G / o^<&. <& ■2.6- ti£ PROPOSED ANNEXATION OF THE HAWAIIAN REPUBLIC. SPEECH HON. ALBERT S. BERRY, OF KENTUCKY in the; HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, Wednesday, Junk 15, 1898. WASHINGTON. 1S98. .-■>• 72954 4> & > > * cf* SPEECH ^. OF ^•HON. ALBERT S. BERKY. <' The House having under consideration the joint resolution (H. Res. S59-) to provide for annexing the Hawaiian Islands to the United States — Mr. BERRY said: Mr. Speaker: I appreciate the importance of the question now under consideration. Perhaps none of more gravity has ever been presented to the consideration of the American Congress in many years. I am an advocate of the annexation of the Republic of Hawaii — of the Newlands resolutions, which contemplate the indorsement of the treaty recommended to the Senate by Presi- dent McKinley. I dislike very much to disagree with any portion of my party associates, but after patient and careful consideration I am satisfied they are in error who oppose this increase of terri- tory, recommended by the best minds of America, and we are willing to trust to time to vindicate the wisdom of our action. Never, sir, has there been one foot of territory added to the thirteen little colonies that first formed this Government along the Atlantic seaboard, up to this hour, when our territory is more thau 3,000,000 square miles, that there was not violent opposition to the annexation. The apostle of Democracy, Thomas Jefferson, -who has been quoted so much in this discussion, said himself when he gave his adherence to the purchase of the Louisiana ter- ritory from Napoleon, that there was no constitutional right for it, but that its advocates must appeal to the American people for an indorsement of the proposition. Think of it, sir, in 1803, we were about 5,000,000 people. We had just emerged from a fearful struggle. Our garments were torn and bloody. Scarcely knowing whether we had a national existence, and only by the aid of a foreign power could we have achieved our independence. The mouth of the Mississippi was owned by foreign powers, and its commerce would be largely con- trolled by them. The first intention was to purchase what was known as the Island of New Orleans, where the city is now situ- ated, as a resting place for the craft navigating that stream, which would of necessity be rapidly augmented. We were represented at the court of France by a man who had administered the oath of office to George Washington as the first President of the United States, Mr. "Livingston. He was in- structed to negotiate for the Island of New Orleans at a price not exceeding $'3,000,000. The proposition was laid before the French minister, Marbois, Avho, under the direction of Napoleon, fearing the English might get it by conquest, said he would not only sell us the is'and, but all the extensive territory they possessed on the continent. Eighty million dollars was the price asked. 2 3483 Mr. Monroe, afterwards President of the United States, wag sent over to a : d Mr. Livingston in arranging the terms, which negotiation laid in his mind the doctrine which will ever bear his name, and the price was fixed at $15,000,000. There were many- representative men in 1803, as there are in 1898;' who declaimed against this Louisiana purchase — a wise and patriotic movp: Mr. Livingston became alarmed, receiving information of' the opposi- tion to this new acquisition, extending from the Gulf '"of Mexico to the Pacific Ocean. Mr. Living.- ton said to his countrymen,- " If we have more than we need, we can dispose of a part. ' But not one foot has ever been sold. That was Democratic doctrine then, as it is now, and the Democratic orators of to day love to pro- claim on the stump that our broad domain is to the credit of the party that followed Thomas Jefferson. When the State of Louisiana came into the Union, there was found in the State of Massachusetts a distinguished man by the name of Josiah Quincy, who made a speech very much like those I have heard on the floor during this discussion, in which he said that the country was now going to pieces, that we were entering upon an imperial course, and that it was ruin to the country. Listen how much this sounds like my friend Clark's speech, or that of my friend from Arkansas [Mr. DinsmoreJ. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. I hope the gentleman will not at- tribute to me borrowing Josiah Quincy 's ideas, for I take no stock in them. Mr. BERRY. But they both violate the idea of Democracy. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Nothing of the sort. Josiah Quincy was a secessionist, and always was, and I never was. Mr. BERRY. But I will show you better Democratic authority than you ever had in Missouri that the Democratic party hag always been for the annexation of territory to the United States, and even the man that the Republican party sought to impeach, and a better Democrat never lived on this continent than Andrew Johnson, under whose auspices the Territory of Alaska was added to this country, and not contiguous territory, as some gentlemen have been arguing here. Now, what did Josiah Quincy say when Louisiana was going to be admitted as a State? I would like to call my distinguished friend's attention, the gentleman from Louisiana, to this. Josiah Quincy says: Under the sanction of this rule of conduct I am compelled to declare it as my deliberate opinion that if this bill passes the bonds of this Union are vir- tually dissolved; that the States which compose it are free from their moral obligations, and that as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, to prepare definitely for a separation— amicably if they can, violently if they must. Again: If this bill pass, it is my deliberate opinion that it is virtually a dissolu- tion of this Union; that it will free the States from their moral obligations, and as it will be the right of all, so it will be the duty of some, definitely to prepare for a separation— amicably if they must. Now, how much that sounds like speeches made upon this floor in this discussion that I have