The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1860-04-19
Hard Times and rhe Whaling Fleet.

Hard Times and rhe Whaling Fleet.
There are some who are always croaking.
always predicting hard times and general stag
nation in business. To such there is no bright
side to the picture of life-the future is always
cloudy, and portentous only of trouble. Heed
less Of their arguments, We have ever sought to
present the fairest view Of passing events, as well
as Of prospects ahead, that the data at our com
mand will allow but if we arrive ~ any different
conclusion now, It Is not because we resort to any
other mode Of reasoning, nor because we assign
any different results to certain causes. There are
changes going on continually in every commu-
nifty and nation, and by watching them, and
comparing the present with the past. we can
generally determine their future operation. Leg
i%slation on commerce and finance always has its
influence, immediate or prospective, on the trade
and commercial interests of 4 people.
Important changes have been made in our
fiscal laws during the past twelve months. and it
would be idle to suppose that such laws will
carry with them no results. The principal
changes made in the Civil Code are these:
Licenses increased generally % per cent.
stamps increased In number 70 about double what they for
buicz o. foreign imports doubled or changed from ; to 10
per cent?.
Direct taxes on real and personal property ! Of one per cent.
shipped.
Besides these. there are a few other changes.
Every branch of industry and trade, excepting
the liquor traffic, Is thus subjected to increased
taxation. Importers and retail merchants have
now TO submit to an increase in license fees Of p
per cent. The import tax on their goods is
doubled, as they come from the ship. On their
shelves they are taxed again. or if turned into
coin. that. too. is taxed. The store that they
occupy, the houses they live in, the beds they
sleep on, the tools that mechanics work with-all
are taxed under the new law. The cost Of doing
business Of every kind here Is then largely in
creased under the new regime.
Not only is the operation Of the New Code TO
be severely felt in our internal industrial pursuits,
but our foreign trade must feel the blow. While
almost every nation is seeking to deyelope the
principles of free frodc, opening its ports 70 the
free traffic OF the world, the Hawaiian nation is
unfortunately. in It's new tariff and general fiscal
regulations, marking out an opposite course, de-
yeloping a restrictive policy, erecting gates before
its ports and driving away the commerce which,
under a more liberal policy, would he invited
hither. Such will be the operation Of the new
tariff, and its concurrent regulations, which even
now are beginning To deve!ore their effects.
Shame on us that we, the youngest Of the nations
Of the earth, should follow the old exploded poll
icy which the tyrannical empires of Europe are
seeking to break up. and begin t. fetter our com
meree by laws which they are striving TO abolish.
This new tariff will not be without important
effects on the whaling fleet. Largely as it has
decreased during the past year, we are des-
tined TO see it still further reduced in numbers.
1t is singularly unfortunate that the operation Of
the new law should take place just at this time,
when the prospects Of the whaling business are
So poor. Every whaler that comes here hereafter
must submit to this burdensome tariff Of ten per
cent. But it may be asked how? Do we not let
them import goods 10 the value of 5000 free ef
Yes, we do but what of that? We csti-
mated last fall that the whalers dsbursed here on
an average 1000 per ship, Il considerable por-
ton of which, perhaps one-half, Is for supplies,
mostly Imported goods, on which they are charged
their ten per cent. duty, if they buy them. Does
it make no difference in the long run whether a
ship pays Indirectly of course) 800 or 5000
tax to the government on the supplies which she
buys here? No intelligent person will say that it
does not. Is not this change then going TO have
an Injurious effect? Can we eXtort an increased
Of $40, 900 or SIS 900 per annum from the
whaling feet, and no result arise from it? 1t is
preposterous to imagine that the whalers, which
have been in the habit for fifteen years Of coming
to obtain supplies under 4 five per cent.
duty, will quietly yield to this ten per cent. duty.
when, by going to san Francisco, they can OBJ
their supplies without any tax at all on those
We wish to point this out clearly. y
.hip comes here and buys foyeign goods, say, on an
lveragc, $4,000. Under the old five per cent.
ariff she pays the government Indirectly Il tax
# 800 on that amount. Under the new tariff.
We are going 10 demand from her 5000! BY
going 10 san Francisco she obtains the
foods cor $1,000, suPposing the prices to be the
anne, as they are at present on most supplies.
are our ministers aware of what they are
they have already done?
This matter of the whalers going TO San Fran
isrr. after the now tariff takes effect. l. no idl"