The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1876-10-14
THE PACIFIC
Commercial AOaertlser
SATURDAY. OCTOBER II
TO FHE SUGAR PLANTERS,
Aud Others, ConIectrd with the Sugar In-

~ wa AG A[N@AA 1891 $3.50 N0~ -
Sugar RcfBeries had secured, by contract, two
thirds Of the Sugar product Of the Islands. for 1877,
It was very apparent that intense indignation was
excited By this basty, and iDpolitic action
The Senator's AID Representatives in Congress,
from this coast, who lsborei, with untiring zeal
and devotion, to procure the passage OF the Dill 10
carry the Reciprocity Treaty into operation, can Out
feel exceedingly c~hagrined 70 learn that n measure
which they expected would be a benefit 10 the whole
people Of the Pacific slope, its traders IN, snd COM
sumers Of, sugars, was, after all, as was charged By
/ its opponents, an Act icr the beneht OF the CaliioTnia
Sugar Refneries :!
And the hot haste in making these contracts with
the Refneries, the moment that the law was passed,
seems to confirm this charge.
The Hawaiian Sugar interest could not have COM
mitted g more suicidal act and they may rest
assured, that if the Treaty can be saved from
abrogation, it Will require a harder fought battle 10
do il than il did to get the bill through congress, 10
put it into operation.
The Hawaiian planters have been resting in a
false security if they supposed that the law, passed
by Congress, confirms the Treaty for seven years.
THIS LAW CAN BE REPEALED AT ANY TINE, re-
curing only a majority vote o. the two houses OF
Congress. 1t is precisely like any other law OF
Congress. The Treaty, it is true, would remain,
but It would be a dead letter, Us it has been for a
year and q half, until another law could be got
through Congress to make it operative. Nor is there
wanting a precedent for such action. The sympathy
of England with the Southern rebellion in our late
I civil war, caused n repeal By Congress, early in the
year. of the law which made the Canadian Treaty
operative.
1t is not to be supposed that the Government of
the United States will move 10 this matter. but this
act Of the Hawaiian planters has put q weapon into
the hands Of the New York Sugar Reiners, which
they may WELD successfully in the destruction of the
Treaty. The New York Sugar Refners sold to the
people Of the Pacific Slope, in 1875, about seven
millions pounds of sugar, mostly soft yellow, and
this year, so far, about the same quantity. This
trade had its inception, in 1875, in the deficiency of
the usual supply of Hawaiian grocery grades Of
sugars, the planters having debased their sugars by
mixing and selling, for the Refneries here, a large
portion Of their product that year, amounting at
least to two-thirds of the crop. This year, so far,
including that known to be an transitu, the Re-
fineries have received $1,000 packages, and the
general trade q goo, in round numbers
The New York, and other Eastern Sugar Re-
fneries, have had n rugged path to travel, the last
two years. At least one-half of them have failed,
and some large fortunes have been sunk. The
survivors are reaching out in all directions for trade.
They pressed their suit most vigorously against the
Treaty law, on the ground that it was to give the
San Francisco Reineries an undue advantage over
them. The Eastern States paid, last year, in round
York City paid $4,000 900.
When the Treaty was confirmed in the Senate in
1875, the San Francisco Sugar Refneries bitterly
opposed its confirmation by influence and money,
expanding $4,000 for kilograms alone, and securing
n large and influential class Of merchants of this
city against it. This opposition was regarded by
the Senate as that of a private interest against a
measure Of public Importance, and the opposition
was, probably, favorable to the success OF the
measure. At that time, neither the New York sugar
interest, nor the southern planters, made any
serious opposition to the Treaty, and it was con-
frmed by more than three-fourths of the Senator's
present.
The withdrawal of the opposition of the San
Francisco Sugar Refneries to the passage of the
recent law, was, evidently, secured by the contract
made by q prominent house in Honolulu, early in
the year, to sell them a large proportion of the pro-
ducts of the Islands, in the shape of refining grades.
But this change Of base, of the Refineries, to real or
supposed friends of the Treaty, came near being
fatal 10 tho ona nf tho lauy Tho Rnprasapta.
tive, in the House, from this city, opposed it az a
measure designed, not for the general good of the
Pacific Coast, but for q private interest. This con-
tract with the San Francisco Sugar Reineries, was
also known to the New York Sugar Refneries. and
it aroused their fierce opposition, in which the i'm
porting sugar interest Joined, their rallylng cry
being, that the San Francisco Sugar Refineries were
really the only California parties to be b~enehtted,
which was nearly ell true, and they arc now receiv-
ing, free. of duty, a part of the sugar made under
that contract.
These New York Sugar Refners also raised an
unfounded alarm in the South, and aroused the
sugar and rice producers to join them in the oppo-
sition, which they did by sending prominent men
from Louisiana and South Carolina to argue the
case before the committees Of Congress.
To counterfeit all these effects against the treaty,
and get the law through the two houses, several
persons here, long connected with the island trade,
made extraordinary efforts, and their personal infu-
ence was brought to bear to secure signatures of
great weight with Congress, to kilograms forwarded
at a momentous crisis. The representative from our
city was nerce In his Opp0SltlOn 10 the treaty, anu
much labor was expended here to bring political
party influence to bear upon his course of action.
He required that the Chamber of Commerce of this
city, and its Board of Supervisors, should pass reso-
lutions favorable to the treaty, II his vote was
expected for it.
The Chamber of Commerce had once taken action
on the treaty, and voted to postpone, indefinitely
resolution introduced favorable to the passage of the
law, to make it operative.
To get the Chamber of Commerce to reverse its
action, and pass resolutions in favor of the treaty,
was accomplished, after much anxious labor, and by
bringing important personal influence to bear.
There were many enemies to the treaty in the
Chamber Of Commerce, embracing commission mer-
chants, who had sugar interests in connection with
other OIsE0c countries ri ia and grocery me s = who vi, Were were
These kept kindly away from the meetings, as a
friendly act to their brother merchants, who were
working for the treaty. in an important crisis of its
fate. 1t was natural for these hard working friends
of the treaty to suppose that their labors would not
go unrewarded. But it seems that Monarchies as
well as d" Republics are ungrateful."
The same bitter feeling which was exhibited
against the treaty becoming a law, still exists,
against its continuance. Agitation against 1t is
kept up through the press of the Eastern States, the
law has been reported unconstitutional, and sugars
from other countries are claimed to be exempt from
duty, under the IS favored nation clause in treaties.
The object Of all this is to manufacture public opin-
ion against the treaty. And when these parties
besiege Congress to repeal this law, can the Hawai-
ian planters expect the commission houses of this
city, and the great number of grocery merchants on
the Pacific Coast,-who under the treaty expected to
share in the trade in these sugars,-to fight their
battles for them again ? How slight must be their
interest in the continuance of this treaty, if nearly
or quite all, as the refneries intend-of the whole
sugar product is to go to one interest.
The course of the planters, in these contracts, has
made for them one new friend for the treaty,-WhoseI
influence at Washington will be utterly valueless,
indeed prejudicial-while they have lost hundreds
of old friends.
That these statements may not seem as idle tales,
II NAV he necessary IN give tho fDlloNiu0 facts Tho
Hawaiian sugars, from an expectation in 1856, of
only q half million pounds. have gradually risen to
% 900 900 pounds in 1875. The product has grown
with the growth Of population on this coast, in the
last iEentu Enars Onr nnnnla have hacnnna ncnns=