listened to on this side—" that we are going on an imperial course " and ' ' we are changing the prin- ciples of the Government." Why, gentlemen, we have been woo- ing the little Republic of Hawaii for more than half a century. We have been wooing it under Democratic Administration, under Republican Administration, under every Administration from 3183 1842, when Tyler was at the head of this Government, to the pres- ent time. Every Democrat except Grover Cleveland — you can not find a single announcement up to this hour coming from the Dem- ocratic party tbat has not been in favor of the annexation of Ha- waii. Mr. Buchanan — was he a Democrat? Mr, Legare — was he a Democrat? Mr. Bayard — was he a Democrat? Mr. CLARK of Missouri. No. Mr. BERRY, Why, you supported him and he was elected and was the mouthpiece of the Democratic party until he became associ- ated with Grover Cleveland. Was Pierce a Democrat? Was Bu- chanan, his Secretary of State (afterwards himself a Democratic President, at the head of the Government when the civil war came upon us) — was he a Democrat? All these men have alike ex- pressed their opinion that ultimately the Hawaiian Islands would become a part of the United States. Mr. Bayard said that when- ever the apple was ripe it would naturally fall into the lap of the United States. And so it is coming now. Mr. BAIRD. If the acquisition of the Hawaiian Islands is Democratic policy and has always been such, why is it that to-day it is indorsed by the Republican Administration and will receive the almost unanimous vote of the Republicans in this House? Mr. BERRY. Weil, I will tell you. The Hawaiian Islands occupy a peculiar position: they are a sort of derelict out in the North Pacific, waving a flag of distress. Naturally as those islands became known they became an object worthy of attention and consideration from this country. In the first place, about 1820, when the Americans sent missionaries there for the purpose of civilizing the natives, they found them in an almost barbarous condition and set to work to bring about a condition of civilization. Those missionaries took the native language, which was then without form, and gave it form — printed it in grammars and other books; and it has been taught for years upon the islands under the influence and inspiration of the American missionaries. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Will it interrupt the gentleman if I ask him a question? Mr. BERRY. Not a particle. Let me say that if anybody wants to ask me any questions during the delivery of this speech I am ready to answer them. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Is it not true historically and abso- lutely that the action of William L. Marcy, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, and that whole crowd of Democrats prior to 1861 in advocating this annexation policy was part and parcel of the African slavery propaganda of which the Ostend manifesto was another manifestation? Is not that true? Mr. BERRY. I will answer the gentleman's question. All along through the history of the admission of States to this Union, up to and including the time of the civil war, the question of slavery had a good deal to do with whether men in political life were for or against the admission. The men from the cotton States were in favor of the annexation of such territory as would give to them representation in favor of the Democracy; and the people of the North, as my distinguished friend [Mr. Grow] who is now looking at me knows full well, whenever there arose an occasion when territory proposed to be admitted was likely to be represented by old Whigs or Republicans on this floor, they were advocates of such annexation. But that question has gone by. The institution of slavery went down with the war. That ques- tion no longer enters into this proposition at all. 3483 Mr. CLARK of Missouri. . But if that is true, ought not the arguments which those men used to go down with the question itself? Mr. BERRY. That is a question which the gentleman can set- tle for himself. If he does not like these arguments, he need not adopt them. The arguments I like I propose to adopt in the course of this speech, showing that the Democracy of this country has stood for annexation at all times. Mr. GROW. Will the gentleman allow me a moment? Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir. Mr. GROW. If it will not interrupt the gentleman, I would like, before he leaves this historical recital, to call his attention to a fact which of course he knows, but has inadvertently passed over. Mr. BERRY. What is that? Mr. GROW. When the Louisiana purchase was under consid- eration, Mr. Livingston, representing this country, proposed only in the first instance to purchase from France all her territory east of the Mississippi River, but the French insisted that we should take it all. Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir; and it grew out of the idea that Na- poleon Bonaparte had found he could not hold the territory, and rather than let it go into the hands of England he gave it to the American people for a very small consideration; and he said when he did so that he would raise up a power on this continent that would threaten the position of England. And such has been the effect. To-day England extends her hand in anxiety to join her Anglo-Saxon kin on this side of the water for the control of the policy of the world. Not only that. Do we not all recollect the circumstances con- nected with the annexation of Texas? And, by the bye, I believe there is not a Texas man on this floor who now favors annexation. Yet we wooed her for a while, and Texas wooed us for admission to the Union; and we admitted her. Out of that grew the Mexican war, which resulted in our obtaining the magnificent territory leading out to the Pacific. From Kentucky and all over the South we unsheathed our swords to defend the honor of the American flag in Mexico, and we followed that flag successfully until we saw it wave over the halls of the Montezumas, and we shall see it waving over Morro