Hawaii | Page 503 | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

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October 22, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

‘We are learning the Star Spangled Banner’

The first commercially-viable sugar plantation, Ladd and Co., was started at Kōloa on Kaua‘i in 1835. It was to change the face of Hawai‘i forever, launching an entire economy, lifestyle and practice of mono-cropping that lasted for well over a century.

Hawaiʻi had the basic natural resources needed to grow sugar: land, sun and water. Hawai‘i’s economy turned toward sugar in the decades between 1860 and 1880; these twenty years were pivotal in building the plantation system.

A century after Captain James Cook’s arrival in Hawaiʻi, sugar plantations started to dominate the landscape. However, a shortage of laborers to work in the growing (in size and number) sugar plantations became a challenge. The only answer was imported labor.

Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” a section of which provided the legal basis for contract-labor system, labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.

There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese 1852; Japanese 1885 and Filipinos 1905; several smaller, but substantial, migrations also occurred: Portuguese 1877; Norwegians 1880; Germans 1881; Puerto Ricans 1900; Koreans 1902 and Spanish 1907.

Then, in May 1909 on Oʻahu, 5,000 Japanese plantation workers went out on strike.

The serious problems involved in the plantation labor situation continued to occupy the center of attention of those interested in the welfare of the sugar industry in Hawaiʻi. (American Sugar Industry and Beet Sugar Gazette, February 24, 1911)

An opportunity soon presented itself in the person of a Russian national, AV Perelestrous, who came to Honolulu for medical treatment and rest on Waikiki and saw a good opening for business.

He introduced himself to the secretary of the Territory of Hawaiʻi and the Territorial board of immigration as a major railway contractor in Manchuria and offered his services in delivering Russian workers to local sugar cane plantations. (Khisamutdinov)

“The efforts to obtain Russian immigration were in the final results rather disastrous both in the object sought and financially. … the board of immigration was given to understand that the Russian Government would not look with disfavor upon an attempt to recruit from that quarter.”

“(I)t was decided to introduce approximately 50-families as a trial lot, and Mr ALC (‘Jack’) Atkinson (US District Attorney) was chosen to proceed to Harbin, accompanied by Mr AW Perelestrous, who some time previous had represented himself … as a Russian contractor familiar with the conditions in Manchuria. Mr Atkinson departed August 30, 1909, accompanied by Mr Perelestrous”. (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

The recruiting took place in Harbin, Manchuria, on the Siberian border, the center of the Chinese Eastern Railroad, where Atkinson opened his office. That way it was easier to draw up exit papers: emigrants left through the port of Dalny, where there was no Russian customs post. (Khisamutdinov)

They returned to the Islands on October 22, 1909 “with 108 men, 67 women, and 79 children, a total of 255. These people were to all appearances, both physically and otherwise (so far as could be determined by the board,) the most desirable lot of immigrants ever introduced.” (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

“The Russians are a clean, sturdy, fine appearing lot of people, apparently with the willingness to work and certainly with the physical strength to do so. They are peasants, the older men and women uneducated. This was to have been expected. The children, however, are” bright, active and healthy, such as should grow up to be helpful citizens with the advantages they will have in this country.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 22, 1909)

“They accepted such employment as was offered them and so highly were they spoken of by their employers that, in November of the same year the board decided to introduce some three or four hundred additional families of the same class.” (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

“The liner Siberia, which arrived here yesterday from the orient, landed 212 Russian immigrants at Honolulu. There were men, women and children in the party. In Russia the men had been working long hours for a monthly wage of 5 rubles and were enchanted at the prospect of a free life on the sugar plantations. That they have no intention of returning”.

“At the request of some of the passengers, one of the ship’s officers requested the Russians to sing the Russian national hymn. The quartermaster who carried the message returned shaking his head. … (They effectively told him) ‘To hell with Russia; we are learning the ‘Star Spangled Banner.’”

“After landing at Honolulu every Russian tore up his passport and threw the scraps into the Pacific ocean.” (San Francisco Call, October 29, 1910)

Later shipments weren’t as enthusiastic. “Diphtheria broke out in quarantine. Bottled up, bored, hearing stories of real plantation life, they balked. … Most new recruits refused to sign up for jobs … Saying they’d rather starve than work on plantations, the immigrants exited quarantine April 4th, many of them following the Spaniards to California.” (Elks)

Later shipments met with similar resistance; Russians refused to accept the working and living conditions. As soon as steamers with settlers began approaching the shore, shouts were heard: “Don’t go to the plantations! Better drown in the sea than go there and work!” (Khisamutdinov)

The total number of Russians introduced into the Territory amounted to 1,799, at a total cost of $139,021.59, exclusive of the quarantine expenses here of $17,735.79. Of the number introduced, only a little more than 60 per cent accepted plantation employment. (US House Committee on Immigration, 1921)

On March 21, 1910, Russian emigrants went on strike. The authorities suggested that they should elect representatives who would tour the plantations and familiarize themselves with working and living conditions there. But they refused to do so because they no longer believed any promises.

