Samoa, he declared, should be free of debt within a
year. Had he given it three years, and gone more gently, I believe it
might have been accomplished. To make it the more possible, he sought to
interdict the natives from buying cotton stuffs and to oblige them to
dress (at least for the time) in their own tapa. He laid the beginnings
of a royal territorial army. The first draft was in his hands drilling.
But it was not so much on drill that he depended; it was his hope to
kindle in these men an _esprit de corps_, which should weaken the old
local jealousies and bonds, and found a central or national party in the
islands. Looking far before, and with a wisdom beyond that of many
merchants, he had condemned the single dependence placed on copra for the
national livelihood. His recruits, even as they drilled, were taught to
plant cacao. Each, his term of active service finished, should return to
his own land and plant and cultivate a stipulated area. Thus, as the
young men continued to pass through the army, habits of discipline and
industry, a central sentiment, the principles of the new culture, and
actual gardens of cacao, should be concurrently spread over the face of
the islands.
Tamasese received, including his household expenses, 1960 dollars a year;
Brandeis, 2400.
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