The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1900-05-26

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AS to the climate, the very fact that
Ia 600 Portuguese are now employed there
indicates that it is adapted to me Wrote
races The immigration of the Italians
and Portuguese can be encoura.s I'd tnsre
rather than the immigration OF Aslatlcs.
The Italians and Portuguese in our West
ern country constitute a very val liable
part of our community. They are soon
assimilated. Their children are e1.ic3ted
in our schools and become familiar with
and attached to our institutions. ihen,
again, the climate is adapted - our ne
groes, who are now citizens of the United
States, entitled to political rights and
then the overcrowded condition OF t'orto
Rico offers an opportunity for the cad
ual transfer of thousands of people r'ho
are accustomed to climate almost iden-
teal with that of Hawaii, and who have
been trained in the very industries rur.
sued in Hawaii. But the migration OF
the inhabitants of Porto Rico ard the
whites and the negro population of the
South and of the Italians and Portuguese
can not be promoted if the large holdings
of land are to be continued.
1t is perhaps, essential that these large
holdings should be permitted for the p,r-
pose of development, that is to say, 1t
may be a wise thing to permit corpor-
alton to hold a large tract of land with
IA view to its development by irrigation
works and the construction OF a sugar
/ factory and the construction of a r, lWdy
/ system for transportation, but when this
| is accomplished the policy of the State
| should be to compel the partiti0Iing If
| this area INTO convenient lraL =, Win
water rights attached; the watt rworhS,
| the sugar factory, and the railroad to he
charged with a public use and their rates
| regulated by law, either through COM
| missioner or the courts. Such enterprises
are today conducted all through the aci,!
| West and in California. Large areas of
/ land are taken up, irrigation works con-
structed, and when completed the land:,
are divided into small tracts of from 20
! to 40 acres, with water rights attached,
and the land sold to small holders whose
| rights to the water are protected by law.
/ Such a system could be inaugurated in
! Hawaii, but it must be compulsory, for
! the profits of sugar production are so
! large there as TO appeal to the seltiShness
! of monopolies and trusts.
The question is, how can this be done
without violently wrenching the business
as now conducted? No one, of course,
wishes to accomplish reform at the eX-
pense of a temporary industrial readjust-
| ment which will bring distress or loss to
| that community, and it is for this reason
! that ! have urged throughout, IN the con-
| sideration of this bill. amendments which
| would call the attention both of the gov
erning body in Hawaii and the governing
! body here to the desired reforms, and
which would result in the collection of
| accurate statistical information that
would be a guide to future action both
there and here. / have been as anxious
that the intelligent thought of Hawaii
should be stimulated to action upon this
matter as well as our own, for the rea-
son that | fear when this organic act is
passed our attention will be so much alb
so1bed in other questions of domestic and
foreign relations that the Hawaiian
Islands viii drift from our consideration
and | wish to plant the seed of an agita-
ton there which will make itself felt in
local legislation. and. if necessary, in such
a movement viii compel attention "a
the Capitol of the nation.
The tendency of human nature is to APP
ply remedial legislation rather than to
engage in preventive legislation Whilst
Legislation q vet
Incidence prompts us to wait till abuses
cry aloud for remedy. we are all more
likely to take this view as to the questions
how under consideration because we have
never yet ourselves experienced the evils
of land monopoly. We have here a pop
ulation of 100000 people in a country
capable of sustaining 10000 900. There
has been as yet no congestion of popula-
ton. Land has been the one thing OF
which we have had a superabundance
out this is not true of Hawaii, Porto Rico
or Luzon, and history tells that the
Capitalization of land ownership has beer
the fruitful cause of most disastrous wars
anG prolonged and violent agitationS We
can rest assured that all the disturbances
which history accredits to system of LAND
monopoly will be felt in Porto Rico, Ha.
wall, and Luzon when the advantages OF
our extended markets advance the value
of the sugar lands in those islands to a
point where they will arouse the greed
Of the trusts and syndicates. History
teaches us that unless restrained by law
these great monopolies will accommodate
tn, mselves to any system of degraded
labor which will advance the profits OF
the land
Turning for moment from this genera
view of the subject, l wish to state thai
the amendments which l have Offered
were prepared upon the floor of the House
whilst the bill was under consideration
| do not claim that they as perfect as
they might be. l have had no time to &c
into the details of this question. absorbed
as / have been by the questions which
been ia
Committee, of which L am a member
but my purpose has been to insert in this
bill certain amendments which can be
made the basis of thoughtful considera.
ton by the ConfereeS of the Senate and
the House when this bill goes before them
and which can be there shaped in more
scientific terms.
Now what the amendments which
L have offered both successful and un.
SucCessful9
First. In that provision of the organic
act of Hawaii which provides for the or
ganization of corporations by the legisla.
ture of Hawaii. / offered an amendment
that no corporation. domestic or foreign
sht uld in the future acquire and hold rea
estate in excess of 1000 acres That
amendment was carried. I do not pre-.
tend that that amendment will reach the
entire difficulty to which | have alluded
Ii VIII, however, go to the conferees and
opportunity be given to shape il in such
a way as will gradually and progressively
diminish the evils of land monopoly. Fol-
Vldlng that corporations could acquire
larger areas than 900 acres, and could
develop irrigation works upon them con.
struct factory, and build a railroad but
that when the entire enterprise was com.
pleted they should sell the lands so ac-
CURED in small holdings at the rate OF
not less than one-twentieth or one-tentt
OF the total every year; the factory the
| irrigation works, and the railroad being
held and retained by the corporation OF
It's asSlgnees as a public use, with charges
regulated by law. so that the ownership
or TINS public use could not be used in
such a way as to Cypress the land and
transfer its value to the owners of the
public use. They might also compel the
gradual division and sale of existing hold
ings, or, If the conferees were indisposed
to map out any definite system they
could provide the appointment of a com
mission whose duty it would be to INQUIRE
INTO the condition of land holdings in IA.
wall and to report to Congress a method
for gradually rectifying it's abuses
Another amendment which offered was
one defining the duties of the SURVEYOR
general OF Hawaii and providing that he
shC uld report annually to the Department
OF Labor of the United States and to the
| governor of Hawaii and the Legislature
the owners of all holdings not less than
loo acres in extent, by whom owned. the
character of the cultivation the number
i OF laborers employed on each holding
thns,- 49,