The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1897-04-29
To MAKE MONEY
Kohala Correspondent
Has More to Say.
Doesn't Pretend to Know it ALL"
Merely a Business
Proposition

cisms of my few remarks in recent
! letter, bearing on the present and fu-
| ture conditions of the Islands main
industry, especially regarding it's labor
supply, you make the sweeping asser-
| ton that most of those who do not
agree with your reasoning are either
''mercenary or selfish" creatures at
best, bent on making money regardless
of all other considerations.
do not think in this wicked, selfish
world of ours you will find many poor
philanthropists. 1t is only when they
have wooed and won dame fortune that
they can afford to be philanthropic and
generous. Now, Mr.. Editor, I do not
think you came to these Islands for
| fun, any more than your mercenary
| friend did. l frankly admit that l
came here to improve my condition in
life and to make money. And 1 fancy
your motive in coming here was the
same. You hope to make money by
your pen. And 1 hope to make 1t from
sugar. In connection with your bust
ness you adopt all the most modern in
ventions in the art of printing in order
to cheaper the cost of your production
and successfully compete with your
rivals, but you do not give pensions to
the several employees your modern
methods have thrown out of employ
ment. You only adopt these methods
to encourage applied science and with
no mercenary or selfish object in view
oh, no. You are engaged in your
business for profit, Mr.. Editor, just as
much as 1 am in mine. {
Those engaged in the sugar industry
of these Islands can point with pride
to their modern methods of cultivation
and manufacture all of which has en-
tailed immense OUTLAWS of money to &C
complish the desired results. 1 take is
sue with you when you make the state
ment that or any of the planters have
ever posed as "knOw-it-all indivld-
nails" On the contrary, in order to
make the industry the success 1t has
been, as an intelligent class of men,
they have sought the aid OF science TO
assist them in the development OF their
business, and they have readily adopt
ed theory in connection with their own
practical knowledge and experience.
Your smile of the small farmer, who
cultivates his few acres, having been
assisted by theorizers is in the main
correct, but is it not a fact that the
brainy men who have done so much
for agriculture in the United States
and Germany are professors OF the
art. attached to regular agricultural
bureaus which are supported and
maintained by their respective Govern
ments.
You call my attention to the double
rate of wages paid white labor over
that of the negro in the "vast domain
of the Southern States" Will you kind
~ further enlighten your correspon-
dent and your numerous readers from
the census which you quote as to the
particular labor the white man per-
formed. Your correspondent spent a
short time some years ago investigat-
ing the sugar industry, especially re-
garding labor, and the wages paid for
the same And he did not at that time
see any white men employed as labor
ers. The proprietor of the plantation
(whose guest he was). in fact, informed
him that in connection with ordinary
field work they could not afford to en-
ploy white labor but that all positions
OF trust and responsibility were filled
by white men.
Your quotation from Louisiana
sugar planters experience and COM
parison Of cost Of production between
the Southern States and the Straits
settlement may be the case at the pres
ent day, but it was not so a few years
ago. Then sugar was raised cheaper
than in any other part of the world :
and though they have cheap labor
costing a little more than SIS per
month, however, they also have
brainy men there. too.
But the altered conditions of the
Straits settlement and adjacent islands
are not difficult to answer. They used
TO find ready market for their prod
net in India. but the bounty-fed sugare
Of Europe, even that same sugar pro-
duced from the beet, which is so much
''richer in its saccharine content" than
the natural sugar cane. and which has
made the sugar cane planter "stand
aghast with awe" at the wonderful rev
citation of science. 1t will truly require
much sharper pointed needle than
your statement, Mr. Editor to pune
ture his brain, so that he can under
stand it ALL
It is news, indeed. TO me that anv
one ever Sneered at the profitable pro-
auction or sugar from the sugar beet
in the United States, with a higher
priced labor than obtains in the pro-
duction of sugar from the sugar cane
It is, however. a well-known fact that
if the price of sugar should drop to a
certain figure, viz: s45 per ton, there
would be no margin of profit in the
production Of the sugar beet and more
than in the production of the sugar
cane. Let us hope that the sugar-beet
industry in the United States NAV be
TO the sugar industry generally a bless
ing in disguise. as it may be the indi-
rect means of curtailing the European
production and eventually the aboli-
ton Of the pernicious bounty system
(Which is the root of all the eviD
Then. when the sugar industry again
becomes a sure stable one. the dream
of the great theOrizer NAV. perhaps
be realized, and these fair Isles become
Il F,,I