The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1901-08-20


Nr from tn. editorial In this mornings
Advertiser. that outside. industries are.
a priori, doomed TO failure.
In the past the brains OF the Islands
have been devoted 10 sugar. and to on
hrprises dependent directly upon II. The
martin OF pront was D kfat that moth.
Ing 'eetter was TO be Hooked for. and II
certainly did not pan people to bother
pss s a,ssIas 1 sSsn , as;.
side enterprises ss were undertaken pre-
vious TO annexation seem not to have
been really well handled.
Conditions are now changing. As we
approach the prospec, OF eventual small
er profits in sugar, business enterprise
" turning TO other channels. How far
this change will go we cannot foresee.
That we shall reach the condition OF an
Eastern manufacturing town Is not pos
sibie That We have reached the point
whore an American farmer. can make an
independent living by raising truck for
market has no, been proved. IL IL an
open question whether the same amount
of intelligence and enterprise which has
established the quality Of the Washing
ton Navel orange In the Eastern mar
kets would not establish the Hawaiian
grange, or produce here an orange that
could be established, In the markets of
The country.
We do know, however, that we now
have an apparently successful brickyard,
and that there is a pineapple cannery
actually In operation and making money.
with the prospect of the industry de-
veloping into hundreds If not thousands
Of acres. Insignificant, comparatively,
as these items appear. they show the
trend of things, and the Advertiser
should not stand in the way OF progress
of this kind.
Yours respectfully,
A. b. C.
Tho Advertiser has never doubted the
to raise enough fruits and vegetables
to support himself and to reduce the
cost of living here. but IL objects de-
cidedly to the argument that sugar
could be abandoned with the result that
pr osperity equal to that of the present
or approx,mating one-fiftieth part Of
1t, could be had from sending fruits and
vegetables to the giutted markets Of
California, Oregon and Washington.
Our correspondent has a place at Wa
hiawa We hope and believe he will
profit by it. But If he raises fruit to
serd to California he must first pay
the cost of its transportation to Ho-
nolulu. He will then take the loading
risks which always destroy percent
age Of his consignment. Next he will
pay the' heavy steamer charges to San
Francisco and when his wares arrive
there and drayage has been paid, they
will be levied on for commissions by
agents who have him at their mercy
and are generally soulless in their
charges. We could write a lay book
Of Revelations about the hapless ex
perience OF Southern California farm
ers In trying to realize on their fruit,
honey and vegetables in the San Fran
cisco market, but 500 miles away; yes.
ana Of the ruin of fruit and vegetable
growers in the San Joaquin, not two
hundred miles from the metropolitan
center. Yet we are asked to believe
that Hawaii. 2.l0O miles from the
Coast. can sell oranges, pineapples
onions and squashes and what-not
II ere In a way to make a fortune. Why.
We can't even make money from export
bananas: and as for pineapples in
cans Captain Kidwell fought out that
question long ago and finally retired
from the field In disgust, The first OBJ
stacle ne met was a combine OF buyers
TO compel him to take $3.50 per dozen
for his superior canned goods; and
while he forced them above that price
II took a continual warfare with the
men who controlled the market to get
fair returns. AS for pineapples in their
natural state the market scored the
cultivator a loss.
Our correspondent does not gain
much by his reference to the brick
ward That Dlunt does not mako bricks
for export, but for home use. II is do
ing with its product what the small
farmer must do with his.
The hope of tropical countries is in
some great staple, produced by cheap
labor and always salable at good
price. For US that staple Is sugar.
There Is nothing to take it's place now
on the export lists and the things least
likely to do so in future are those
which are produced in abundance close
to the market we must seek. Coffee
we may do something with when Con-
gress puts tariff about 1t; the rubber
tree Is full of potentialities: the vanilla
bean grows here as n trellis plant and
might be reared into an export COM
modify on the scale OF Sc per pound.
Tobacco might be tried. Experiments
with these things would be the part of
wisdom; but to try and build up a trade
with California in products which that
State raises abundanuy or which she
can buy In a cheaper market than this
one. strikes us as a sad misuse of
energy.
WILL NOT WORK.