first step in the seizure of a few volcanic islands inhabited by a worthless population. It is this against which I protest.

Mr. President, I am opposed to the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands because it is a step in sin, a first step in the wrong direction, an abandonment of the grand moral position which this country has occupied before the world. I am opposed to it because it violates the fundamental principles of the Constitution of the United States; and while we may violate the Constitution in other directions, in this particular I believe it is destructive to those principles upon which the Constitution is based, to the fundamental principles of our civilization, and therefore more dangerous than any other violation of the Constitution which can be indulged in.

I am opposed to annexation because it brings in a population which, in my opinion, can never perform the duties of governing an American State. It includes a climate in which the white man can not toil, and, therefore, will not live and rear children. It brings in a population 72,000 of which are males and 36,000 are females, precluding the ideawhich is the fundamental principle of our civilization-of the home, the fireside, the husband and the wife and the children. I am opposed to it because it is a step in breaking down the barriers of protection, which are essential to the maintenance and the dignity and character of American labor.

L

says:

CHAPTER IV

WHO OWNS HAWAII?

ET us see how our self-denying missionary brethren
have fared, who have now captured the islands and
set up what they call a republic. The Commissioner

The minister of finance informs me that the taxes paid by Americans and Europeans amount to $274,516.74; those by the natives, $71,386.82; half-castes, $26,868.68; Chinese, $87,266.10; Japanese, $67,366.07; other nationalities, $729.82.

That is, the natives pay only about one-seventh of the taxes, indicating a very small ownership of property. The Commissioner adds:

He also informs me that the acreage on which taxes are paid by various nationalities is: Europeans and Americans, 1,052,492 acres; natives, 257,457 acres; half-castes, 531,545 acres; Chinese, 12,324 acres; Japanese, 200 acres; other nationalities, none.

The surveyor-general reports the crown lands for 1893 as containing 915,288 acres. Of these he reports 94,116 acres available for lease. Of this latter number only 47,000 acres are reported to be good, arable land. He likewise reports the Government land as containing 828,370 acres. He reports these, estimated in 1890, to be worth $2,128,850. The annual income from them is $67,636. Of this income $19,500 is from wharfage and $7,800 from rent of land with buildings thereon.

The cane and arable land is estimated at 35,150 acres.

It is important here to recall his statement made to the legislature in 1891 in the following language: "Most Government lands at the present time consist of mere remnants left here and there and of the worthless and unsalable portions remaining after the rest had been sold."

So the Europeans and Americans who went to that paradise of indolence for the purpose of converting its people to

1. Speech in the Senate July 2, 1894.

1

Christianity have secured a solid title to 1,052,000 acres, while the poor, miserable natives have the remnant, 257,000 acres. Let us hope that the dominant invaders have attended to the souls of the Kanakas, which was the main business of the crusade, for they have certainly paid strict attention to the incidental business by getting possession of threequarters of the fertile land. And now that they have seized the Government, they ask that the people of the United States shall be taxed $4,000,000 a year, and the money sent to them to support it—for that is exactly what this bill does.

I had an investigation made when I was in Hawaii of the books in the interior department, for their law requires that every sugar corporation shall file a report giving the names of the stockholders. All do not comply with the law, but they did partially comply with the law, and Mr. Carter made an investigation to ascertain who the owners of the stock were, how many were Americans, and how many belonged to other nationalities.

He says:

In accordance with my promise I sent a competent person to the department of the interior to make copies of the names of shareholders and their holdings in the sugar corporations of these islands to be taken. from the "exhibits" of such corporations, as of July 1, 1897, made in compliance with our laws.

My employee was told that there had been but 23 "exhibits" filed, 17 of the sugar corporations not having complied with the law. The copies obtained have passed under the eyes of two reliable persons, who marked the nationality of each shareholder. An American is understood to be a person who is a citizen of the United States, entitled to the rights and privileges of such citizenship when in the States. Other nationalities were determined in the same way. Hawaiians include Hawaiian corporations holding shares and all persons entitled to and claiming the rights and privileges of Hawaiian citizenship.

Of the "exhibits" obtained, 10 were for corporations on the Island of Hawaii, 6 on Maui, 4 on Kauai, 3 on Oahu.

On Hawaii the values of holdings by nationality were as follows: 1. Speech in the Senate July 2, 1898.

But it must be remembered that the American interests in the islands engaged in sugar raising are on the Island of Hawaii and the Island of Maui. In the other islands the interests are exclusively foreign. However, the general result will show that two-thirds of these plantations are owned by people who are not citizens of the United States.

The percentages of value of holdings are about as follows:

What the result of a like examination of the remaining seventeen corporation "exhibits" would be is a matter of speculation. In my opinion they would not alter the figures materially.

I have mailed to you a copy of The Hawaiian Annual, containing an article (pages 149-157) on the "The financial outlook," by Alatau T. Atkinson, who compiled the Hawaiian census of 1896. This article contains a statement (page 155) of the amount of the public debt and valuation of the property of the Government and classification of Government lands, which you asked me to procure and forward.

The Planters' Association has published a statement of laborers on sugar estates for the current year, which varies a little from the figures I gave you for the year 1895. The figures for the current year as compared with 1895 are: