The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-12-11

AtitiNiEIiA.

must not be astOnished that the land
fails to give the exuberant returns
which you had no reason to expect The
land of New England gave a chance for
the small farmer. 1t was a very pitt
fui chance and the farmer and his chill
dren lived hard and scraped here ten
cents there a quarter, and on rare oc-
casions a dollar, until their farms be-
came valuable because there were cities
to supply, and then the simplicity of
the New England farm life was gone,
and the farms gradually came under
syndicates, who take or refuse the pro-
duce. The Independent farmer is either
such a moss grown shell back that he
does not recognize his limitation or
he has ceased to exist.
In the Presidents message there is
a passage referring to our lands, and
a recommendation that they should be
cut up into small farms, where each
sturdy farmer should live upon his own
little section of land, raise his family
and wonder what on earth they will
do when they are grown up. The small
farm will only support the farmer and
his wife and the children for limited
time. When the children grow up what
will they do. Horace Greedy used to
urge Go West young man" But the
unfortunate young men and young
women of Hawaii's farming class would
not be able to go very much further
west. They would have to cross over
into the East and see if there was room
for them in the Philippines.
That these Islands and their govern
ment have been habitually misrepre-
scented on their land question is un-
deniable. The much cursed mission
ary' in the days of his power, did his
best to supply every native of the soil
with a homestead, or Kuleana. Unfor-
tunately the Kuleana was not inalien-
able and was very promptly sold when
there was a rise in the price of land.
There is a piece of land on this island
Were there are not less than forty odd
Kuleanas or homesteads, and not more
than three are occupied by anyone,
owners or tenants. The absentee own
ers are waiting for the land market to
rise when they will be delighted to sell,
and spend the proceeds in a glorious
and paralyzing luau. The love of local
ity so strong in some races is certainly
absent from those who own these Ku-
leanas, and is shared by many others
Governor Dole, equally cursed with
the original missionaries who believed
that the key of the situation lay in Civ
ing every man a piece of land to live
on, and get his living from, framed
years ago a land act. One of the pro-
visions Of this act was to give 999 year
leases which We're absolutely inalien-
able. Once acquired, and they We're
practically given away to the children
of the soil, they We're in possession of
the family for an indefinite period of
time. People in 999 years will probably
have learned how to make every one
happy. But joking aside the idea was
to protect men against themselves, just
as the law of entail strove to do it, and
came up against a fence the pooling
of interests in France on large estates,
which beats the law but is unsatisfac-
tory, and similar efforts in our own
happy country. The inalienable lease
could not be given away. There may
have been one or two taken up, but if
they We're it was by mistake, or the
work of some far sighted beach comber
who believed that he ought to provide
for his family to the utmost genera
ton The beach-comber is often not so
bad as he is painted, but he is bad
enough.
1t comes to ones mind that President
Roosevelt, and a great many of Presi-
dent Rooseveltls friends own estates in
the west These estates are of enor-
nous proportions We do not hear that
the President proposes to cut up his
estate to make into homesteads. More
over there are great wheat estates in
the West, millions upon millions of
acres either owned by single owners or
by great syndicates, the capital for
which comes from every country in
Europe, and We do not hear a word
about cutting up these places into small
farms for the small farmer
Why? Because the land is being
used to the best advantage as it is
Some land can be used by the small
AdllilclB anu SoIile cannot HOW muCn
money could a small farmer earn on
President Roosevelt's ranch if he start
ed in the heart Of it, supposing he had
good land and water. He might make
bare living, but what besides? The
Western men have learned the secret
that big land under one management
will make big returns. Our own sugar
MI
We have had an era of small planta-
tons, most Of which were only barely
wage earning, we have had an era Of
large plantations and found them pro-
fitable. Now comes the idea that what
is profitable must be given up, and
what is Improbable is to be fostered.
Cuba may have thousands of acres
around her plantations, and may en-
ploy the cheapest of labor, Hawaii is
10 have only. garden Mats nDpn which