When a crowd of us piled into the wireless room and asked the whys and wherefores, the poor operator gave up trying to explain why the messages were all sent at night, and settled the matter by telling us that the atmospheric conditions were better then, and that the ship was equipped with two systems, the spark and the arc, but that the arc was given the preference. The Empire State kept its apparatus tuned to the one at @Sloat Boulevard, so if any of those at home missed us, just all they had to do was to drive past that station any night, and, perhaps, at that very moment, a message was being received from us.
When we saw land, the women immediately planned a meeting to discuss what to wear and do when we arrived in @Honolulu on the following day. A.I. Esberg gave an address the evening before on the meaning of our Commercial Relationship tour and the good-will that he believed San Francisco would establish by this mission. Afterward we danced, then followed a Chinese supper. Yes, we were eating again.
No alarm clock that was ever invented smote the ears with greater animosity than did the ship's gong at 6:30 the morning we arrived at Honolulu. If it had not been for the fact that the committee was there (just outside our portholes, in yachts loaded with leis to welcome us) it would have taken even more than that disturber of the peace to arouse us, for sleep seemed the most desired thing after the Chinese dinner dance that had lasted until the wee hours.
We were all at the luncheon given to us by the Honolulu Commercial Club. @Faxton @Bishop told us of the seriousness of the labor situation and asked our aid. We all remember how eloquently our much lamented spokesman, A.F. @Morrison, answered the address and said that
@California's prosperity depended in many ways upon Hawaiian prosperity and their problems were our problems.
@Wallace R. @Farrington, Governor of the Territory of Hawaii, said that the labor situation must be solved to insure the prosperity of the islands.
We were next whizzed to the Outrigger Club, and if everyone had seen how hard @Warren @Shannon paddled to reach the crest of a wave before it broke, they would all be convinced that he was the hardest working supervisor we have.
John H. @Wilson, the mayor of Honolulu, motored our party around the island and gave us a luncheon at a hotel near one of the beaches. We will remember this day as one of our happiest.
