semi-tropical Formosa, and go forth into the abode of the hairy Ainu. But even if they would go in droves into the remotest corners of the Mikado's realm in search of land, what of that? It would only add to the wealth and prosperity of the country. It is, however, consoling that as a matter of fact the exemption of the three territories from the provisions of the alien ownership law will entail no actual inconvenience to foreigners, who would not care to buy land in such countries, prohibition or no prohibition.

In addition to the rights of foreigners recognized in the civil code I must mention the so-called "lease-inperpetuity," which the Europeans and Americans had wrested from the Japanese when the latter were totally inexperienced in diplomatic affairs. In every open port the Western powers caused the Japanese Government to set apart an extensive tract of land for the business and residential purposes of their citizens and subjects. This they called the "settlement," and such indeed it was, for here Japan virtually forfeited the exercise of her sovereign rights. In the settlement the foreigners established what they pleased to call perpetual lease. In reality this lease was the actual surrender of land by the Japanese Government in favour of the foreign residents, for the latter never paid either rent or tax upon the properties they occupied.

When the inequitable old treaties were abrogated in 1898 the settlement was abolished, but the perpetual lease remained and still remains intact. On the land thus leased foreigners erected residences and office buildings valued at millions of dollars, and yet they refuse to pay tax on these buildings. Would any Western power tolerate such an obnoxious institution? The more closely we look into the matter the clearer does it

appear that the foreigners in Japan are allowed to act much as they please. They are allowed to enjoy almost all the civil rights enjoyed by the native subjects, and in addition they have the benefits of the special concessions which they secured from the Japanese when the latter had just awakened from a lethargy of centuries.

XI

IN THE MELTING POT OF THE RACES

T

"Fair clime! where every season smiles
Benignant o'er those blessed isles,

Which, seen from far Colonna's height,
Make glad the heart that hails the sight,
And lend to loneliness delight."

HUS did Byron sing of the Grecian isles. Had

his eyes beheld the fair islands of the MidPacific in what superb language would he have described their beauty and enchantment! It seems a sacrilege to call such a picturesque group of islands the melting pot of the races." Yet it is the pride of the residents of Hawaii to have it so called, even though the name might be an outrage to Nature, whose deft hands fashioned these gems of the ocean.

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The Sandwich Islands, lying in the middle of the Pacific and between 19 and 23 degrees N. latitude, have a most delightful climate, with a temperature averaging 75 degrees through the year, and ranging between the extremes of 60 and 88 degrees. Even when the sun of day is scorching the heat is agreeably tempered by the delicious trade winds which fan the islands at regular intervals. It is indeed a fair clime where every season smiles benignantly. The islands are, save for a few mosquitoes, absolutely free from the disagreeable insects and venomous reptiles common to the tropics. No wonder that the Japanese in Hawaii call the islands the "Paradise in the Pacific."

But the Sandwich group is not a paradise for the Japanese alone, for here in these islands more than a dozen races live amicably together. Classified roughly these numerous races fall under these nine groups:

With all these divergent ethnic elements, Hawaii has no race problem, as the Americans there proudly tell us. Perhaps the statement is too sweeping, for there are various problems arising out of the contact of the races. But if the term "race problem" is used in the sense of "race hatred," certainly Hawaii has reason to be proud of its absence.

One naturally wonders how Hawaii manages to avoid conflict of races, while California, where Americans are far more firmly intrenched than in Hawaii, is constantly harassed by agitation against Orientals. Hawaii has only 29,183 Caucasians as against 94,348 Chinese and Japanese, whereas there are in California 2,259,672 Caucasians as against 41,356 Japanese and 36,248 Chinese. And yet the Americans in the Territory are perfectly sanguine as to their ability to maintain their civilization and ideals unaffected by alien races, and their capacity ultimately to assimilate them and make them loyal citizens of the Republic. For this peculiar complacency and conviction various circumstances are responsible.

The first of these is perhaps the abiding influence of the missionaries who opened the country to civilization. In no other part of the non-Caucasian world has modern missionary enterprise effected so much social and political good as in the Sandwich Islands. Beginning with 1822 missionaries poured in from the United States, and through their labours the Hawaiian language was for the first time reduced into writing. Schools were established, laws were codified, public works were undertaken, and in 1840 King Kamehameha IV was induced to grant a liberal constitution. In all these reforms the missionaries were chiefly instrumental. Ever since that time their influence has been strongly felt among all classes of people and in every phase of life. The example of charity and love set by the missionaries has in the main been followed by other classes. To-day many of the pioneer missionaries have already passed into the unknown beyond, but their descendants, whether in evangelical work or in the lay world, have not as a rule deviated from the tradition bequeathed by their fathers.

Equally significant is the fact that before the advent of Chinese and Japanese the Americans in the islands had long been in contact with dark-skinned people. The native Hawaiians, numbering some 140,000 when found by missionaries, were not only dark-skinned but semicivilized. Dr. Anderson, one of the first missionaries in the archipelago, went so far as to say that the Hawaiian nation was composed of thieves, drunkards, and debauchees, and the people who were slaves to the sovereign. Compared with such people Chinese and Japanese labourers imported to the islands must have appeared far superior in every respect. The Americans who had befriended even the semi-savage natives had