The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-11-11
fooD AND The PRICE OF WAGES

In these prosperous, but perlIous
days of Hawaii, the fact tAat the price
Of food must to large extent regu-
late the price OF wages seems toI
go unnoticed. The people of these
Islands every year are becoming more
dependent upon imported foods, both
from the East and the West. We i'm
port meats, vegetables, fruit, groceries,
flour, grain and hay On Une whole, it
is safe to say, that we import more
food for man and beast, in proportion
To the people, than Great Britain does
In fact, we are now entirely dependent.
Great Britain is also dependent largely
on imported food, and her prosperity
is undoubted.
Prince KrOpOtkin in that remark
able book, Fields, Factories and
Workshops" to which attention was
called the other day, discusses this
dependent condition Of Great Britain
and declares that in the end it viii
place the wage earners Of that country
at a disadvantage. He shows by reli-
from their own soil the food needed
by the entire population, but that they
unwisely rely upon importatiOns. AS
industrial expansion continues, and
each nation, through a distribution OF
industrial machinery and the use OF
educated labor, supplies it own needs
of manufactured goods, the COMPETE
ton for foreign trade will increase
and the profits be reduced The Amer
leans have largely reduced the iron
trade OF England, and, in due time
under the superintendent of American
brains, the Chinese, with their vast re-
sources Of iron and coal. will reduce
the American trade in iron. Other pro-
ducts will be subject to the same con-
dHions. Kropotkin claims that i'm
ported foods must cost, by reason OF
freight, handling and commissions,
more than the foods produced a. home
Therefore, in the coming competition,
the community which supplies its own
foods will be able to fix the rate Of
wages below the rate prevailing in
communities which import their foods.
This factor in the cost Of manufac-
tured goods has only or late become
important, because it is only of late
that the industrial expansion has taken
place.
If his proposition is correct, the
economic condition of Hawaii is not
satisfactory. The cost Of food is high.
The price of meat is rising. With
scientific cultivation one bullock TO the
acre may be raised. The ratio here is
not known, but it is at least ten acres
to the bullock. While hay and grain
may be cheaply raised on the uplands.
they are hardly produced at all. Fish
rs simply a luxury, which is beyond the
reach of those with moderate wages or
incomes.
The moment Federal laws are applied
which restrict Asiatic immigration, the
resident laborers, discovering their
power to control the labor market, will
agitate for the increase Of wages in
order to live" if for no other reason.
The day has passed when We can say
to these laborers, IF you will not &C
cept the wages we offer you, you can
leave" Labor will soon be King here,
ing and fixing the rate Of wages, the
cost of living will be an important
factor DISCONTINUED laborers are a
standing menace to law and order.
As the time gradually approaches
when the United States will produce
a surplus of sugar. and be forced into
the markets of the world in competi-
tion with the sugars Of the West In
dies, Russia, Germany, Africa and Aus,
trsllia, it IS not the scientific produc-
the cost OF producing it here, but th'
cost of feeding and satisfying the
aaborers. The enormous growth of the
manufacturing interests of Philadei
phia, is largely due to the cheapnes:
of land and homes of the working
classes as we'll as the low price Of food
During the many commercial depres
sions which have caused so much dis
.ress throughout the land, Philadel
plaia has suffered the least, because o
her opportunities to furnish her work
ing people with food and houses at tn
lowest rates.
It is not the duty OF the government
: TO consider these questions, unless tn
community impose it upon them.
is the high and, indeed, solemn dut
S,ft no int al 10 tal- hoe
perplexing questions that confront III
and deal with them earnestly, ser
ously and effectively