Castle and wherever else the American people feel disposed to plant it. It shall kiss the breezes of the Tropics as it is sure to wave over the Hawaiian Islands. What was the effect upon those who opposed annexation? Tom Corwin, of Ohio, was the opponent of the war with Mexico. He was a great man, a great lawyer. He said he trusted that when- ever Americans crossed the Rio Grande they would be welcomed with bloody hands to hospitable graves. And he was welcomed to a political grave, for he could never hold up his political head after making that declaration. Mr. GROW. Will it interrupt the gentleman Mr. BERRY. Not a particle, sir. I am making a random sort of a speech upon a subject that I think I understand. Mr. GROW. Mr. Corwin's declaration was that if he was a Mexican, as he was an American, he would welcome our soldiers with bloody hands to a hospitable grave. Mr. BERRY. That is the same idea. I do not pretend to give the exact phraseology. I recollect the circumstances. So. sir, if we had been contentious then, as we ought to have been, instead 8483 6 of Vancouver and the country from Vancouver to Sitka being under the control of the English Government the Louisiana pur- chase justly entitled us to that territory, in order that we might be connected with the Alaskan country in the far North, and it would not now be declared not to be contiguous territory. We all remem- ber that controversy in our history, and we recollect the ride of Dr. Whitman, which saved Oregon to us. Why, there was a time when even men like our old friend Benton, the apostle of Democ- racy, said that it would never do to extend this country much beyond the Mississippi River, that the Rocky Mountains were the natural boundary, and that it would never do to go beyond the Rocky Mountains. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Will the gentleman allow me to sug- gest that that is a historical mistake? Mr. BERRY. Let us see whether it is. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Tom Benton always clamored for that line up to 54° 40'. Mr. BERRY. Later in life he did. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. And he drew the most remarkable picture of the teeming population of the Oregon Valley that was ever drawn since the world began. Mr. BERRY. That was later in life. Why, my friend, the Democrats and Whigs up to that time announced that the whole country running from Mexico north to the British possessions, west of the Mississippi River, was a barren desert, and you as a boy knew it on the map as the Staked Plain that nobody could travel across except with camels or something of that kind. Now the locomotive shrieks in wild triumph to the Pacific through the common territory of the United States, and that very land that was described as a desert is to-day the granary of the world. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. That was what Mr. Webster said, as representing the New England idea. Mr. BERRY. Let us see what Mr. Webster said. Mr. Webster did not want the State of Texas in the Union. Let us read what Webster says about it. I do not like to have Democratic princi- ples laid down to me that controvert every position that the fathers of the party have ever taken, and I do not believe that the Democ- racy of America, when the matter is brought to their attention, will go wrong upon this. I believe nine out of ten of the Demo- crats of America are for the annexation of Hawaii, and therefore I do not propose to be controlled by a Democratic caucus each of whose members only represents the same number of people upon this floor that I do. But when my party acts, I follow its plat- form. Mr. BATRD. I should like to suggest to the gentleman that there was no attempt in the Democratic caucus to bind its indi- vidual members upon this matter. Mr. BERRY. I do not know whether there was an attempt or not. It certainly did not succeed. Mr. BA1RD. Was it not so stated in the caucus, that there was no desire to bind individual members? Mr. BERRY. I think it was. I saw it so stated in the news- papers. I did not remain during the entire caucus. And I am not ashamed to go for a thing because a Republican now and then is for it, if I believe it is right. Once in a while the Republican party does get right. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Very seldom. 3483 Mr. BERRY. I heard the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. Richardson] make an argument on this side, saying that the pro- posed annexation would have the effect of destroying the prin- ciple of the high protective tariff, which I think has been one of the curses of this G-overnment. and I should be very glad if it had that result. It can not come too soon. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. I hope it will. Mr. BERRY. 1 will tell you what it will do. And I intend to discuss this before I complete this argument. It will show to the world that property like the Hawaiian Islands, lying close to our shores, 2.000 miles closer than to any other great body of land, comes within the Monroe doctrine, and belongs to the United States whenever she can get it by fair means. I would not ad- vocate the sending of an army from the United States to take Ha- waii from any people who were in possession of it against their will, but here comes a government that for three years has main- tained itself, with representatives at nearly every court of the great nations of the world, and says to us, " We want to give you the territory that we own and make it a part of the United States, because we believe it will be useful to you and because we be- lieve it wdl be better for us, fearing that some other power will disturb us." Now, I want to give these gentlemen from Texas a little piece of history. Mr. Webster arose and addressed the Senate in the session of 1845-46 xipon the resolution for the admis- sion of Texas. He said: I am quite aware, Mr. President, that this resolution will pass this House. It has passed the other House of Congress by a large majority. We are doing now just what they did then. A little