The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1899-05-12

Hawaii" Yet this island OF Oahu u
.psrsely settled. its valleys are hardly
m ,f,bl,ed. and the laboring man or
small farmer can get no land. II was
saId some years ago that the time
would come when the lands about
walaiua would be occupied by small
farmer proprietors; that an ideal VII
lage would exist there. But the title
to the land Is now fin the sugar-god,
and that great stretch OF fertile plain
II in the hands OF a manager who rep
resenta corporation. many Of the
stockholders In which have never seen,
and will never see the place, and will
take no interest in Il excepting as 1t Is
dividend payer. And so all OF the
land in this island available for small
proprietors is gradually passing into
the hands Of the sugar corporations,
who will be willing to permit only a
tenancy OF the coil on condition that
It shall owe allegiance, first to the god
OF the dividend. and after that may
enjoy any desultory worship Of God
and Humanity that Is not inconvenient
TO the plantation.
Any one ought to acknowledge that
It was an error on the part OF the
Government in not compelling, for in
stance, the Eva corporation, when u
asked for leave to increase its capital
stock, without the payment Ola dollar
for 1t, to set aside a portion of its land
for the uses Of society.
The Government could wei say:
"YOu ask for a benefit; you ask us to
let you put out millions Of stock, AMI
put three millions Of dollars into your
pockets-we grant 1t on condition that
you put aside perpetually part OF
your land for the homes Of 1.-The bone
and sinew" OF Hawaii-as contribu-
ton to the police force Of the commu-
nity-for every well-settled farmer be-
comes one OF the guardians Of peace
in every>community. This may take n
trifing sum off your dividend In mon
ey, but 1t will add vastly to the assets
Of the community. It may keep your
dividends at only sixty instead Of sew
enty-fve per cent on the original in
vestment. but for this sacrifice you can
erect chapel on the plantation dedi-
Gated to "Our Lady of Sorrow" IN
which you can enter and freely lay
before the Lord your troubles arising
out Of meager dividend.
OF course, the powers of the Gov
eminent to dictate terms, in the inter-
ests of civilization, to a corporation,
are indefinite under the laws, but the
needs OF the hour required that the ef-
fort should have been made.
1t Is possible that the community
would have refused to stand behind
the Government, IL it exacted such
terms, but even with gloomy prospects
OF success, the terms should have been
demanded. Stockholders receiving
fifty per cent dividends would more
readily agree to turning five per cent
OF the cash dividends into moral
dividends than the stockholders who
are now paying prices for stock that
will yield in the long run not over ten
per cent dividends.
At best only few corporations are
willing to permit their affairs to be
Influenced by Sunday school" consid'
erations, so that a part of their lands
would be inalienably given to the goot
of the whole. The Government itself
representing all of the people, should
II 1t has the power, dictate to th'
plantations the terms on which the!
may get large advantages. On thu
other hand it may be said that tn
sugar corporations under the iron ne
cessities OF the labor situation, will b
finally compelled to do that whicl
should be done. After interests hav
become vested it will be difficult 4
make any changes, for the first loser
in the reconstruction will be those VIII
cannot afford to stand the loss.
The sugar corporations must be pro
. tected. At the same time the commu
nifty must be protected. Can 1t b
done by transferring the most Of tn
available land on this island to cor
porations, the stockholders OF whic
will be in all probability within q FEY
: years. residents OF the Pacific coast an
absentee proprietors?