The Hawaiian gazette., 1898-03-25
VIRGINIA AND HAWAII.

A comparison of the public expendi
lures of these two States is eXtremel.
suggestive. Virginia has an area o
$4,000 square miles. That is, about siI
times that of Hawaii. She has popu
lation of l ,655, 7S0, of which 635 1898 ar.
colored. The remainder, 1,020,14 are
whites. She has the finest water sys
TEN of any State. The area of her sub
marine land suitable for oyster cult
vation is over 100000 acres. Her grea
harbor, Hampton Roads, is, in its capa
city and depth of water, the finest or
the Atlantic coast. Her climate is the
medium between the extremes of the
cold of New England, and the heat OF
the Gulf States. Her resources in coal
and iron are vast. At Richmond she
has an enormous water power. The
State was one of the first that received
the English immigrants and her people
have the best English blood.
The estimated receipts of income by
the State from all sources for the two
years, 1S97-1S9S, are $5,95O,6O6.
The receipts of the Hawaiian treas
ury for 1896-1S97, were $4,164,14S.
Therefore the receipts of the Hawai-
ian treasury, (the population being
100000 are 20 per cent. of the receipts
of the treasury of Virginia population
1855, $500.
If calculated per capita, the income
of Virginia is at the rate of S1.55 per
head while that of Hawaii, counting
every nationality, is about $40 per
head.
Some allowance must of course be
made for the absence of Customs rev.
enues in Virginia
The current expense account of this
State for 1897, will be about 50 900 900
of which 81, 43O, 900 will be used to pay
interest in the State debt, leaving
about ABS, 127 for the entire expenses
of the administration.
Hawaii expended in 1897 for current
expense account the sum of 1924, 1884
That is, it cost something more to con-
duct this Government, in all depart
ments, with our 10000 people, than it
does to conduct the Government of that
grand old State, with its 1,655, $50 of
people, and upon an area six times as
large as that of Hawaii
No one, informed on the subject,
charges that there is any extravaganza
in the Administration of our Govern
ment. The difference in conditions
compels the larger expense.
State Senator Wickham, one of the
foremost men in the State, in introduce
ing the appropriation bill into the Leg
islature in February, alluded to the
condition of the people. He said they
were in state of unrest. Poverty and
scanty means were evident everywhere,
that the farmers were calling for some
alienation in their distress, and were
sinking deeper and deeper into the
slough Of despond, and it was almost
impossible to pay the taxes now levied
on property. He besought them to
bear the burden, as it would disgrace
the State to again repudiate it's debts.
Perhaps the comparison we have
made may suggest to many the bene-
fits which America has bestowed on
Hawaii and lead them to make more
earnest efforts to assimilate the social
condition of the Islands to that of the
American States.
Even if the amount of Customs rev.
enue is deducted from the income of
there still remains an enor-
nous proportional increase of income
over that of one of the Oldest, and rich
est in natural resources of the Ameri-
can States.