complica- tion on money matters and one thing and another have divided up the Senate, and the Republicans do not know exactly how many votes they have, and the Democrats do not know exactly where they stand. It takes two-thh-ds of the Senate to ratify a treaty,and the President has not been able to secure an indorse- ment by the Senate, and so he comes now, as they came in the case of the admission of Texas, to ask that both bodies representing the American people act upon this subject, as was done in that case. Continuing, Mr. Webster said: There are members of this body, sir, who opposed the measures which came before Congress at its last session for the annexation of Texas who, nevertheless, will very probably feel themselves now, in consequence of the resolutions of last session, and in consequence of the proceedings of Texas upon those resolutions, bound to vote for her admission to the Union. * & * # * & # In the first place, I have, on the deepest reflection, long ago come to the conclusion that it was of very dangerous tendency and doubtful consequences to enlarge the boundaries of this government or the Territories over which our laws are now established. There was the distinguished Mr. Webster, who is succeeded on this floor by my friend Mr. Fitzgerald, and I have no doubt that he has read that speech and probably it has influenced him. Yet, in spite of Mr. Webster's opposition, the State of Texas is to-day perhaps one of the greatest empires in the world in its wealth of soil, in the character of its population, in its loca- tion, and in its possibilities for the future. And yet Mr. Webster said we ought never to admit Texas, that the country was getting so large that we should go to pieces and the country would dis- solve. Gentlemen refer us to the history of the past. They dwell with pleasure upon the history of Rome and of the Spanish Empire. £183 Why, gentlemen, iney were wholly different from this Govern- ment. Wherever we raise the flag of the United States we pro- pose to give a better condition to the people, as we always have wherever we have extended our territory given a better condi- tion to the people than they had before. We do not propose to take Hawaii with the intention to draw from its resources money to be spent here at the Capitol in Washington, and to oppress them as Spain has oppressed Cuba and Puerto Rico and the Phil- ippines, but we propose to give them the benefit of the great and glorious Government under which we live, to give them liberty, which is the purpose of, this Government upon this earth, if it has any great distinctive purpose. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Now, one question more, and then I will quit you. Mr. BERRY. All right. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. While Webster opposed annexation as long as he opposed slavery, is it not true that as soon as he came to the conclusion that he wanted the Southern slaveholders to give him a Presidential nomination, he flopped on the slave question on the 7th day of March, 1850, and then, in accordance with the behest of the slave propaganda, he advocated the annex- ation of the Sandwich Islands? Mr. BERRY. It would be very difficult for me to tell what passes through the mind of every great statesman who has his eye fixed upon the White House or what has passed through the minds of such men in the past. Many things were said about Henry Clay. I do not propose to comment upon the dead. I do not know whether Webster had that purpose in view or not. In 1825, when an effort was being made in Congress to secure against the claims of Great Britain the territory now constituting the States of Idaho, Oregon, and Washington, Mr. Dickerson, of New Jersey, who represented that State in the Senate, opposed that proposition and pronounced it absurd. He said: A member of Congress, traveling from bis borne to Washington and re- turn, would cover a distance of 9,300 miles; at tbe rate of 30 miles per day, and allowing him forty-four days for Sundays, three hundred and fifty days would be consumed, and the member would have fourteen days in Washing- ton before he started home; it would be quicker to come around Cape Horn, or by Bering Straits, Baffin Bay and Davis Strait, to the Atlantic, and so to Washington. True, the passage is not yet discovered, except upon our maps, but it will be as soon as Oregon is made a State. Now, that sounds very much like the argument of my friend the gentleman from Missouri [Mr. Clark] in talking about Rep- resentatives from distant islands upon this floor — a Representative with gleaming teeth and savage eyes, who, he said, would look upon the Speaker as being good to eat, and he got a little mixed, because Mr. Reed was not in the chair. [Laughter.] The gen- tleman from Missouri [Mr. Clark] was trying to alarm the American people, for fear that, because they take a small piece of territory in the Pacific, somebody from the Fiji Islands will be a Representative here. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Do you think it would really alarm the American people very much if the cannibals did get Mr. Reed? [Laughter.] Mr. BERRY. Well, that is a question you and Mr. Reed can settle for yourselves. You and Mr. Reed being together upon this proposition, I suppose you can determine that question better than I can. [Laughter.] 