Beef cattle can be raised for almost
nothing, and in some districts beef can be bought for the cent or
two per pound which pays for the cutting up of the carcase. Every
one can live abundantly, and without the "sweat of the brow," but
few can make money, owing to the various forms of blight, the
scarcity of labour, and the lack of a profitable market.
There is little healthy activity in any department of business. The
whaling fleet has deserted the islands. A general pilikia prevails.
Settlements are disappearing, valley lands are falling out of
cultivation, Hilo grass and guava scrub are burying the traces of a
former population. The natives are rapidly diminishing, {457} the
old industries are abandoned, and the inherent immorality of the
race, the great outstanding cause of its decay, still resists the
influence of Christian teaching and example.
An exotic civilization is having a fair trial on the Hawaiian
Islands. With the exception of the serious maladies introduced by
foreigners in the early days, and the disastrous moral influence
exercised by worthless whites, they have suffered none of the wrongs
usually inflicted on the feebler by the stronger race. The rights
of the natives were in the first instance carefully secured to them,
and have since been protected by equal laws, righteously
administered.
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