Rensselaer Journal, Volume 10, Number 42, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 28 March 1901 — HAWAIIAN LEGISLATURE OPEN. [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAWAIIAN LEGISLATURE OPEN.

The opening of the first territorial legislature of Hawaii was the first public event connected with the annexation of Hawaii in which the native Hawaiians as a body have been able cordially and heartily to take part. The fact that it was the first legislature elected since the overthrow and the beginning of what to them was a dark period in Hawaiian history, chosen at an election in which Hawaiians could fully participate, was to them like a return of the time when native Hawaiians were the people of the land and all ethers were strangers, admitted te rights by their good will. It was like a return to the house of their fa-

there. The fact that the legislature was very largely composed of members of their own race, just as it was in the old times, doubtless added very much to this sentiment. This feeling was displayed in the crowds that thronged the grounds of the oapltol building on the morning the session began and which filled the visitors’ galleries in both houses. The opening session of the senate did not attract as much popular attention as did that of the house. The senate is a smaller body, and there is a less proportion of native members in it. The chamber in which it meets is less commodious and well flitted.