, beetles, ants, horned toads, and enormous bats. Some of the bats have a spread of six feet, with bodies as large as cats. One of the deadliest of all serpents is the manapo, whose bite is as fatal as the East Indian cobra. It is occasionally encountered in the rice fields, but, fortunately, it is quite rare. Crocodiles of huge size abound in the fresh water streams, and a species of cobra is sometimes seen in Samor and Mindanao. Ants and mosquito’s form an almost intolerable pest. The white ants work in the dark, and destroy the hardest pieces of furniture. It is said that the whole framework of a house has been known to collapse from the ravages of these insects. Every few years, swarms containing numberless millions of locusts sweep the country bare of all the crops, with the single exception of the hemp plantations, which are exempt. The only way by which the natives even up matters with the locusts is to eat them, and they are considered such a delicacy that, in many instances, the parish priest has prayed for their coming. The Philippines contain more than six hundred species of birds. Some of these have wonderfully brilliant plumage but among them all there is not one sweet singer. The game birds include the snipe, pheasant, pigeons, ducks, woodcocks, and various waterfowls.

It is impossible, in an introduction of this character, to do more than outline in the vaguest and most imperfect manner the wealth of subjects treated in the pages that follow. As we have already intimated, the acquirement of Porto Rico, Hawaii, a portion of the Ladrones, and the immense Archipelago in the Far East, gives an interest and value to all the knowledge obtainable regarding them. Their history, their natural productions and capabilities, their inhabitants, their attractions, their advantages and disadvantages as a field for American enterprise, are of the deepest moment to the citizens of the United States. That the field thus opened to our commerce, trade, and industry is of vast and far-reaching importance is self-evident. To meet the widespread demand for full and accurate information regarding our possessions in the Far East, these volumes are now offered to the American public.
Edward S. Ellis

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HAWAII

BY

HON. HENRY CABOT LODGE
UNITED STATES SENATOR
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n the year 1893 the Hawaiian question was one of the leading issues of our politics. Mr. Cleveland then undertook to reverse the traditional policy of the United states in regard to the islands, parties divided over the question, the deposed queen found eager partisans, and the successful leaders of the revolt against her were warmly defended and as earnestly attacked. Five years later, in the midst of a war which furnished an argument so conclusive upon the subject that no man could successfully gainsay it, the islands were annexed to the United States. With annexation actually accomplished, the Hawaiian question came to an end, and it was all so natural, and, indeed, so inevitable, that it now requires an effort to understand how there could ever have been any difference of opinion in regard to it. The islands have come so easily into our system, and so obviously belong there, that once ours they have been in a measure forgotten, and, while the country has been filled with discussion in regard to Porto Rico and the Philippines, Hawaii has dropped out of sight. This is due, of course, to the fact that the islands for more than fifty years had been practically ruled by Americans, and had become thoroughly Americanized by the New England missionaries, who had settled there in the first half of the nineteenth century, and by their descendants. But it would be most unfortunate if, on account of our familiarity with the islands so closely connected with us for so long a time, and because they have so smoothly and quietly become a part of our system, we should overlook their value and their meaning to us, --- past, present, and in the time to come.

Among the new possessions which have come to us in these last three years, so crowded with great events, none is more important to our future than Hawaii. This seems a very strong statement in view of the almost incalculable importance of the Philippines to our position, both military and commercial, in the East. And yet, although the statement is strong, it is not overdrawn, and the Philippines themselves have greatly enhanced the value of Hawaii. The Hawaiian Islands are rich, very fertile, capable of producing most valuable crops of sugar, coffee, and bananas, and of sustaining a large and prosperous population. This intrinsic worth is, however, the least of their value to us. Look at the map, and their importance, their vital importance, to the United States becomes at once apparent. The largest of the Pacific island groups, Hawaii, lies far away to the north and east of the Polynesian chain of islands, and almost in the center of the great ocean which stretches from China to California. The master of Hawaii can reach more quickly to more essential points east and west, north and south, than anyone else in the Pacific. In Hawaii, also, is Pearl Harbor, one of the two deep-water and naturally sheltered harbors to be found in all the islands, the other being Pago-Pago, in Tutuila, which is also in our possession, but far inferior in geographical position to that in Oahu. With moderate improvement Pearl Harbor would shelter a navy, and with comparatively small expenditure can be made impregnable. A foreign nation holding Oahu and Pearl Harbor would be not only a constant menace to America, but in the event of war would have an advantage in attacking our Pacific coast which it would be almost impossible to overcome. The mere possession of the islands by the United States is great protection, and if we fortify them and create a naval station there no enemy would dare to assail the Pacific coast, with Pearl Harbor, so easily made impregnable, behind them. The strategic importance of the islands is, moreover, as obvious commercially as from a military and naval point of view. Hawaii has been called the “crossroads of the Pacific,” and although the shortest route to Japan from San Francisco, sailing on a great circle, is just south of the Aleutian Islands, Honolulu is none the less the central point for the intersection of steamship routes and ocean cables between America, on the one side, and Polynesia, Australia, the Philippines, and Southern China on the other.
Islands possessing the military and commercial importance which has just been indicated deserve to be well known and thoroughly understood by the people who have so lately added them to their domain. Very fortunately it is possible not only to write the history of these islands fully and accurately, but that history is picturesque and interesting in a very high degree. Their old name of the Sandwich Islands, now happily extinguished, carries us back to an English eighteenth century minister who was himself a remarkably stupid and worthless nobleman, but whose title and office are associated with some of the most important voyages of discovery made at that period. The death of Captain Cook is indissolubly associated with Hawaii in the tragic ending of a narrative of adventure which has charmed generations of children to a degree second only to that enjoyed by Robinson Crusoe. Then we meet with Vancouver, and then comes the career of Kamehameha I., a man of real genius, both military and civil, who consolidated the islands under one government and founded the monarchy which has endured down to our own time. Next comes the arrival of the American missionaries, the development of the islands under their influence, and the gradual intertwining of of the fate of the islands with that of the United States. From this period we trace the steady growth of the American influence in Hawaii and the seemingly narrow escape of the islands from the domination of European powers. We meet as we proceed, with the great name of Webster, who warned foreign states of American interest in these islands, and of Marcy preparing to annex them just on the eve of a civil war which drove all policies, but the one desperate determination to save the country, from the hearts and the minds of the people. Then comes the gradual reawakening of interest in Hawaii, the reciprocity treaty which placed them practically within our control, the Harrison treaty of annexation, and at last the movement which in the shock of another war brought about their final acquisition by this country. The History of Hawaii ought to be read now by all Americans, and the story of the natives and of our own people who went among them so many years ago should become familiar to us all, for it is now one of the most interesting chapters in the westward march of the United States.

Henry Cabot Lodge

posted by Don # 4:15 AM

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