3483 All along the line, it does not make any difference, where you have added territory to this country there has been some loud- mouthed people who said it would not do. They said on the east- ern seaboard of Massachusetts that if we were to open territory anywhere beyond the Mississippi, the people of Massachusetts and New Hampshire would move out there and hunt bear with the people in that country, and the fellows who had been used to fishing on the eastern seaboard and the hunters could not get along together, and it would ultimately result in a division of the coun- try. All of these arguments have been made; some of them so absnrd that people will hardly recognize them now. Mr. WHEELER of Kentucky. I would like to ask my colleague a question, if he will yield to me. Mr. BERRY. Yes. sir. Mr. WHEELER of Kentucky. Is it not true that the public press of this country that have been advocating the annexation of Hawaii have also demanded the annexation of the Philippine Islands and Puerto Rico and increasing the Army of the United States to 100.000 and doubling the Navy? Is not that true? Mr. BERRY. Gentlemen, when I consider a resolution before this body, I do not consider it with a view that something else will come on hereafter that will complicate the matter. I am con- sidering the resolution introduced by Mr. Newlands for the pur- pose of accepting the Hawaiian Islands as part of the American Government. The Philippine Islands are not yet ours. We will settle that question when it is presented. Mr. Y7HEELER of Kentucky. Will the gentleman allow me one further question? Mr. BERRY. Certainly. Mr. WHEELER of Kentucky. Is it not the duty of every legis- lator not only to consider the matter then before the body, but also to take into consideration the resulting effect? Mr. BERRY. Oh, yes; what the gentleman says, I suppose, is true; but this country of 75,000,000 people has got past that point of having to be scared like a child to go to sleep because it is in- formed that the bogy man is behind the door. [Laughter.] Why, sir, these gentlemen pretend to talk about Mr. Marcy. Mr. Marcy was one of the great men in the Democratic party, who wrote its platforms and formulated its policy. He had carried on the cor- respondence for annexation along in the fifties, to admit the Hawaiian Islands into the United States, and a treaty had been agreed upon, which only failed of consummation because the King died when he was about to sign it. And to show how solicitous other countries were to obtain the islands at that time, when the King died of measles. Great Britain put the remains on board a ship and carried them to his home. Great Britain has had posses- sion of the islands once, France twice, and Russia once. Mr. BODINE. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him a ques- tion? Mr. BERRY. Certainly. Mr. BODINE. Is it true that a Democratic House and a Demo- cratic Senate voted for the annexation of Hawaii? Mr. BERRY. A Democratic House and a Democratic Senate? No, sir. It was the State Department, where the treaty-making power belongs under the Constitution. They did not know that it would have the approval of their party. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. Will the gentleman allow me to ask him one question? 3483 10 Mr. BERRY. Certainly. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. If Mr. Marey and such men believed that that was Democratic doctrine, why did they not put it in the platforms? You say Marcy was a man who wrote the platforms of his party. Mr. BERRY. I do not know why they did not do it, unless they were afraid it might lead to some trouble and they did not want to talk about the acquisition. They left it until an authorized Government offered it as a gift. Mr. SULZER. I suppose, no doubt, they did not want to make it a party question. Mr, BERRY. No; they were not afraid to. About that time the Democratic party was well ensconced in power. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. It did not stay ensconced in power very long after that transaction. Mr. BERRY. Here is President Tyler; he was in favor of an- nexation of Hawaii. Buchanan did the same. Was he a Demo- crat? Mr. CLARK of Missouri. He had softening of the brain. [Laughter.] Mr. BERRY. Well, I suppose every man who is for annex- ation has softening of the brain. These are very distinguished gentlemen who advocated annexation, and do you propose to so characterize everybody who is opposed to it? I do not pretend to be a very wise man, but I have read the history of my country and of my party, and I say right here that the Democrats upon this floor will do a great wrong to their party whenever they plant them- selves against the annexation of Hawaii. Mr. GROW. Will the gentleman permit me to interrupt him before he leaves reference to Mr. Marcy? Mr. BERRY. Yes, sir. Mr. GROW. It is a well-known fact to those familiar with the inside politics at the time the Missouri Compromise was before Congress that Marcy was opposed to it because it was an exten- sion of slavery. Mr. BERRY. Yes. Now, Grant was not a Democrat, but he came pretty near it. We thought of nominating him for Presi- dent, but Republicans got at him first. Harrison was for it, McKinley is for it, Admiral Dirpont, General Schofield, Mahan, Secretary of State Webster, Marcy, Buchanan. Bayard, Sherman, Day— all for it. It seems to have been a universal sentiment up to this time, and now they come, because they are following Grover Cleveland— oh, it is a beautiful picture I have of my friend Clark of Missouri, who always denounced him, now holding him up as the only example he had to follow — he and the distinguished gen- tleman, Mr. Bland, from Missouri. Mr. CLARK of Missouri. That is the only thing I regret — where I am. [Laughter.] Mr. BERRY. Well, get down on your knees and pray for for- giveness. [Laughter.] The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Dalzell) . The time of the gentleman from Kentucky has expired. Mr. BERRY. Mr. Speaker, I only want two or three minutes more, and then I will close. Coming down to the question of Hawaii, ever since 1820, when the little colony of American mis- sionaries went to the island for the purpose of civilizing the peo- ple, down to the present moment, the tendency of that little bunch 8483 11 of islands lias been toward the United States. When King Kala- kaua died after four Karnehamehas had been on the throne — the first Kameharneha was the man that gave the country its freedom and authorized the holding of private estates, destroying the feudal system that had existed on the island before 1840 — the eountry went along smoothly until Kalakaua came on the throne. The debt of the country was nearly all made after King Kala- kaua ascended the throne, and he attempted to oppress the people. In the