The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, June 30, 1901, Page 2

SUNDAY CALL FOISTING AMEF CAN FLAG IN TUTUILA United States Navy is not, at COMIANUL}\ TILLEY of the first sight, a very imposing looking personage. In fact, he ip & somewhat small and insignificant man, but his face wears a kindly ex- pression, and his blue eyes light up with a pleasant gleam whenever Lo speaks. There is nothing overbearing about his manner, and in spite of the high rank which he holds he has evi- dimtlyneveracquired the domineering huvbit. He is just the kind of a man to win the affection and confidence of a sxmple-minded, semi-savage, sus- pic'ous race like the Samoans. And this is what Tilley has done. He has achieved a peaceful victory of infin- itely’ more value to the world thaun man 7 & deed of war. He has made a naticm, small though it be, happy an1 prosperous. He has been the first to show the world that Uncle Sam can govern a colony wisely and well. For the sprwe of more than a year he has been absiolute ruler over the people of Tutuila, subject only to the con- trol of #iie far-away administration in ‘Washington. Wisely enough, the Cabinet has let Commander Tilley have his own way entirely, and the result has been peace and prosperity throughout the little group of isles. There are five altogether under the control of the United States. Tutuila, the largest, has a population of some four thousand souls, and is of the greatest importance because it pos- sesses the magnificent harbor of Pago Pago, the finest haven in the South Seas. Here all the warships be- longing to Uncle Sam could ride in safety without the slightest crowd- ing, and here we are constructing a magnificent coaling station and pier, at a cost of over $300,000. Indeed, it is safe to say that if it were not for this harbor the United States would never have dreamed of acquir- ing an interest in the Samoan group. Manua, with a population of 2000, comes next, and then there are the emaller islets of Tau, Olesanga and Ofu. This is the little cluster of trop- jeal reef and rock over which Com- mander Tilley rules, and here is the tale of his administration as he tells it for The Sunday Call. HE annexation of Tutufla actually took place on the 17th of February, 1900, but it was the 4th of April be- fore we recelved news of the event. Amid general jubilation we hoisted Old Glory on the hill above Swimming Point, just inside the entrance to Pago Pago. Here the coaling station, which is to be finished next October, 1is being erected, and here, for the present, is the seat of government. Though only just appeinted Governor, I was not a stranger to the native ways and customs. I had been In Samoa over a year as commander of the Abarenda, stationed at Pago Pago in order to super- vise the erection of the coaling station. Thus I had had ample time to study the strange ways and customs of the Tutui- lans, and as soon as my commission came, was all ready to go ahead. Moreover, I was fortunte enough to secure an invalu- eble assistant, Mr. E. W. Gurr, a gentle- man who has spent many years in Sa- with the language and habits or the peo- ple. 1 appointed him Secretary for Native Affairs and he still acts in that capacity. My task was made easler hecauso the annexation was very popular among the natives. They greeted the Stars and Stripes with the utmost enthusiasm and gladly swore alleglance to the United This was in striking contrast to scené when the German flag was ted on Upolu, There the natives bit- terly resented forelgn domination—they wanted only the S8amoan flag. They got out their war spe blackened thelr faces, and a fight seemed Imminent. How- ever, under the wise and kindly adminis- tration of Dr. Solf, the Governor of Ger- man Samoa, matters soon quieted down, and affairs on this part of the group are now nearly as satisfactory as in my own territory. The natives of Tutuila are naturally a kindly, gentle, simple-minded race, and it was only due to the lack of good govern- ment that they devecloped warlike tenden- cles. Before the annexation there was practically no central administration on Tutuila, for the allegiance to the King of Samoa was purely a nominal affair, to be set aside whenever the natives chose. The inevitable result was a long serles of petty tribal wars, which, though they caused little loss of life, kept the country in a continual state of ferment. The men on one side of the sland were always threat- ening war against those on the other; the natives, ever apprehensive of conflict, would not take the trouble to cultivate theilr yam and taro plantations, and food ‘was very scarce. They argued, with some show of reason, that it was no use plant- ing things when an enemy might come along any day and destroy them. Leone, the chief town. or village, was surrounded by a high stone wail, the only place so fortified In the islands, and was practical- 1y_always in a state of slege. I put a stoy at once to this lamentable condition of affairs. The first thing I did was to disarm the nativés. They gave up thelr guns reacdily enough without cempensation, though I