XII
THE SAMOAN COMPLICATION
A review of the diplomatic relations of the United States in the Pacific Ocean would hardly be complete without some reference to the Samoan Islands, although their situation south of the equator places them in great measure beyond the sphere of American activity in that ocean. Besides, their recent history brings into prominence the policy of the United States respecting the native governments of the groups of islands in Polynesia, and furnishes an example of the effects of an alliance or joint engagement with other powers.
The first permanent intercourse of the inhabitants of the Samoan group with foreigners was with missionaries. A few years after the establishment of the American missions in Hawaii, the London Missionary Society—an organization which has done much useful work in Polynesia—sent missionaries to Samoa, and they have continued to labor there with considerable success up to the present time. The general testimony is that their influence on the inhabitants has been salutary. Mr. Tripp, the United States commissioner sent in 1899 to investigate the condition of affairs, reported to the Secretary of State that "these people are far from being savages. They are splendid specimens of physical manhood, and all are well informed about matters