meantime there had gone to the island a large number of Americans, so that to-day they own three-quarters of all the prop- ei-ty of the Hawaiian Islands. After his death — and he died at San Francisco — the United States Government in its regard for that little power that had been standing there begging so long to be a part of this country, ordered the U. S. S. Charleston to carry his remains back to Honolulu for interment. Mrs. Domini s was placed on the throne, and in 1893 she proposed to overturn the whole republican system as it existed on that island and had been growing up for fifty years and establish again an absolute monarchy with herself at the head and every- thing at her disposal without a legislative branch of government. The American people owning three-quarters of the property of the island said,. ' ' This shall not be done, "and they undertook to stop it. The U. S. S. Boxton was in port, and finding that our American people's property was in danger, she moved up to the wharf and put her marines into the streets and without molesting anybody went to a hall and said, "We shall see that the property of the American people is not injured." Well, Mrs. Doininis went off the throne by compulsion. The Republic was announced; a legislative body was elected very simi- lar to the Constitution of our own States. Under a constitution the Republic of Hawaii, after three years of successful administra- tion, a country able to pay its expenses, that has in the last year collected $676,000 of revenue and paid $70, 000 of its debt r comes to the United States and says: Assume the little public debt that stands over us of $3,900,000, and we will turn over to you $0,000,000 worth of public property if you will take us under the folds of your flag. Is there anything wrong in that? What nation on the face of the earth has a right to come and object that the United States shall accept property tendered to her gratuitously and which the best minds of her country say is indispensable for the defense of her Pacific seaports? My friend from Missouri [Mr. Clark] was talking about the Hawaiian Islands of the olden time, before 1818. There was no such necessity arising on the Pacific Ocean at that time, for we had not reached the Pacific Ocean by California. We then had no Pacific coast communication with Honolulu; but now the trade between San Francisco and Honolulu amotmts to $24,000,000 a year. Some gentlemen say it is going to interfere with the sugar trust. Why, gentlemen, the sugar trust is against annexation, and I will tell you why. Because the Hawaiian planter sells his sugar to the trust at" $3'. 50 a ton less than New York or London prices. If they do not sell it to the sugar trust, they will have to carry it around the Horn and take it to England, with all the insurance and loss of time, and so they are obliged to discount this $2.50 on every ton of sugar made, out of which the trust makes about five hun- 3483 % 12. dred thousand a year, with an addition of about $3,000,000 for refining. Mr. BALL. Would not the case be the same if those islands were a part of the United States? Mr. BERRY. Of course not. The high grades of sugar — re- fined sugar— coming from Honolulu to the United States pay a duty. Every particle of sugar that grades above 97 per cent comes in with a duty. It is shipped directly to the United States. I have seen it rolled out from the refinery; it is almost as white as refined sugar, and of a most delightful flavor. That is the reason the sugar trust is against annexation, because if annexation can be defeated it is $8,000,000 a year in their pockets. Another reason is that the younger Spreckels owns 40,000 acres of the best land of the Hawaiian Islands — a magnificent plantation — and it is cul- tivated by contract labor brought from China and Japan. Spreck- els knows that whenever the American flag goes up over Hawaii the laws of the United States apply to it, and that contract labor must come to an end. That is one reason for opposition to annex- ation; it is very easily explained; it does not take very many words. I listened with attention yesterday to a discussion of this ques- tion by my distinguished friend from Georgia. Listening to his argument, as well as that of my friend from Indiana [Mr. John- son] , one would suppose that the people of Hawaii are a lot of heathens. I want to say that education is more universal in the Hawaiian Islands than it is in the State of Georgia. There is not a child reared on those islands 10 years of age who can not read and write. I question whether a single cotton State can boast of the same thing. Fourteen dollars a head is set apart by the Hawaiian Islands for the education of children. The country is dotted over with schoolhouses. The city of Honolulu has excellent kinder- gartens and primary schools, and an elegant college, with beauti- ful grounds embracing 15 acres, an edifice built of stone, which would be a credit to any State of this Union. The people there are honest. You can sleep in Honolulu with your doors wide open without apprehension of trouble. They are not the savages which some of our friends here would have us believe. If brought* here for the purpose of representing that country, they would not scare our Speaker, as my friend from Missouri [Mr. Clark] seems to imagine. I want to say to my distinguished friend from the State of Ken- tucky that in Honolulu and in the whole of the Hawaiian Islands education is more thorough and more money is spent per capita for the education of the children than in the State of Kentucky. As to the military necessity of these islands, whose opinion are we to take? Are we going to take that of some of these young gentlemen who never heard a gun fire in real war? Mr. CLARDY. The gentleman will allow me to say that the Chinese contract laborers of that country constitute a very large majority of the people. Mr. BERRY. I want to say to the gentleman that the China- men and the Japanese are not naturalized citizens of that coun- try, and under its constitution can not be; and when the flag of our country goes over Hawaii no Chinaman and no Japanese of that country can come to the United States by virtue of his being a resident of Hawaii. Mr. CLARDY. If those islands are annexed to the United States, do not those people become citizens? 