Call to Conscience

Dependent peoples everywhere in the world were stirring, seeking self-government. Those under U.S. rule were no exception. Last week, Interior Secretary Julius ("Cap") Krug fanned libertarian fires across the Pacific. For Guam, Samoa and the former Japanese mandates he urged civil administration (under his own department) instead of Navy rule, as a first step toward self-government.

For Hawaii, Krug advocated the final step. In the throne room of Hawaiian kings in lolani Palace, he promised to plead with Congress to grant statehood to Hawaii. President Truman, he said, would do everything he could to obtain it. The territorial legislature had just opened with a peculiarly Polynesian contribution to democracy in action--a hula orchestra with an outsize swaying dancer (see cut).

The question of statehood for both Hawaii and Alaska would be before congressional committees for months. Meanwhile, Krug's rhetorical question would be asked again & again: "Can we, with a clear conscience, tell others how to insure freedom and self-government if we ... deny it to hundreds of thousands of our citizenry? Hawaiians want political equality ... just as much as do Texans or Californians or Vermonters."

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