Democratic Sentinel, Volume 13, Number 41, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 November 1889 — THE KING PLATS POKER. [ARTICLE]

THE KING PLATS POKER.

And the Ladies Wear Mother Hubbards. [Chillioothe Leader’s talk ral Putnam.] “In what shape did you leave your friend, the King?” “Kalakaua? In rather an unhappy condition. He has been reduced to the condition of a mere figure-head. Pretty much all power has been taken from him by his cabinet —all save the veto power. They thought they had stripped him of that, too, but the courts held otherwise. However, poor though he is in authority, and without any military backing to speak of—loo men or so —he gets a good salary and could live very nicely if he wasn’t such an inveterate spendthrift. “What salary does he get?” “Twenty-five thousand dollars a year; but he is of a convivial turn of mind, and an incurable gambler, and could squander many times $25,000 if he could get it. He got so reckless and so deeply in dept that his Cabinet finally appointed a commission to take charge of his salary, pay his obligations and manage his personal finances entirely.” “Then he is in the hands of guardians ?” “That’s it, precisely.” “Does the King run a good estalishment at Honolulu?” “A magnificent one. His palace is is finer than our White House—larger and more imposing in every way. He lives in fine style and gives some very brilliant parties at his palace.” “Where and with whom does he do his gambling?” “At the palace, and with whoever will play poker with him. The Americans are not averse to sitting in a game with his Majesty, when he has anything to lose.” “Wharf portion of the export trade of the islands do we get ?” “Pretty much all of it. Last year they exported some $12,000,000 worth of sugar—all ofe which, of course, went through the Consulate. Of this immense trade the United States got ninety-two per cent. And furthermore, the United States supply Honolulu and the islands with about all of their imports of every kind.” “How do the other nationalities rank in numbers ?” “There are 2,500 Americans on the ' islands; 1,200 Germans, 1,000 English, 3,000 Japanese, 1,200 Portuguese, 5,000 half-breeds—the aristocracy of the kingdom—and 40,000 natives.” “What figure do the natives cut in the affairs of the island ?” “None worth mentioning. They are lazy, arabitionless and not very intelligent, and are satisfied to live off of a paste made by grinding up a vegetable they grow with little trouble. This paste they take up on their fingers, and after giving it a twirl of two, take it into their mouths and swallow it. And then they eat raw fish; in faot they depend largely upon nature for a living. 'They are no good as laborers, or very little. The Portuguese are worthless, too—the scum of the nation. They come mainly from the Madeira and other outlying islands. The Chinese are the laborers of the islands, and are absolutely necessary to the welfare of the kingdom. The natives are rapidly dwindling away. When Cook first visited the islands there was a native population of two hundred thousand.” “Are the native woman at all handsome ?” “No: many of them are very large, but none of them are attractive. But the half-breed women are beautiful, much like some of our fine types of octoroons. They have magnificent complexions, finely colored cheeks, black hair and beautiful forms. White men of all nationalities in early days married the native women, and this half-breed population is the result. As I have said, they comprise the aristocracy of Honolulu. Some of them are very stylish. Pretty much all the women are given to wearing the ‘kolacue,’ a garment exactly like the American ‘Mother Hubbard.’ They wear this loose about the house, and with a belt when they go upon the streets.” [Mr. Putnam is much attached to the island.]