3483 13 Mr. BERRY. No; they can not become citizens under the laws of the United States", and the Hawaiian treaty prohibits it, which the Newlands resolution purposes to approve. Mr. CLARDY. Then the fourteenth amendment does not mean anything. Mr. BERRY. The Chinaman, when he gets together a few hundred dollars, will go back to die in the happy Land of the Sun from which he came. There are not so many of them there as there are to-day in the city of San Francisco. On this question of military necessity I am glad to see that map displayed there, because I think it is the best argument that can be made on this floor. Why, sir, my friend from Arkansas [Mr. Dinsmore] has become a great navigator. In spite of the fact that there are hundreds of men, embracing some of the brightest minds of this country, devoting themselves to the exploration of the trackless ocean, and in spite of the fact that such men have been endeavoring for hundreds of years to find out the best, the most expeditious, the safest lines for ocean travel, we have discov- ered an Arkansas Congressman who, ahead of all these naviga- tors, has found a new route, better than any previous one from America westward to Asia. Mr. DINSMORE. I should like to ask the gentleman from Ken- tucky whether he controverts or denies any statement of fact which I made with reference to that ? Mx\ BERRY. The only thing I complain of in the gentleman's remarks is that there was sometimes, as the lawyers say, a sup- pressio veri. Mr. DINSMORE. The gentleman does well to express himself in a foreign language. Mr. BERRY. Well, I will talk in Kanaka, if it will suit the gentleman better. We have heard about the immoral forms of amusement prac- ticed in Honolulu. Why, sir, I was one of the "visiting states- men " of whom the gentleman from Arizona [Mr. Smith] talked. I saw the hula-hula dance in the city of Honolulu; and I have no hesitation in saying that I can go to Kernan's Theater in the city of Washington and see a much more indecent performance than the hula-hula dance in Honolulu. A Member. How do you know ? Mr. BERRY. Because I have been there, and have seen a woman plant herself on a trapeze and undress herself, garment by garment, while Congressmen sitting about were getting very nervous with apprehension. [Laughter.] Now, another great bugaboo which I want to answer is the statement in regard to leprosy. Why, gentlemen, you admit into this country all the Swedes who want to come here, and they make some of our best citizens. They are workers in iron, good mechanics, etc. You admit them freely, yet there is more leprosy in Sweden than in Hawaii. The leprosy will be the same distance from us after annexation that it is now, and such subjects are excluded under our laws. It has been stated here (and the statement shows how little some gentlemen know about this matter) that an island has been devoted to the treatment of leprosy. What is the fact? They have simply cut off a little tongue of land, about 5,000 acres, with, mountains just behind it and a wall running down each side, making it like a penitentiary, with the broad Pacific Ocean around it. And there the leprosy patients are sequestered. They are fed by the Government, they are attended by good physicians, and 3iS3 14 there is good moral care for them in every particular. And it is gradually dying out. Why, when Captain Cook discovered those islands there were supposed to be oOO.OOO natives on them. And yet in the last few years they have dwindled down at the rate of 1 or 2 per cent a year. The race is gradually becoming ex- tinct. Now. what do you people want? You say there ought to be a vote. Why, gentlemen, there is not a Kanaka that I talked with on the island who had anything but a sentiment about this old mon- archy. They thought or seemed to think that if Queen Liliuokalani could be put upon the throne again they would all have a happy- go-lucky time, as they had during her reign . . What has the Repub- lic of Hawaii done for this queen? They agreed to pay her $IU,000 a year as long as she remained quiet, and they did pay it to her for three or four months; but when she started in to overthrow the Government they said, ' ' Not another dollar goes from our treasury to pay a woman who wants to overturn a republican form of gov- ernment." But they have been paying Kaiuiani, who is the heir apparent to the throne, $2,500 a year from the treasury of the Republic, and a few weeks ago they increasedit to $3,000in a spirit of magnanimity. Mr. WHEELER of Kentucky. Have we got to do that if we take the island? Mr. BERRY. No; I do not think we have got to do it, but I think it would be a magnanimous thing to do. Mr. WHEELER of Kentucky. Are they going to steal all these people's property and give them nothing in return? Mr. BERRY. We will give them the blessings of American Government in return. There is not an acre of land in Kentucky that will produce one-half what the land in those islands will pro- duce, They have marvelous wealth of soil. I have seen 14 tons of sugar produced from 1 acre of land in the Hawaiian Islands, and that sugar was worth $60 a ton. You can not equal such a product as that on the land in Kentucky or any other State. Standing there, as it does, upon the line of the Tropics, bathing one foot in the waters of the Tropics and the other in the waters of the Temperate Zone, it is the most beautiful and lovable spot upon which I have ever seen the sun shine. A Member. Does it beat the blue grass of Kentucky? Mr. BERRY. It beats everything that I have ever seen. You may stand at the base of the mountain with every variety of tropical verdure about you and look up to the peaks crowned with perpetual snow. You can have any climate you please with- out going more than 4 or 5 miles. Now, I have a document here containing some information which I have obtained from the Coast and Geodetic Survey, and I should like to call the attention of my friend from Arkansas [Mr. Dinsmore] to it, but I under- stand that some opponents of this treaty say that all the Depart- ments here are on the side of this scheme, as though every man connected with the Government was trying to do a wrong, and that nothing can be believed that comes from any Department. Mr. DINSMORE. You do not mean that I said that, do you? Mr. BERRY. No; but I have heard it talked around here that the Army and Navy people want to build up a great imperial gov- ernment like Rome. Mr. DINSMORE. The gentleman mentioned my name. Did he ever hear me make any such statement? 