The magazine In Foreign Parts (Russians in America and Australia) wrote this about Hawaii: “At first our workers suffered numerous hardships on the Hawaiian Islands, but gradually they began to adapt.”

“Some emigrated to America, some found jobs in accordance with their skills, some bought farms of their own on time, while the majority for the time being accepted their fate and were working.” (Khisamutdinov) Complaints were spread about the misinformation given while recruiting in Russia.

On January 12, 1912, members of the Russian staff assisting in the emigration were arrested and sent to prison. This was the end of the Russian resettlement to Hawaiʻi. (Khisamutdinov)

The image shows a front page photo showing the arrival of Russian immigrants; it is labeled ‘Hawaiʻi’s New Citizens’ from the Pacific Commercial Advertiser. (October 22, 1909)

Russian_Immigration-‘Hawaii’s New Citizens’-PCA-Oct_22,_1909

Russian Collection, Hamilton_Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Russian_Immigration_’Hawaii’s New Citizens’-PCA-Oct_22,_1909

Russian_Collection, Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa

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Russian Collection, Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at Manoa

Russian Collection, Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii at_Manoa

Russian Collection, Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii_at Manoa

Russian Collection, Hamilton Library, University of Hawaii_at_Manoa

October 20, 2016 by Peter T Young 1 Comment

Socker

In France, they call it football; in Latin America and Spain they call it fútbol. The Germans use a slight variation: Fußball or fooseball.

But in the United States, the game played almost exclusively with hands is called football, and the game played almost exclusively with feet is called soccer. (NPR)

When it got its start in the Islands, it was called ‘Socker.’

“There will probably be a good deal of football played here this fall both under the Association and inter-collegiate codes. The former game especially promises to become very popular here …”

“… as both the Honolulu Cricket Club and ʻIolani College intend organizing ‘socker’ teams.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, September 1, 1900)

“The meeting to be held to-day at Punahou under the auspices of the Young Men’s Christian Association will marl an epoch on the history of athletics in these Islands. …”

“Next week, full attention will again be given to the game and it is expected that the first match will played next Saturday at Makiki … The first game, however, will be little more than a ‘dress rehearsal’ and great importance will not be attached to the result.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 13, 1900)

“The ʻIolani College Association Football Club plays its first match of the season this afternoon on the cricket ground at Makiki at 4 o’clock. … Today’s game will be the first time the full eleven has worked together and the complete combination is to be tested.”

”As the season advances it is confidently expected that many players – both old and new – will be attracted to the ‘Socker’ standard, as the game is quickly acquired and is far more suitable to the climate than other games of so-called football.”

“As a matter of fact, Association is the only game which has any right to the term ‘football,’ the other developments have long made the appellation a misnomer.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 20, 1900)

By December, Honolulu had a three-team league of association football clubs consisting of ʻIolani, Scotland and England. The first league championship was played at Makiki in January 1901, Scotland won the round-robin competition. (Cisco)

Both soccer and American football come from the same set of precursor sports, which became popular in upper-class English schools in the early 19th century and spread across the Atlantic.

The history of football goes back hundreds of years, but the modern variety can be traced to the English boarding-school athletics craze.

All these games involved advancing a ball through an opponent’s territory and scoring at the far end, but the rules varied from place to place.

Every school played its own version of ‘football,’ which led to confusion when players from one school met players from another.

As the game spread, there were numerous attempts to devise a set of rules that everyone could follow. These tended to be hampered by acrimony between the schools and by anxiety about the fate of English masculinity.

At least one impassioned advocate asserted that if English players were not allowed to hack one another in the shins, they might as well surrender to the French.

Finally, in October 1863, a group of representatives from 11 old boys’ clubs convened at the Freemasons’ Tavern in London to iron out a compromise. Calling themselves the Football Association, they held meetings for two months, then published The Book of Rules of Association Football, by a Group of Former English Public School Men.

At the final meeting, however, the representative from Blackheath dramatically withdrew when the group voted to disallow shin-hacking and carrying the ball, longstanding traditions of the game as played at the Rugby School. Thus, English football split into two codes, with one heading to rugby.

Ultimately, the version adopted as standard in the United Kingdom came to be known as association football, while another set of rules won out in the United States. The Americans took to calling their gridiron variety football.

The gridiron style that now holds sway in America evolved in the later 19th century, from versions of rugby and association football that had been imported to the US from Britain. For many years, the gridiron game was only one of many forms of football played in America

Around the world, the Football Association’s version of the game continued to be called association football to distinguish it from the rest. In the 1880s, popular British slang took the ‘soc’ from ‘association’ and turned it into soccer.

