The Hawaiian gazette., 1897-04-13
ARGUMENTS MADE
Why the Reciprocity
Treaty Should Continue.
The Situation as Viewed Through
Other Eyes-a San Fran
cisco Plea.


advances the following argument in
support Of the reciprocity treaty:
The report of the Hon. S. NJ. Damon,
the Hawaiian Minister Of Finance,
published in our last issue, has no
doubt been read with interest by those
of our commercial and financial circles
engaged in the trade between the coast
and the Islands. Following upon the
subject. il may be well 10 analyZe the
points that those who favor the abro-
CATION Of the treaty have made in their
arguments.
From the data that has been learned
upon the question. the contentious
used are so speciOus and utterly at va
rance with the actual state of affairs,
in connection with the operations Of
the reciprocity treaty as 10 excite at
tention and prove that those who favor
the abrogation have either been will
fully misled by persons supplying the
information. or that they could not
have consulted statistics bearing upon
the subject.
They claim that when the treaty
was first adopted the carrying trade
was encouraged and many American
bottoms engaged in it. At present the.
great proportion Of the Hawaiian sugar
crop is carried direct to New York by
sailing vessels built in England, and
in many cases by vessels flying the
English flag, though recently a num-
Der have been given Hawaiian regis
ters This. the opponents of the re
ciprocity treaty assert, gives TO the
trust all the advantage of free sugar,
inasmuch as the Hawaiian crop fig
ures as an item in the raw supply"
1t will require very little effort on
our part TO show how utterly absurd,
and how far from the truth, are these
statements
Since the reciprocity treaty with Ha
waii was put in force some twenty
years ago, the sums invested in sugar
and coffee plantations. in banks. water
and electric light works, and a number
of other commercial enterprises in the
Islands. amount TO many millions of
dollars, and these sums have been in
vested in the main by citizens of the
State of California.
THE CARRYING FLEET.
The building of vessels suitable for
the traffic between the Islands and the
Pacific coast has progressed as the
trade expanded. until today We find
as fine a feet of ships of their class
as are owned by any nation in the
world. Had it not been for the exist
ence of the Reciprocity treaty these
vessels would not have been afioat. and
the moneys earned by shipwrights and
builders for their construction would
have been diverted into other chan
nels far less productive, and body of
men now employed as sailors on these
vessels would have been obliged TO
seek employment elsewhere.
The natural laws that govern all
commercial matters have caused the
carriage of a large quantity of sugar
produced on the Islands to Atlantic
ports during the past year or two. II
rs stated that this sugar has been car
ried in vessels built in England car
rying the British flag, and also upon
vessels under the Hawaiian ensign.
During the past season at least 80 per
cent of the vessels that took sugar
from the Islands to Atlantic ports were
son eight American ships and three
foreign ships are loaded and loading
One Of these ships is owned by resi-
dents of the Islands, but flies the Ger
man flag, the others being British.
II Is perfectly true that number of
vessels are built in England and other
European countries and sail under the
Hawaiian flag. but perhaps it is not
known that fifteen-sixteenths of these
vessels are owned by citizens of the
United States. They were obliged to
invest their money in these ships and
place them under the Hawaiian flag
because these very same opponents of
the treaty. and their friends. would not
allow vessels TO be built in foreign
yards. for those Americans who did
not wish to be made to pay double the
cost of construction in the ship yards
of this country. and who rather than
place these vessels under the flag OF
some small Central American republic
chose that of nation allied to this
country by the closest ties and rela-
tions.
The product of these Islands. first
rate sugar, produced by the investment
Of capital supplied By citizens of the
United States. is transported TO At
lantie ports upon American owned YES
sells when available, sold to American
citizens for the purpose of refining
enters into competition with the mil.
lions of tons of beet sugar dumped
into the United States from German
and French factories. but in no wist
competes with the cane sugar produced
in the Southern States of the Union
and these offenses constitute reason:
why, in the opinion of the opponent:
of the reciprocity treaty. the sam'
should be abrogated.
Considering the point that the con
tinuance of the treaty will be inimica
TO the beet sugar interest of the Unite,
States, il is well known that the re
fineries of beet sugars are at the pres
ent time in course of erection at Sa
linas. in Los Angeles county. and il
both Western and Eastern States, es
tablishments that will cost many mil
lions of dollars. and if the owners o
these large refineries had the leas
fear that the Hawaiian sugar would in
terfere with their business, it is yer,
safe 10 assert that the expenditur
would never have been made.
The stern and well known fact i
that even If there was a large increas
of beet sugar factories in the Unitet
States producing sugar, and the Ha
waiian Islands produced a greater out