3183 15 Mr. BERRY. No, I did not; but I want to talk to you now about your new route over to the Asiatic coast. Mr. DINSMORE. I wish you would. Mr. BERRY. I want to test you upon the question of seaman- ship. Speaking of the Aleutian Islands, the Superintendent of the Coast and Geodetic Survey, in this communication to me, says: We know little more than the mere fact of their existence, for they had not been studied and charted; neither do any accurato surveys of those is- lands exist. The Hawaiian Islands are a midway station between California and the Australian continent, which is peopled by an English-speaking race. They are not far distant from the Marshall Islands and other groups of is- lands which are controlled by other than English-speaking nations. They are already the center of commercial enterprise. It must not bo forgotten that between us and the vast trade of China lie Japan and Formosa, and until recently the Philippine Islands formed a continuation of these barriers. A good sailing route from Hawaii to China exists at all seasons of the year along the parallel on which Hawaii is situated. Up in the region of which the gentleman from Arkansas speaks, in the extension of the Aleutian Islands toward the Asiatic shore, there are heavy currents. There is the great ocean tide that sweeps from Japan toward the Bering Sea, which, striking the lower temperature of that region, makes it so densely foggy that navigation in that country is not at all safe. Consequently it is very rarely used. That accounts for the milk in the cocoanut. Yet the gentleman brings in here a sort of triangle to demonstrate that to go from San Francisco up to the Aleutian Islands and down toward the Asiatic coast would be better than any other route. I think he had better communicate that to the department in the Treasury which has charge of such matters of navigation. It might become very useful to the Government and to our sea- faring interests. The guns that opened in Manila Bay the other day meant some- thing to this country. Suppose that we had been fighting a stronger power than Spain and that our vessels had been defeated in that fight and been compelled to return to the United States for protection or repairs. How gladly would they have welcomed the little Hawaiian Islands, with the flag of the United States above them, as a harbor to which they could go in their distress. And it is not improbable that such a contingency may arise before the conclusion of existing hostilities. I have great respect for our naturalized Germans. They are good citizens and soldiers and have contributed much to the glory of American arms. I would not question their loyalty for a moment. Germany is assembling a large fleet about the Philippines. Suggestions are being made that she might protest against our actions in that quarter, and as we have our fighting clothes on, I do not know that there will be any more auspicious time to settle with Bill Hohenzollern than justnow. We have 158 ships in com- mission; and if she feels disposed to interfere with the legitimate rights of Uncle Sam, let her come on— 75,000,000 free men are ready to meet him. [Applause.] I saw in the paper this morn- ing a picture of the Philippine Islands with Uncle Sam's hat hang- ing on the corner of a sign, and down below the Kaiser Wilhelm looking toward it, while Uncle Sam was therewith a box of goods that he was going to sell to the natives to increase the commerce of this country. I would commend it to my friend from Arkansas [Mr Destsmore] simply as an illustration of what may happen within the next few years. Mr. DINSMORE. I have thought for some time that my friend 3483 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS uiiiiiiiiffiiiiiiiiiiiiiiniiui 019 944 319 7 16 was getting his political convictions from the cartoons in the newspapers. Mr. BERRY. Well, you will find before I get through that I have some better basis than that if you will listen with attention. Now, I want to say that when we look at the map and see the journey of 13,000 miies that the Oregon made and remember that the dispatches were announcing every day that perhaps the enemy would meet her and destroy her, the necessity for the Nicaragua Canal becomes plainly apparent. It must be built; it will be built. The intelligence of the American people will build that canal. With the Island of Cuba lying in the mouth of the Gulf of Mexico, with the Windward Passage one side, the Island of Puerto Rico lying a little farther down, with the Mona Passage lying upon one side, and another passage upon the other side, those islands become indispensable, either as a part of our coun- try or in the hands of a people who are friendly to the future of this country. With the Nicaragua Canal constructed, the Hawaiian Islands under our flag, lying directly in the track of commerce with Asia, whether from our country or Europe, a commerce the magnitude of which can scarcely be estimated will be ours under liberal mar- itime laws, pouring untold wealth into our coffers, making our people rich and prosperous. This being true, let us construct the Nicaragua Canal and annex the Hawaiian Republic freely offered us as a resting place in the Pacific for military and commercial considerations. These pur- poses accomplished, the future of this country is bright almost beyond conception. [Applause.] 3133 LIBRARY OF CONGRESS Hollinger Corp. pH8.5