1926 Honolulu Advertiser Editorial

The Fourth of July In Honolulu

Source: Honolulu Advertiser. Honolulu: July 5, 1926. Editorial page.

America's greatest holiday is taken for granted in mainland communities. It comes and goes with the regularity of the seasons, just one Fourth of July after another. There are the picnic, the celebrations, the parades and the firecrackers. There are patriotic addresses, double-header baseball games and the firemen's ball.

The people always welcome the day. It is different from any other day in the year. To observe it is automatic. To not observe it is unthinkable.

In Honolulu, although an American territory, the situation is slightly different. Everything in the way of a celebration is not so automatic. We have the firecrackers and the picnics and the ball games, of course -also the patriotic addresses, and hereafter the firemen's ball. All these things have to be planned and worked out by communities-but that's as it should be.

Hence, the day becomes a red letter day as well as a holiday. It is fraught with something big that many nationalities here are only beginning to understand. A younger generation is arriving, and this generation more thoroughly appreciates the American viewpoint. We, in Honolulu, are not like our citizens on the mainland, in that they have resided all their lives in a strictly American atmosphere, whereas out here the American atmosphere necessarily had to be brought forward.

But the day is arriving when Hawaii will know no other rue, no other ideals, no other outlook, than the American version. That fact will be forcefully emphasized-in the great pageant that will wend its way along the streets. The mileposts in American and Hawaiian history will be depicted through the medium of floats. Such a celebration will be educational, as well as full of color and beauty.

Therefore, we doubt if any mainland city will overshadow Honolulu this year in enthusiasm, in detail and genuine patriotic fervor in its Fourth of July observance.