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respects they have contributed an element toward the decrease of the population. A few instances will make this sufficiently clear. The New England theology was not adapted to the Anglo-Saxon, much less was it suited to the Hawaiian. The civilization which the missionaries thrust upon the Hawaiians was the mongrel offspring of a fossil theology and a laissez-faire economics. And, as might have been expected, the result was disastrous to the simple-minded natives. The missionaries taught them by precept how to lay up treasure in heaven; and the missionaries' children taught them by example how to lay up earthly treasure. Unfortunately, however, while the field of operation in the former case was infinite, in the latter it was exceedingly limited. Hence it resulted that the pupils, ere they had their lessons properly learned, discovered that there was but little opportunity on their own islands to put the two sets of principles into practice, and still continued to hasten with painful rapidity toward the heavenly land.

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And as the missionaries' theology and economics were not suited to the needs of the aborigines, neither was their theory of education. In the second quarterly report of the Boarding School at Wailuku, established in 1837 for the education of girls, we read: "The instructors feel that they have great occasion for gratitude to God for his special favors during the term. Near the close of the term the Holy Spirit was graciously sent down upon the seminary. Nearly all the little girls seemed to be more or less convicted of sin, of their ruined condition, and of their need of mercy." A few weeks afterward nearly all the little girls were seriously ill. Five died—12 per cent. of the total number in attendance during the year-and many others were obliged to leave school. The educational process of convicting the children of sin seems to have been continued the next year, for according to Dibble, the missionary historian, there were "much seriousness" and "considerable sickness." During the third year "sickness made more alarming ravages than in any previous year. Five died. Twelve left on account of sickness, of whom a part died, but the greater number recovered." Dr. Judd, the missionary physician, was then called in; he recommended less

confinement and more exercise in the open air. But Dibble characteristically remarked: "It seems impossible to restrain [the pupils] from rude and romping behavior and to confine them to those exercises deemed more proper for females, without serious injury to health. To acquire at once habits of civilization, according to our notions of it, was evidently attended with great risk." A pious visitor who saw the boys eat dinner at Lahainaluna Seminary related: "The meal was taken in perfect silence— rather a difficult requirement for a Hawaiian, but only the more necessary to be observed from their extremely loquacious habits." Even Ellis, one of the most liberal and broad-minded of missionaries, after giving an account of the games and amusements of the Tahitians, added: "With the exception of one or two, they have all, however, been discontinued, especially among the adults; and the number of those followed by the children is greatly diminished. This is, on no account, matter of regret.' In 1836 the king and fourteen of the high chiefs and chiefesses of Hawaii, in a petition to the A. B. C. F. M. asking for more teachers, said: "These are the teachers whom we would specify: a carpenter, tailor, mason, shoemaker, wheelwright, papermaker, typefounder, agriculturists . . . . ; cloth manufacturers, and makers of machinery . . . . ; and a teacher of the chiefs in what pertains to the land according to the practice of enlightened countries." Unnecessary to say, the request was not granted, "nor was a compliance deemed of vital importance" by Rev. Dr. Anderson, the foreign secretary of the board. When the Hawaiian people asked bread of their Christian brothers, they were not indeed given a stone, but food which was indigestible. Naturally they died.

Now it may be asked: What of the future? Will the "dying out" process continue to the end? Jarvis in 1843—and again Anderson in 1863-gave figures and reasons tending to show that the crisis was then past, and that soon the tide of life would These anticipations, however, were not realized. Nevertheless, at the present time, there are several circumstances which indicate, as never before, an enlarged and useful future for the Hawaiian people. Most significant is the fact that many of

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the causes of the decrease in the population have now ceased, and almost all the others are gradually disappearing.

I. In the first place, the transition from the old conditions to the new have in large measure been effected; and, perhaps as a result of this, the birth-rate, as compared with that of sixty years ago-according to the testimony of observers at that time- has increased in a remarkable manner. In the table of maternity statistics for 1896 the percentage of mothers to females over fifteen years of age was: for Hawaiians 59.36, for part Hawaiians 52.34, for Americans 49.56, and for Hawaiian-born foreigners 34.68; and the average number of children to each mother was for Hawaiians 4.82, for part Hawaiians 4.45, for Americans 3.20, and for Hawaiian-born foreigners 3.54.

