The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1900-11-09
Declares il 10 Bad Business "a,
Coast Johbsrs 70 Sell 70 H.
tallsrs In the L.
laAds.

lSfgf Correspondence The Reps5iicaa
NEW YORK. Oct. 2a-The New Yors
Commercial which has been printing
some Interesting stories about trade with
Hawaii. this morning has a dispatch
from San Francisco, which reads as fol-
lows:
h The articles in the Commercial the past
month relative to Hawaiian trade. and
particularly TO the selling of American
made goods in Hawaii at export prices.
have caused much comment in business
circles here The coast firms as a rule
lulu or other Hawaiian merchants. since
the islands are now United States terri
tory, but there is another branch of the
evil which is felt more here. perhaps.
| than the main issue taken up by the
Commercial. There has been a practice
with some coast firms and with still
larger number of firms in interior states
of sending their agents TO the islands
and selling goods not only at export rates
but to small dealers, and in many cases
retailers.
! Mr. Mansfield Lowell. who is at the
head of the Mansfield Lowell Co. of San
Francisco. largely engaged in export bust
ness. has been all over the islands on
horseback, visiting nearly all the smaller
towns repeatedly. and is thoroughly &C
quainted with the conditions.
There are only two OF three towns
he said that have any population TO
speak of, and these are very small places
when compared with American business
Bradstreet you will see that the
population of these towns is given
at from 40 TO 800. or in one
case 100 souls and you will also
see that there are two or three general
stores. with limited quotations or ratings.
except in such places as branches of the
few large commercial companies have
been established.
Jobbers Garry the Stores.
The few large jobbers have TO carry
the plantation store in many cases. and
the smaller dealers in almost all cases
have to wait long periods for their
pay. 1t would be manifestly I'M
fair TO trade. therefore. if Ameri-
can manufacturers were to sell these
very small concerns direct. or at
export rates. particularly when such
sales would not or could not by any pos
sible means increase the business as a
whole to the extent of single dollar in
a year.
Continuing, Mr.. Lowell says: "All |
the conditions in the islands are very pc |
cuiar. and must be carefully considered. |
the retailers in the islands and giving |
them wholesale prices is at all advanta-
geous to the producers and certainly can
not be acceptable to the jobbing houses
in the islands
There are only few towns in the
Sandwich Islands that can support a
store; the majority of the stores are more
or less owned or controlled by large i'm
porters in Honolulu. In fact they are
really plantation stores and as such are
supplied with goods by the jobbing houses
that cary them. from one crop to another.
Consumption Very Small.
There are few independent stores.
but their number. as compared with the
other kind is very small. Now if you
were to sell this small proportion of indie
pendent stores goods as cheaply as you
will sell in quantities to the importers in
Honolulu. you will demoralize the retail
prices and not increase the consumption
If goods the least fraction
People have mistaken idea as to the
consuming population of the islands. 1t
S really very small. and the business
here is much better left in the hands of
The large importing houses in Honolulu.
These houses. supplying SO many small
stores as they do. their orders are really
arge in the aggregate. but it would not
pay any manufacturer TO solicit orders
rom the small number of Independent
stores.
This is not only our opinion. but it
outlines the policy we follow in our deal
ngs with the Hawaiian Islands"