The Honolulu republican. [volume] (Honolulu, T.H.) 1900-1902, 1901-06-01
a DESTRUCTIVE KING.

In very able article IN the century
Magazine for May. entitled The Brok.
en- Necklace, being descriptive Of the
Lesser Antilles. Mr.. Robert T. Hill
depicts the evils Of tying up land IN
large holdings in tropical islands, and
the attending results Of absentee
landlOrdism. For years a very few
in Hawaii have advocated a home
stead Law under which settlers might
acquire small homestead holdings,
which could not be alienated until
after a term Of years. But thus far
the efforts for such a homestead Law
have been OF no avail The doctrine
OF diversified industries has been
ridiculed. and all have bowed down
before the sugar king Sugar was
king in the Lesser Antilles, and is Jet
for that matter. and under this sugar
king the islands have deteriorated
With a soil and climate capable OF
producing almost every product of the
(lA1FANH anu cE1A-tA0PASot CfCAy eAiue
was given over to sugar, until now
with the reduced prices OF the cane
product. ruin and starvation stare the
people in the face. Mr.. Hill says:
The traveller is slow TO understand
the cause OF this general decadence
Upon his first voyage, while still under
the spell of novelty AID beauty, mis-
opinions are produced ready-made
from the official classes over the Tea
cups OF their charming hospitality.
Sugar is everywhere the chief topic
OF conversation. Its cultivation has
bound the inhabitants In unbreakabie
letters. The dependence OF the Indian
Of the North American plains upon the
buffalo, or OF the Eskimo upon the
seal and walrus, is no greater than
that OF the white of the West Indies
upon sugar. The rise and fall in its
price and the methods of its extrac'
ton from the cane Immediately affect
the planter and mercantile classes
At first accepted the explanation
that the fall in the price OF sugar was
the sole cause OF the decay; later
learned OF other and more radical
evils"
And what are these more radical
evils? The very same evils that are
confronting the Territory of Hawaii
They are:
G) Large holdings of land by cor
porations. or aliens;
CD Absence of any homestead
laws by which tillers of the soil can
become land owners;
80 Absence of diversified indus
tries, and
(D The continual securing of the
world for cheap and degraded labor.
Under the first two heads the
author says:
Another curse Of these colonies is
absentee ownership OF land. One rea'
son which mother-countries advance
for colonial ownership is that colonies
offer fields for landed investment OF
capital Large areas are thus acquir'
ed to be ulled for the profit Of dis
tant owner. leaving only a small acre
age available for the numerically larg-
er native population. A plantation
which fails 20 yield its interest for g
series Of years goes back to the jungle
for want OF care.
Il has been fully demonstrated that
the provisions produced by few acre:
In the tropics will support q peasant
family, and yet the vast black popula
tion Of nearly all the islands is forced
to lie idle in towns because most O
the land. often uncultivated and neg
iected. Is tied up In the estates OF for
eign holders. The rich lands OF one O
the largest OF the islands are mostl,
In the hands of three proprietors. TIT
eight hundred inhabitants Of Barhudi
are crowded in a village an acre II
extent: law prohibits their gathering
a piece OF wreckage on the shore o
catching q fish in the adjacent waters
while the remaining broad acres. own
ed by citizen Of Edinburgh. lie idi
and untitled.
Under the third head Nr. Hill speak
OF the improved conditions in Ia
island OF Tobago since the people hav'
taken to diversified agricultural N
dustries The picture he draws o
beautiful St Christopher. where diver
sifed Industries have not been lntr,
dnced Is Characteristic OF all the rest
or this island. once the metropolis o
the Leewsrd Islands. he says:
Mount Misery is as fair rs ever
but monkeys crayl over the battle
ments Of the noble Notifications 6
it's foot. and the jungle Is creepinI
down its summit year By year. slowl.
retaining the fair fields that one
waved with cane. Sugar is virtual
the only expert. and the industry
almost dead Reduction Of labor an,
want Of employment caused great dis
tress among the blacks VINO wer
unable to obtain holdings u their oNr
and IN 1895 there were serious riot.
More miserable than the monkeys Q