2. Again, since the election of Kalakaua, 1874, but particularly since the revolution of 1893, the archaic theology of Ezra and Calvin has been losing ground. And with the accom

plishment of annexation — when, it has been said, "the missionary had rendered his account"— the laissez-faire theory of economics received a double shock, through the abolition of the contract-labor system and the application to the islands of the Chinese exclusion law. Moreover, educational ideas are broadening. The kindergarten, manual training, domestic science, social settlement work, the boys' brigade, experimental work in agriculture, etc., are making headway. With better education, the people are becoming more efficient industrially, and give more attention to matters of sanitation, hygiene, and the laws of nature. thus improving life on the one hand, and lengthening it on the other.

3. Furthermore, the diseases of civilization are dying out. By the process of the "survival of the fittest," the Hawaiian constitution has become hardened, and is now not nearly so susceptible to disease as formerly. Hence, although smallpox visited the islands in 1881, cholera in 1895, and plague in 1899, they caused a comparatively small number of deaths. Leprosy, too, for some years past, has been steadily on the wane. It is true, among Hawaiians, particularly in Honolulu, the death-rate is still high. According to the mortality report of the board of

health for 1899, the last year for which figures are yet available, the death-rate in Honolulu was: for Hawaiians 42.81 per 1,000, for Japanese 28.93, for Portuguese 19.09, for Chinese 16.16, and for all others 13.75. These figures, however, are misleading. The death-rate among Hawaiians in Honolulu is unusually high because many of them, not yet accustomed to city life, have not learned how to rear children under urban conditions. And the death-rate among Chinese and some other classes of foreigners is unusually low because of the small number of women and children among them, in proportion to population.

4. Finally, it may be noted that civilization does not necessarily "eat up the savage." It may depress and devour a primitive people, or it may stimulate and strengthen them; everything depending on the character of the civilization and the qualities of the people. In this respect an interesting parallelism may be pointed out between the Maoris of New Zealand and the Hawaiians. Both are kindred branches of the same race. Their conditions of life and experience have likewise been similar. The former are under the dominion of one division of the English-speaking people, the latter is now under the protection of the other. In 1860 the Maori population was estimated at 100,000. But in 1885, on account of war, vice, and disease, it had fallen to about 45,000. Then war ceased, the other causes diminished, and population for a time remained practically stationary. In 1891 it was 41,993; in 1896, 38,854; and in 1901, 43,101-not including 2,407 half-castes who were living with, and were enumerated as, Europeans. Thus the Maori people are now increasing. The same is true of other races. under British rule, and of the North American Indians-according to the last census returns-under American rule. Consequently it is but reasonable and natural to conclude that the Hawaiian race also will soon increase.

There is one dark cloud, however, on the horizon, which demands the attention of everyone who is interested in the future of a brave and affectionate people, the most kindly and generous in the world. In the last hundred years there have been three distinct periods of prosperity on the islands-that of

the sandal-wood trade, of the whaling industry, and of the sugar industry. Each period, while it has conferred its own peculiar and inestimable benefits upon the aborigines, has at the same time been highly injurious to them: the first through the oppression of the chiefs, the second through the licentiousness of the seamen, and the third through the rapacity of the planters. The sandal-wood trade slew its thousands, the whaling industry its ten thousands, and the sugar industry threatens to exterminate the remnant. The Hawaiians—not because of lack of natural ability, for physically they are extremely vigorous and mentally they are remarkably active; but because industrially and commercially they are yet undeveloped-are unable at present to compete successfully with Asiatics in the lower walks of life, and with Americans and Europeans in the higher. Hence they are being ground between the upper and the nether millstones of the present industrial system. This juggernaut, if unrestrained, would without doubt soon make an end, once for all, of the Hawaiian race. And as if to hasten the process, the government, now territorial and thus appointive, is persistently carrying out a wholesale policy of liquor licenses, inaugurated in the later days of the so-called republic—the number of liquor licenses has increased almost sevenfold during the last six years as if to administer an opiate to the victim before the sacrifice.

Fortunately, the natives now have votes. The suffrage is their rock of defense. This, along with a good school system, it is to be hoped, will enable them, in due time, to take their legitimate place among the able and progressive races of the earth, and to contribute a distinctive and valuable element to American civilization. While the Hawaiian people have been injured and well-nigh destroyed by commerce and missions, they have been immeasurably benefited and helped by the same two forces; and in an ethical universe the good elements of civilization must ultimately prevail over the evil.

CORNELL UNIVERSITY.

W. B. ELKIN.

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