Throughout the first half of the 20th century, soccer, football, and soccer football were used more or less interchangeably throughout the English-speaking world.

After a while, however, football began to prevail in countries where the Football Association’s rules were most popular, while soccer rose to the fore in countries (the United States, Canada, Australia) where a different version of the game predominated.

The current United States Soccer Federation was founded in 1913 as the United States of America Foot Ball Association. It was renamed the United States Soccer Football Association in 1945. The organization finally dropped the word football from its name in 1974. (Phillips; Slate)

soccer-world-map

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October 19, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Butterfish

For folks in Hawai‘i, butterfish is not simply a species of fish; it’s a preparation of fish. Hawaiian butterfish is miso-marinated black cod. Black cod is not really a cod; it’s a black-skinned (thus the name) sablefish (that kind of looks like cod.)

(There is an Atlantic ‘butterfish’ (wild-caught off the US from Maine to South Carolina) but it is smaller than the sablefish; in the UK, butterfish is a small eel-like fish – both of these are not what folks in Hawai‘i refer to as butterfish.)

Whoa, let’s look back …

Sablefish occur in the North Pacific, the Bering Sea and adjacent waters from Hokkaido, Japan to Baja, California, with greatest abundance in the Gulf of Alaska. Adult fish are found in depths between 1,200 to 3,000-feet. (NOAA)

Fishing methods include hook and line (and lately long-line fishing (where hundreds or thousands of baited hooks branching from a single line are used) is the predominant landing method,) pot and trawler. Sablefish are targeted through sets along the ocean bottom, the preferred sablefish habitat. (NOAA)

Early Island reference to the fish was made in Honolulu’s Saturday Press, January 5, 1884, “A new food fish called black cod has been discovered. It is caught off Queen Charlotte’s Island (British Columbia) in deep water and the supply is said to be inexhaustible.”

Later, an AP story from Seattle noted, “Black cod, formerly a neglected fish, became popular immediately upon its indorsement by the United States bureau of fisheries under the new name of sablefish, and doubled in price.” (Honolulu Star Bulletin, June 13, 1917)

For some, butterfish is simply the black cod/sablefish, prepared however. Some even warn of the escolar (walu,) another very rich fish (and often labeled as ‘butterfish’) – apparently, it is so oily it causes gastric difficulties.

But, generally, when you think of Hawaiian butterfish, many look forward to the miso-marinated black cod/sablefish.

Misoyaki (charred miso) style includes miso-marinated, then fired over a grill or pan seared. (Actually the misoyaki marinade will also work on salmon, ahi and other firm fish – even chicken or beef.)

In 1868, the first 153-Japanese immigrants arrived in Honolulu on board the 3-masted sailing ship Scioto (Saioto-go.) They brought with them miso and shoyu.

This was Meiji 1 – the first year of the Meiji period, a period of awakening, expansion, and opening to the outside world after 268 years of peaceful isolation during the Edo (Tokugawa) period.

During the 1880s, more Japanese came to work in the sugar fields; they introduced sake and soyfoods to Hawaii. (Soyinfo Center)

Soybeans originate from China. In 2853 BC, Emperor Sheng-Nung of China named five sacred plants – soybeans, rice, wheat, barley and millet.

Soybean plants were domesticated between 17th and 11th century BC in the eastern half of China, where they were cultivated into a food crop.

From about the first century to the Age of Discovery (15-16th century), soybeans were introduced into several countries such as Japan, Indonesia, the Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Burma, Nepal and India. (The terms so-ya, soya and soy have never existed in Japanese or Chinese.)

It started coming to Hawai‘i. In 1893, a report of Japan’s Department of Agriculture and Commerce noted Exports (Class 22) include “Soy. The total value of the latest export is 41,029 yen, and chiefly exported to Hawai‘i.”

Hawai‘i Agricultural Experiment Station, Annual Report (1908) notes, “Several varieties of soy beans have been grown for use as fodder, green manuring, and human food, particularly in the Japanese product, Miso. The yields have been very encouraging.”

“About 500 tons of soy beans are annually imported from Japan, and the demand is increasing. The beans are sold in Honolulu for $3 per 100 pounds. The market can easily be supplied by home production.”

Miso, or ‘fermented soybean paste,’ is one of East Asia’s most important soyfoods. Miso is an all-purpose high-protein seasoning, which has no counterpart among Western foods or seasonings. Made from soybeans, rice or barley, and salt, its smooth or chunky texture resembles that of soft peanut butter.

A Federal Court (Judge Dole) ruling noted, “miso is a manufactured article. It is not preserved (soy) beans, as counsel for the government contends. It is made from rice and beans, and rice is the component part of chief value.”

