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This colonization of the islands consumed Ford, and, as noted earlier, he worked relentlessly to promote white settlement. By 1908, a year after his arrival on O‘ahu, Ford had been appointed secretary of the Transportation Committee by the territorial governor, Walter F. Frear. It was a wise choice, as Ford would in no time be recognized as Hawai‘i’s greatest booster. As secretary of the committee, he was charged with traveling to the mainland to advance the Pacific territory’s interests. His views of his mission, as well as the fervor with which he embraced them, were made abundantly clear during his journeys. Writing to Frear in January 1909, Ford displayed no ambiguity about the future he envisioned for the islands. “We used to send train loads of people out to look at lands in the good old days & established some very successful colonies,” he noted from Chicago in excitedly reporting the Homeseekers Association’s interest in Hawai‘i.98 Why should the twentieth century be any different?