hope to induce the administration to pay for them. Mostly they were very poor weapons—old Sniders and Remingtons, with the stocks badly worm eaten, but then they were capable of killing men and the people were bdster without them. I considered that the best way to gov- ern these people was to let them govern themselves. The Samoans are still in the Entrlarchn) state; the head of each house- old is supreme ruler of his own little family and these chiefs, in turn. form a council which governs each viliage. Each town is practically independent of the other, though there is a parliament, or fono, for every district, which, however, used to do little more than talk. My aim was to modify this system so as to adapt it to the requirements of civilized gov- ernment without at the same time inter- fering with the deeply rooted customs of the people or wounding their susceptibili- ties in any way. To achieve this I fol- lowed the plan which has proved so suc- cessful in Fiji, of appointing native chlefs as local magistrates, or governors, in each district. The great trouble was the superabund- ance of material avallable. Nearly ever: other man was a chief and. naturally they all sought the coveted positions, There was no question about the head chief, Mauga. He was undoubtedly the man ‘of highest rank in Tutuila, but the minor chiefs all seemed to have equal claims to precedence. However, after an exhaustive genealogical research we got the right men selected, and the natives themselves elected them magistrates. Then we held a general council, and very sensibly the natives began to institute their own reforms. There were many injurious customs, which had existed from time immemorial, which could only be abolished by general consent. Chief among these was the prac- tice of going on malangas, or large picnic parties. A whole village would suddenly make up its mind to take a wandering holiday. All work would be dropped and the merry party would start on its trav- els. With the Samoans the virtue of hos- pitality is developed to an excessive de- gree, and it was the bounden duty of each village to lavishly entertain the vis- REVIEWING STAND WHEN 0.5 ARULE WAS DECLARED IN TUTUILA jtors, Lances were neia, ail tne pfgs were killed and fun and feasting was the order of the day, This went on as long as the supplien lakted, and when the resources of one village gave eut the on to the next 8 returne less hospitallt that there Pourists moved Of course, when the vis- to their homes this bound- had to be reciprocated, so always a malanga going 1 induced improvident habits. 1f had nothing to eat it would go songwhere elge and get focd, If, how. over, provisions were plentiful others could come and cat with them. Thus no one ever thought of laying up stores for the morrow, and if there was a general wlure of the crops the natives often suf. severely from lack of food. The t council decided unanimously to pro- hibit malangag, and the custom drop- ped at once, for the natives are wonder- fully law abiding and obedlent. Another curious custom which had to stopped was the presentation of fine tg at weddings and other ceremonials These mats, from a Samoan point of view, constitute the most valuable kind uf prop- erty. They are woven with great care from a species of pandanus fiber and th king of one of them will occupy a lled woman for a couple of years. Every householder possesses a number of them. They are handed down from gen- eration to generation as heirlooms. The older and more ragged they are the more precious they become. As they are never sold for cash, their value can only be ap- proximately ' estimated in American money, but taking their equivalent in native produce they are worth all the way from $1 to $00. Now, whenever ~ there ~was a blg wed ding all the bride's relatives were com- pelled by custom to make presents of fine mats, in return for which the bride- groom’s people gave an _equlvalent amount {n food or in trader’s goods, such as cotton prints, biscuits, salt, beef, etc, This practice led to an enormously waste- ful expenditure, so that a big wedding often impoverished a whole village for years. Also, whenever a chlef of impor- tance died a large number of fine mats were buried with him and there was much accompanying feasting. All thesg things now belong to the past and the people are correspondingly benefited. As the Samoans are naturally a virtu- ous people, I have left their marital cus- toms undisturbed, except that it is now necessary to get a certificate of permis- sion from the native Governor before the ceremony, Then the couple are free either 1o go to the missionary and have a rellg- ious service or to get united in the old- fashioned native way, fa'a Samoa, Of course, I have not interfefed in any way with the religious bellef of the people, The missonaries go on with their work of evangelizing and educating just as be- fore annexation. The London Missionary Soclety, under the charge of Dr. Cooper, has by far the largest number of co: verts; in fact, in a religious sense, it dom- inates the group. The soclety, which teaches an absolutely