“Miso is a new and completed commercial article, known and recognized in the trade by a specific and distinctive name other than the names of either of the materials of which it is composed.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, April 7, 1910)

At some time, someone combined the miso with the fish and the Hawaiian butterfish was born. (Lots of information here is from Soyinfo Center, Scott and Hawaii Magazine.)

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Sablefish

Soybean-USDA

Miso

October 14, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Charlie Chaplin

“You wish to write my impressions of Hilo. Very good. Here it is. I saw the volcano.” (Charlie Chaplin, Los Angeles; Volcano House Register, NPS)

“There are many charms in Hilo other than the Volcano. A maidenly diffidence forbids me suggesting the possessor of them.” (Edna Purviance, Los Angeles; Volcano House Register, NOS)

“Charlie in his honest-to-goodness self and personality today walked up the main street of Honolulu. So thousands of movie fans who have laughed themselves hoarse the antics and swagger of the jovial Charlie on the screen will have an opportunity for the next few week of occasionally bumping into that worthy the streets.”

“Charlie arrived on the Matsonia. In the Chaplin party also were Miss Eda Purviance, another well known screen star; Tom Harrington and Bob Wagner of the Saturday Evening Post staff.”

“Wagner is accompanying Charlie on his trip just for the sake of being with him and to record the personal side of the vacation.
Charlie is here primarily for rest and to see the sights of the islands.”

“His trip, at least at present, has nothing to do with the possibility of staging comic scenario the islands, though Charlie is not averse to picking up few hints that may serve him well in his business of making humanity laugh away dull care.”

“Charlie and his party were the life of the boat coming over and made things gay for the passengers, aided and abetted by R. J. Buchly of the First National bank, who as terpischore expert taught Charlie and Miss Purviance a few steps. The dancing lessons were the occasion for more merriment aboard the Matsonia.”

“Charlie visited the Young hotel this morning and called on Mr Van Loan, the movie photographer. This gave rise to the rumor that Chaplin was down here in Honolulu to take some films.”

“‘No sire!’ he replied emphatically. ‘You don’t catch me doing any work while I’m down here. I’m on vacation, and I’m going to rest.’”

“Charlie was asked what he thought of Honolulu. ‘Great,’ he exclaimed, enthusiastically: ‘I love every minute of it. I wish I could stay here longer. I’m tickled to death with the place. I was going to New York instead but, say, this has got anything I’ve seen beaten by a mile.’”

“Although the film star is minus his dinky moustache and cane, derby hat and huge shoes, he is still the same old Charlie, and could hardly get by in a crowd without being discovered. He is going to get out on a surfboard and be a regular kamaaina, he says.” (Star Bulletin, October 10, 1917)

“Charley Chaplin managed to see a good deal of Hawaii in the short week he stayed in the Islands, one reason being that while here he outfitted himself with new glasses. Pleased with his new outlook on things Hawaiian, Chaplin had his co-star Miss Purviance, also fitted with new glasses.”

“As a final result, Dr. RA Thompson has added a much prized letter of appreciation from Chaplin to the collection of other testimonials to his optician skill, letters written by former President Roosevelt, Former President Tuft, William Jennings Bryan, Elbert Hubbard, Billy Sunday and other celebrities.”

“The autographed letter from Charley Chaplin is a highly complimentary one and highly prized by its recipient. Doctor Thompson has definitely decided to make his home in Honolulu, opening an office here for the practice of his profession.” (Hawaiian Gazette, October 19, 1917)

“The famous Charlie Chaplin arrived in Honolulu October 10, and while he intended to come for a rest between custard pie throwing contests, he was kept extremely busy sightseeing.”

“Photographers camped on his trail and snapped him riding the surfboards on the beach at Waikiki, eating two-fingered poi, dancing with the hula girls and even flirting with Pele, the Goddess of Fire, on the edge of the volcano at Kilauea.”

“Charlie likes Hawaii’s style and he fain would stay a while, loafing on the sun-kissed sand, eating poi with either hand; listening to the ukulele played by Waikiki Bill Bailey; eating dog in guise of pig; practicing the hula jig.”

“But he’s got to get back home and with us may no more roam – back to make a nation smile in rare Charlie Chaplin’s way.” (Logan Republican, November 15, 1917)

Charlie & Edna Purviance in Hawaii, 1917. Charlie met Edna in a cafe in San Francisco in 1914. He said later that she was ‘more than pretty, she was beautiful’. She went on to appear in 34 films with Chaplin from 1915-1923. She is my favorite of his leading ladies.

They had a certain sweetness onscreen that Charlie didn’t have with any of his other leading ladies-in my opinion anyway. Charlie & Edna cared deeply about each other long after their romantic relationship ended and Charlie kept Edna on his payroll until her death in 1958.