none of the territory of Hawaii should be leased or disposed of to any other power, and that none of the privileges granted by the treaty should be conferred upon any other nation. With this clause added, the treaty was regarded as insuring the ultimate acquisition of the islands by the United States, and it was ratified by the Senate and went into operation in 1876.
This treaty is justly regarded as one of the most important events in Hawaiian history. Its final result was to bring about annexation. Its immediate effect was to create a great revival in commerce and the native industries. Though sugar cultivation had commenced twenty years before when the demand for it arose in California, it had not been possible to compete in the United States markets with the slave-grown sugar of other countries. The free introduction of Hawaiian sugar under the treaty gave a strong impetus to its cultivation, as also to that of rice. The total value of exports in a few years was increased more than sixfold, a corresponding increase resulted in the revenues of the government, and the wealth of the country was greatly multiplied.
As a consequence, public and private enterprises were stimulated, and an unexampled era of prosperity followed. Government buildings and other improvements of public utility were constructed; railroads and telegraph lines put in operation; expensive systems of irrigation were installed; many artesian wells were sunk for sugar cultivation; and new schools, hospitals, and churches were erected—all as the direct result of the reciprocity treaty.
