The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-06-11
OUR PUBLIC LANDS.

Amoun the ,aauaIs 1u th. sheridan.
bound fuf Manila. ana Who nave been
Interested siRhtster ib il0n0lulu ana
vicinity Tor the past two " three days.
la Congressman John = shattoth. ~
Colorado. lie is ON active member ~
the Public Lands Committee. ana dut.
ing his brief stay here has used both
his eyes and ears iu obtaining infur
nation that viii assist him IN making
an Intelligent report when he returns
60 Washington. When asked what the
result Of his Investigations had been.
Congressman Shaffoth replied
1T is hard 60 make positive state
ments regarding "A country that one
has seen so little OF as ] have ~ this.
The thing that has impressed me most
forcibly however. ! think Is the won
derful fertility Of the soil here. Never.
anywhere else. have ] seen place
where such a small area would yield
such return, with so little effort, An
other thing that has impressed me Is
the fact that special land laws will
have 10 be made for the Islands. Until
last week / had always held that the
general land laws Of the United States
should hold wherever the stars and
Stripes hpated, but since coming here,
and seeing the limited territory you
have, and all Of that not suitable for
cultivation, | am convinced that no
one should be allowed To- homestead
more than forty acres of arabic land.
While the amount seems small to one
who has been living in country where
IA man could homestead 100 acres, It is
amply sufficient here, where anything
stuck in the ground will grow. In the
states, where the land laws were orig
inally put into effect, the land, such
as 1t was would not support a man
and his family unless it was of the
amount specified. Again, we had more
land. Even now, the amount of arid
lands in the States which can be
brought under cultivation, is immense
ly larger than the whole Hawaiian
Territory. | took q ride on your rail- |
road today, and / could not but be
impressed with the fact that there is
a large fraction of your land that, so
far as ! could make out from car
window, was practically worthless. !
This will reduce the area of land suit
able for homes.
Il am a foe to the large land-holder !
He is necessity in the economy of
things, and is Indispensable in open
ing up a country, but when it comes
to settling up the same, he should not
be encouraged
The strength of country depends |
upon the number of her citizens who |
have homes. In order to provide her
subjects with these. it is absolutely |
necessary that the patton should have |
her domain at her immediate dispo-
SAL and that she should dispose of her |
territory to her citizens at the lowest |
figure she possibly can. 7 hope that
the time is not far distant when the
small land-holder will be found from
one end of your Island territory to the |
other.
'The first thing that will nave to be
done to assist the settlement of these
Islands by the small holder is to
frame laws that will be to his interest,
that will make him feel that Uncle
sam is taking an interest in him. Then,
as large holdings expire to throw them
open to settlers. All this will take
time. 1t cannot be done in a day. 1t
t matter where haste must be made
slowly Mistakes along the line OF
which / speak are fatal to the best
interests of the individual. and conse-
luently. the commonwealth.
THE higher courts have decided that
the constitution does not follow the
lag. l was dreadfully disappointed IN
that decision. ! had hoped for some
hing different. Whether the matter is
settled for once and for all, I am to-
tally unable to say. Things are NOV
ing along so prosperously that people
are not giving much time to discussing
fnespun political theories. There
seems to be a tendency just now for
the American people to put up with
what they have. SO long as it creates
no unpleasant feeling. On the other
hand there is a possibility that a vast
field of inquiry will be opened up by
his recent decision, Just as the bred
Scott opinion did. When it is decided
hat an import duty may be levied on
goods taken from the Territories of
Arizona or Oklahoma. there is little
Use to make remonstrance.
II am making the present trip in the
interest of the committee of which I
I'm a member. l shall stay in the
philippine islands some time, examin-
ng conditions, and make report of
ny investigations upon my return
home. | am surprised at the high de-
gree of civilization l have found In
our city. 1t is something wonderful,
o find away out here. n community
hat shows such signs of progress and
advancement"