The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-05-28
THE Annexation Of CUBA
ALREADY BEGUN ON
THE ISLAND.
Hawaii, Porto Rico and Philippines
Will Get Her Market If She Does not
Enter the Union.

WASHINGTON, May 1.-The indus
trial interests of Cuba are beginning to
perceive that their only salvation is in
the annexation of their island to the
United Staes. They have learned of
the efforts of the Secretary of Agricul-
ture to improve the condition VI the
planters of Porto Rico, Hawaii and the
Philippine Islands, and realize that
competition from those islands is likely
to prove disastrous to Cuba In the mar
kets of the United States unless her
planters can be admitted IN the same
| terms.
The United States is the only :rarket
| for Cuban products, and IL is absolu-
| tely necessary to the proSp srlry of he
Cubans. The grave danger to which
| they are exposed by the devclopniCnt IF
| the Agricultural industrie IS Of the OtI er
| islands is now serious tcplc of dis
cussion in the Cuban press. ''itle of the
! leading newspapers of Havana rJils at
! tention to the impending danger.
Without the use of ships or soldiers,
and with only a few thousand dollars,
| it says, the Department of Agricul-
| ture at Washington will establish over
us a terrible embargo, the consequence
| of which will be our enslavement to
restitution. Secretary Wilson intends
| that Porto Rico and Hawaii shall fur
! nish those articles which his nation
| now buys from us, in order that the
/ money now expended in foreign coun-
tries may remain within the territory
! of the United States. Secretary Wilson
is establishing experiment stations in
Porto Rico and Hawaii to instruct the
! people what to produce from the SOIL
how to do it Under lis direction
! Porto Rico will produce the coffee need
ed in the United States and large guam
titles of pineapples, oranges, bananas,
cocoanuts, vegetables and fruits which
now come from CuDa and the West
| Indies
ITO what market will we send the
fruits which are now actually the life
of some of the Cuban districts? Porto
Rico produces everything that Cuba
produces, and it belongs 10 them With
that island, Florida and California, the
markets of the United States will have
no need of us. The same development
and improvement in the cultivation of
cane will take place in our sister isl
and that is going on in the Pacific ISL
ands in order that only the smallest
possible quantity of sugar may have to
be purchased from other countries.
1.-THE Secretary of Agriculture nc
poses to encourage cattle raising and
the making of butter, cheese and other
dairy products in both possessions. As
if this somber picture vas not enough,
the pacification of the Philippines is
advancing, the rich soil of which is to
be a terrible enemy of Cuba.
1T is not then in the ministry of war
but in the ministry of agriculture where
the real danger to us exists. We are
grossly in error when we think that be-
cause we were once sovereign we viii
be able to ignore the American mar
ket"
This writer has accurately defined
the intentions of the Agricultural De-
partment. Secretary Wilson, not salts
fled with the advancement of the agri-
cultural interests of the United States
which has marked his four years In Of
flee, is aiming to make the country in
dependent of Cuba by developing the
tropical resources of our new islands.
The remarkable success which has at
tended his efforts to promote the eX-
port of agricultural products is eX-
pected to be repeated in Porto Rico,
Hawaii and the Philippines, and the
Cuban planters have accurately esti-
mated the danger that threatens them
from competition and their only means
of escape Is annexation.
Secretary Wilson has an idea that
within the limits of our new possessions
we ought to produce everything we
neeu except the fancy goods that peo-
pie will insist upon buying in Europe.
This is going to be a serious question
when the annexation of Cuba is pro-
posed, as it certainly will be sooner or
later The beet sugar manufacturers
nave already invested $21 ZOO, 900 in
plants in the United States and are in
creasing the amount rapidly. The
planters of Louisiana have a much
larger sum involved and produce 240,-
600 tons of sugar year from cane, or
about one-third as much as we i'm
port from Cuba. For the protection of
these two interests Congress has plac-
ed tariff on sugar amounting to as
much as the cost of producing 1t in
cuba, because the growers in this
country can not compete with the plan
tiers of that island. To admit Cuban
sugar free, they claim, would be their
ruin, because it costs at least two cents
a pound more to produce 1t in this
country, but If Cuba is annexed to the
United States, either as a territory or a
state, the tariff will have to be remoY-