unsectarian form of Christlan worship, has churches and schools all over the islands and a new high school for girls has just been com- Yleted at Leone at a cost of over $10,000, cannot speak too highly of the excellent work done by this misslonary body and am doing all in my power to assist it. On the other hand we have & number of Mormon apostles whom I would be heartily glad to get rid of. Not because of thelr peculiar religlous views, but because of the injurious effect they have on the native mind. These so-called apostles come to the islands without any money and perforce must exist on native hospi- tality. They live in the same manner and place themselves on the same level with the Samoans. In consequence they do far more harm than good. q’l‘helr action tends to lower the prestige of the white man and to make Increasingly difficult the work of the legitimate mission- aries. A missionary should not be de- pendent ufinn the Seople he is trylng to convert. e should live in good style, in a good house, so as to raise instead of lower the native ideas of comfort. The London Society missionaries do this, and 50 ought the Mormons. The taxatlon %uemon was a serlous problem at first, for Samoans, like most other people, naturally object o be taxed by others. 'Here again I turned to Fiji for example, and settled the matter by allowing the natives to tax themselves for thelr own benefit. Money was needed to defray the expenses of administration, and the native councils assessed each.vil- lage at what they considered a falr amount. No money is asked for, but each district must make and deliver so many pounds of copra, the dried kernel of the cocoanut, which is the chlef native product. Formerly the natives could only get a cent a_pound from the traders for their copra, but I have sold it by tender for nearly two cents, a considerable gain. In this way we raise a revenue of about , which is sufficient to defray the modest expenses of our administration. One thing we have not got yet, and that is a Government house. Iam folng to see about it when I reach Washington, and hope to get funds enough to build a neat little bungalow somewhere on the shores of Pago Pago, which will serve as head- quarters for the administration. Up to the present, as commander of the Ab- arenda as well as Governor of the islands, 1 have lived on board ship. But when the coaling station 'is completed and the Ab- arenda is withdrawn, a house will be s highly, lowed to %\'e her house, and W ed closely Al T RTATS R »BYF‘ TlL.Lu_7- 'y as never al indeed, that ghe w i, -8 boor Eil ay and night. The paturally fell 11l under such treatment, and one night, & few years ago, the house caught fire and she was suffocated. Nat- urally, there were no other candidates 1a{ the vacant crown, and charge Manua w it could without when 1 tool getting along as bes! monarch. 1 ‘H in a King, who, of course, is In r ?}' only a high chief, subject to my centrol. But the natiyes are quite satisfled, and have now abandoned the custem of imprison- ing their ruler. The white population of the group ls very small, and is not likely to increase much, as thers are few opportunities for commercial development., Though the soil is very rich, the country Is too moun- needed. I suppose the Navy Department il alwpys koep & vessel stationed there, otherwife it 1 be necessary to have a small permanent white garrison, say fif- teen marines. I have already formed a miniature native army of fifty-eight en- listed Samoans, who make excellent sol- diers. They pick up their drill with mar- velous raj dl{' and their discipline is })errect. could easily increase this force f necessary, as there is no trouble about obtaining recruits, but happlly a larger army is not needed. Manua, the other principal island over which I have charge, is some sixty miles away, 80 that it {s more rarely visited. I have pursued the same policy there, with slight modifications, to suit the pe- cullar character of the people. he Manuans, being so {solated, have some strange customs, unknown to the rest of Samoa. They used to have a Queen, whom they regarded -with the greatest awe and reverence. They worshiped her talnous for cultivation, and there are na ) large level areas suitable for plantations, The only native industry is the produc- tion of copra, which is purchased by the traders or exchanged for European goods. Healy, Tibbits & Co., the contractors for the coaling station, have about thirty White employes, but I have only had trou- ble with them on one occasion, when I had to adopt the extreme course of de- porting a man. He was an ugly-tempered fellow, a deserter from the navy, and at the Fourth of July celebration endeavored to stir up a fight among the natives. He grossly insulted the officer who stopped him, and in consequence was arrested and 'sentenced to several months’ impris- onment. 1 gave him the option of serv- ing out his sentence or going to San Francisco, and he chose the latter course. The lesson had a wholesome moral effect. both on the whites and natives, udhlfl s and colors now dwell together in the utmost harmony. 45