The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-15
SUICIDE FOR HEALTH.


! FL pmphr:ys interest for reasons which
ne I'd no Characterization here. Enough
| to say hat the argument derives ne
support from the Southern instance ci-
| tel, for unlike the South, which: slowly
/ recovered from the effects of the email
citation of the slaves because II had
| a large white population attached TO
the soft and was possessed of export and
| m8nuf acturing resources, Hawaii is
purely an agricultural land, the sole
marketable export croI' Of which-or the
only che worthy of the pame-is sugar.
Take sugar out and we could not ms he
living from what is left. 1t is USE
! less &c yalk of oranges in competition
with California Taking oranges to he
Coas. woulu be carrying Goals so New
castle. and even if there was market
the rnore oranges We raised the lower
/ the price would be. AS for pineapples
no country ever got rich from raising
them ana none ever viii. 1t takes very
few pines plies indeed to glut the mar
ket and there are times in San Fran
cisco and New York when the fruit
works of slowly at five cents a head.
AS for our banana export trade, 1t is
growing smaller owing to the competi-
ticn of other points Coffee is drug
on the market Oar sole useful re-
tIiance, therefore. is sugar; and if we
ever lose that staple Hawaii will cease
to be of commercial Importance.
II is absurd to say that if the sugar
fplantations were abandoned they would
be cut uE into small farms by white
men. Such people have something pet
ter to do III the world than to compete
u ~
VI itfl Asia tics in raising fruit and gar
de-; truck on a Pacific island IN tbe
South after the war the white men
who owned the land had TO go I'd Wofk
to save themselves. They were on the
ground aad had to stay. Here thefe
are few hite men indeed who. Il sugar
went into a decline, would be Obliged,
through the ownership of arabic land,
to remain and work it. Those VINO
lease their holdings would sub-iet 10
Asiatics and those who own then
would dc the same thing. the Aslatic
being willing to pay more for farm
land in small parcels than the white
man. In the final analysis we should
have an Asiatic Hawaii where the yell
low man earned his living as he did al
home Very likely he. would try,
through some cooperative method, TO
revive the sugar industry. for otherwise
the Chinese and japanese farmers, with
nothing IN particular TO export. would
become like the community described
by Sydney Smith where the people
earned precarious livelihood by TAX
ing in each others washing.
There could be no just comparison
between the South after the war and
Hawaii in the event of the destruction
of the sugar industry In the South the
planters had as much cheap labor after
the war as before. II cost no more to
pay the negro free laborer-nlostly III
store 0rders-than it had to keep him
as q slave. What mainly saved the
South was the reyivificat ton of its old
industry; but here the Humphreys
economists. pretending to cite the eX-
ample of tie South, propose To save and
better Hawaii by the destruction OF
that industry.
The fairest comparison for a sugar
less Hawaii would be Jamaica. When
the sugar Industry went to pieces there
the phrase "a Jamaican fortune which
had been a synonym of great wealth,
became meaningless. Attempts were
made 20 r"ach through diversified IN
dustry, some of the old opulence but
they all failed. No tropical country
ever thriyed without a chief staple in
dustry, supported and carried on by
cheap lanOr; and Jamaica is but one Of
many instances in point. The sole aim
of the people of that dependency ever
since theiI sugar business succumbed
TO the labor laws of England has been
to find soIne means to rehabilitate it.
Annexation to the United States, or at
least d reciprocity treaty afforiing free
access To the American market is
cause with which ali Jamaican land
''niz"ra are now Identified 1ey have
10 hope Of the white farmer. the small
proprietor He has been sought and not
found Like the men in the Arabian
tale vino cried Open wheat" Open
barley" in vain attempt 10 ;inlocil
the doors Of the magic treasure house,
the people Of Jamaica found rhac they
could not enter the house of riches I'M
It'll they had said Open sesame" And
that meant sugar
To propose ehe destruction of Ha-
waits sugar trade squares the circle of
ignorance and folly No man who in
tended to stay here and make his liv-
ing would think of such a thing, much
less suggest 1t as a measure of public
relief AS we'll call it wisdom to destroy
a ship, engaged in a profitable trade.
so that the crew and passengers could
each get bit of floating wreckage to
go trading on by himself.
-%
There is saving clause in the In
I6pnpn6ant'c