The Hawaiian gazette., 1901-12-13

be taken. THE conditions here" he
continued, ARE so different from those
which exist in the other parts of the
United States that a commission Of eX-
perts should be sent here to look into
the lands and the conditions which sur
round them, and we would then know
that Congress would have the case be-
fore it with knowledge Of what are the
relations OF the various holdings Of
land. It Is not n new thing to have
the question of small farming come
up. We have heard this before and al
ways the people here have been ready
to take their stand for the bringing in
of the farmers. But there has ever been
n failure. AS 1t is there are none but
Orientals and Portuguese as n rule who
have anything to show for their work
upon farms.
THE great interest upon which the
islands depends is sugar. The wealth
for all classes comes from this bust
ness, and blow at II would be felt by
every resident of the Territory. The
time may come when the small farmer
would be a success here, but past ex-
periments have not shown that there Is
much to be hoped from the cultivation
of small plats. I believe that 1t would
be impossible tor one who has never
seen the islands but who has become ia
miliar only with conditions in the tenn
pera.e climates to thoroughly estimate
the conditions here. and for that rea-
son I would favor a scientific commits
sion before any action is taken"
Mr.. ]. a. McCandless said that he vas
of opinion that there would be a thor
ough investigation Of local conditions
before there was any action by Con-
gress. and he did not interpret the par
agraph of the Presidents message as
Indicating that complete adaptation
of the land laws would be advisable. He
said that there had been so many eX-
perments of small farmers that .he
question could be considered now with
out any feeling at ALL He thought that
the fact that there had been such great
success attending the cultivation of SUI
gar should weigh before there was any
attempt to make it impossible to carry
on the system.
Mr.. Faxon Bishop OF Brewer e. Co.
said he was OF opinion that more ex-
pert information would be sought be-
fore there was any alteration Of the
laws which govern the lands and that
the Congress would surely secure as a
preliminary to taking any action at all.
Mr.. ]. F. Brown, formerly Commits
sloner OF Public Lands, said that he
was in accord with much that was In
the message of the President. Speak
Ing Of the matter he continued. The
ends which the President wishes to see
accomplished are those which we havs
striven for here. All OF the land laws
under which the domain Is now admin
istered are founded upon the one iiea
Of making an opening for settlers who
will found homes. The difficulty Is that
the people in the East do not under
stand Just what conditions exist here.
The Hawaiians are not farmer, upon a
large scale and the only people here
who now make a good revenue from
farming are the Japanese ard Chinese.
There may be a farming population in
the future. but 1t does not seem posi-
BILE that this can be effected verv soon.
II is most desirable and would be just
what we have worked and hoped for
here for many years. The application Of
the present system of the United States
however. will have to be made with
many variations, and l believe there
= must be thorough Investigation Of the
lands before there can be ANY legisla-
tiOn."