eprosy attacks the fingers and they fall off, and some
natural instinct prompts the victim to hide his hands; but as my
speech was translated to them, in the excitement they would forget
and throw out their hands and applaud. It was a hideous sight and
I most fervently wish never to see the like of it again.

For our expenses one hundred thousand dollars had been appropriated.
I am not one of those who believe in lavish expenditures of public
money by commissions. While I was willing as chairman of the
commission to permit travelling expenses and the reasonable
necessaries and probably the luxuries of life while abroad, yet I
differed with my colleague, Senator Morgan, and insisted that no
money should be spent for entertaining. Out of the hundred thousand
dollars we spent something like fifteen thousand; and Senator
Morgan, Mr. Hitt, and I agreed that it would not be lawful or right
for us to accept any compensation for our services as members of
the commission. Something like eight-five thousand dollars reverted
to the Treasury.

We returned and made our report to Congress, and the bill which we
recommended was enacted. I do not think the present form of
government of Hawaii will be changed for many years to come. I
have regretted exceedingly that, despite the repeated recommendations
of Presidents McKinley and Roosevelt, Congress has not seen fit to
make an appropriation to improve the harbor and fortify the islands.
It is true they afford us a coaling station in the middle of the
Pacific, but that is all. Should hostilities break out in the Far
East, our country being a party, it would be almost impossible for
us to defend them, and they would become easy prey to foreign
aggression. I hope that this policy will change in the near future,
and that Pearl Harbor will be improved and the islands fortified.

The important events of the first McKinley Administration were the
enactment of the Dingley Tariff, the successful conclusion of the
war with Spain, the ratification of the Treaty of Peace, the
independence of Cuba, and the acquisition of Porto Rico, the
Philippines, and the Island of Guam; the establishment of the gold
standard by law, and the annexation of the Hawaiian Islands.

At the close of the Administration no one questioned that the
country was in a more prosperous condition than it ever had been
before, and that McKinley was probably the most popular President
that ever occupied the White House