How Has Hawaii Become Americanized? [pp. 597-601]

HOW HAS HAWAII BECOME AMERI &h ~CANIZED?
., iECULIARLY conspicu ous is the fact that
;'Do ~Hawaii has been
Americanized. In
. i1 w~~~~xhat respects, to what
degree, by what
-. means, has it taken
- ".. -; place? These points
, 0.,"-'_ iw vill form the subject
of this paper. While
,..-.....
.. the fact named is con': ~ spicuous in Hawaii, it
is not so xvell known to American readers, aI majority of whom fail to appreheind hoxx strong an offshoot of Yankeedom has pushed out into the Western
ocean.
The dominating social, intellectual,
commercial, political, and religious life of
the people of Hawaii is distinctly American. Not infrequently one hears the expression from visitors, "in this country,"
when the United States is intended, there
being a spontaneous sense of still being
there, so familiar is the presence of
Americanx ways.
The actual proportion of people of
American birth or parentage here in Hawaii is only four per cent of the whole
population, and equal to ten per cent of
those possessing native Hawaiian blood.
Yet these Americans are practically the
ruling_ class. Their aims and opinions
shape the politics, commerce, and intellectulal and moral movements of the people. rhe 40,000 Hawaiians yield to
their leading. So do the other I8,ooo
whites, two thirds of whom are the
unlettered Portuguese. The 35,o00oo Asiatics resist assimilation, and count for
5.7
little in public influence and activity,
standing quite apart, socially and politically. British and German residents
give way to American tendencies more
or less unwillingly; but they give way.
All this is a settled and established coindition ot things, the outcome of a considerable period of social growth and adjustment, some history of which will come in
farther on. American thoughts, customs,
institutions, are deeply and solidly
planted in Hawaii, and have ceased to
be exotic. To verify this assertion a
large number of facts may be adduced.
The dominant language of Hawaii is
the English tongue, and that not of the
British, but the American type. The
British accent is quite common on our
streets, but the American accent prevails
on the mart, in the courts, in society. It
is the accent of the speech of nearly all
Hawaiian-born whites. The American is
the accent of the school-children, if
whites. The natives and half-whites,
whose mother tongue is Hawaiian, utter
their English with a very peculiar accent
of their own, modified by the tones of
their own language. A majority of the
natives are still unable to speak or read
English with facility, although nearly all
of them have received English instruction, and all the common schools are now
taught in English, so that it can be only a
few years before nearly all natives will
possess some facility in its use.
Our current literature issues mainly
from American presses. In our news
stalls, book-stores, reading-rooms, the
products of the American press are six to
one of the British. Our presses adopt