The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1871-05-27

SIR:
"Tl view the manners Of the town
Peruse the Traders, gaze upon the Buildings"
s"There is an evil which I have seen under the sum-,
and it is common among "-the merchants of Homo
lulu.
I aIlude, Mr.. Editor, to the exorbitant and uncon-
scionably high prices current here for articles of
clothing, boots, shoes, haberdashery and dry goods
generally, and it is more for the purpose of deriving
some information as to the why ? and wherefore OF
this inexplicable fact, than it is to point q moral, or
to adorn a tale, that l have taken up my pen.
L will commence with the broad assertion which is,
I believe, 8 the fact and indisputable, that prices
in the branches of commerce l have referred to,
are 100 per cent. higher in Honolulu than in any
other country or amongst any other people
under the sun. | have made enquiries, and
l fail to find any just or sufficient reason why this
should be so. Rents, rates, taxes, lights, and work
ing expenses, bear no comparison in their reasonable
ness to those that are borne by the merchants in
(take for instance) the colonies of Australia and New
Zealand, and l have your own word for it-when you
and the boys at the Gazette school were throwing
stones at one another a few weeks ago upon a subject
akin to this, j. e., Smuggling, that the tariff is
a very moderate one. BY whom then is the working
man or the man of moderate means defrauded of the
dollars that should be put by for a rainy day, but
which he is now compelled, if he must keep up APP
pearances-to put on his back Is 1t that the tariff,
freight, or the impOsitions of an unjust Government
compel the merchant thus TO rate his goods L trow
not Are not the markets of the world open to
them on the same terms as others? l speak as a
fool Or does the merchant here ignore the secret
Unsuccessful trade, 'small profits and quick returns"
and by virtue of a reversal of the maxim, '' slow re-
turns and enormous profits and from the COMPARE
lively few transactions he completes contrive to
maintain luxurious and well appointed suburban
residences, and wives and lovely daughters in fasti-
dious elegance? If so, it is high time the working
men of Honolulu reused themselves to arms. L am
no agitator of the Sheffield Broadhead stamp, or of
that anti British fanatic and woman whipper. Gen.
Butler, or would raise an election cry that would
send me to the top of the poll upon this subject. le
men of Honolulu! How long will We bow down be-
fore these gods of gain? How long will ye continue
the slaves of extOrtion and greed? Rise break your
bonds asunder Down with these avaricious mon
opoliists, and Up! yes up with a Cooperative
STORE.
Therein, Mr.. Editor, lies the remedy, and had you
and the Gazette boys done what you could towards
erecting it-and by the way, you have thrown more
stones, bricks and timber at one another over the
Hotel business than would build it-and instead of
winking at q little pardonables smuggling, quarreling,
attacking the Custom House authorities, partially
condoning a m~isdemeanor, sc. &C., you had sent
your tomahawks to the root of evil, and shown by an
undertaking of the kind | have mentioned and that
by just and equitable charges aud dealings between
merchant and public the system would receive its
final quietus, and that if the merchant refuses to so
deal with the public, smuggling will be carried on in
spite of the most vigilant and Argus-eyed Customs
officials that ever breathed and blame them not
if they do occasionally let slip a parcel or two Of
g the more expensive lines of dry goods, whatever
you and the Gazette may say as to its being some
what Sc Contra bOnOs mores.': For L will declare to
you, sir, that l will forever walk in the primitive
costume of my forefathers, or envelope myself IN a
blanket, q la maori, before L will clothe myself IN
cloth or tweed at the price of purple and fine linen.
Entire nous! Here is a case in point. l was
asked not many weeks ago $40 for a pair OF boots,
similar in all respects, not one whit better, than u
pair L bought in an Australasian city some months
ago for the equivalent of four. Sir it literally
took away my breath, knocked me into a cooked hat.
l havn't got over it yet, as this letter will testify.
l wonder whether the man took me for a fool, or, a
man or a mice" L cannot tell bot L shook oil the
dust of my feet at his door and did-wha do you
think sirY lin confidence of course). Why sent oil
instanter to the self same city of Australia by one of
the steamers for a pair, in contravention of the de-
crees here enacted. | expect them by the next
steamer, and although you have let loose the dogs of
war, | will lay my old hat against your new one that
l get them in unknown to the Cerberus' that will be
lying in wait. And this is perhaps the way L shall
evade their vigilance. 1 shall charter the winning
boat at the recent regatta, board the steamer 100
miles from land, Put ON my new boots and throw my
old ones into the sea. Where is your Cerberus then !
Talk about evading the tariff, wronging the over
tasked merchant. (Heaven save the mark , ~Bah I!
Moonshine BoSh
You may think | am a little excited, Mr.. Editor.
Not at all, | am quite cool Its only my hair that
stands on end when | think of the extortion practiced.
If the cooperative store won't do, let us import a
ship load of Abrahams, Isaacs and Jacobs, or in
other words, some . old clio dealers. I'm on for
mischief. For 9 what profit hath a man of all his
hhhO dhN VI IA
hath labored under the SUM-"
1 would suggest to those whom it may concern,
that a considerable reduction might be made in the
first cost of boots, vests and panCs, by having them
constructed without pockets. There is not the
slightest necessity for them, for SO long as the pres
ent prices rule, the working man and the man OF
moderate means will never have anything to put into
them. En- pdsSant w hat is the proper definition
of the man of moderate means? My definition is,
that the man of moderate means here, " means " the
man of Independence everywhere else. Why your
81, 1000 men can't stand it.
Allow me to conclude with a " snarl " at 10y way
2 of courtesy that unmannerly dog, Wooden" who
: was scratching at your door or rather on your columns
the other week. He has. Mr.. Editor. purlOined, run
away with, or in other words 4" boned " one or two
4 of the bones L had 90 planted - to pick onietly at my
s leisure, but as he has picked them pretty clean L viii
e not do more tnan show my teeth, (Which by the way
are a dreadful bad set). But on the question OF this
= q coal ~scuttle,' , L think he goes the {" whole hog .
4 with a vengeance, and it is a pity that an otherwise
sensible brute as he is should have taken the wrong
\ SOW by the ear. If he had bitten nearer home, ht
would have been justified in stating that a whole
community was disturbed, and had overturned the
d tables of the money changers and the seats OF then
who sell vegetables, cocks, hens, and sucklng-plg'
2 at the corner of the streets on the Sabbath day, hC
would have been all there for g high" or IN many
" other points that form the rule and not the excep
I tons. myself decline to tread on this ground, fol
| do not profess to be 9 righteous over much" an
h probably " Wooden y will give vent TO a Mortified how
when [ say that L believe to do a great good he MAJ
sometimes do a little harm. / must confess, this, i
is passing strange that the steamers invariably arrive
of late on the Saturday or Sunday.
Y Let I" Anti Bigot" lead "Woden =" out into th'
I country and ruralize for the future on a Sunday
= minding that he has on a clean collar, for it would b
u a thousand pities that so well Intentional though
d i'll trained a dog should fall a victim to some owe
jealous Bobby > in his wakeful moments, an'
;. suffer death or durance vile in the coal hole.
" am Sir, your obedient servant,
Honolulu, May 22d, 1871. Res PUBLIcA.
a Word from a Puritan.
Il Mr.. EDITOR Strange What is up now? Moth
y inc. ONLY a new . has appeared. Where7 eel