The Hawaiian gazette., 1902-12-16
MARKETING PUBLIC LANDS.

The Territory is now In the way al
getting white homesteaders. II IL start
ing out on the right track. 1t proposes
TO advertise its landed possessions as
they have not been advertised before
using the island press and perhaps some
mainland papers as descriptive me-
diums. Hitherto the general public has
known very little indeed ABOUT the
quantity. quality and geographical posi-
ton of our public lands, and there was
a genuine wave of surprise when the
Advertiser announced, two or three
wears ago that there were 10000 acres
Of such property on the island OF oahu
alone Hereafter the light VIII be
turned on. and the public Will know
precisely what there is available. We
miss a fair guess If the policy, If thor
oughly carried out, Will not bring on
rush of the very best class of settlers.
II is true, as Commissioner BOYD
points out, that we have no big tracts
to offer as in the case OF Oklahoma
but Hawaii has this advantage over
Oklahoma that a living can be made on
small tracts Twenty acres here VIII
go further than 100 acres there. True
much Of the land is rocky. but MT.
Buchholtz has shown what such lana
can be made to yield. Sisal Is hne
crop for the poorest soil; chickens can
be grown on rocky land and where eggs
are five cents apiece and broilers seven
ty-fiye cents. chicken raising is pretty
fair thing. 50 is turkey-raising. Hog
ranches are immensely profitable; so
are the duck ranches. which will soon
be driven from the suburbs of the city.
Back IN central New York cabbages are
now quoted at $1.75 per ton; here they
sell at ten cents n pound and upwards
and the high lands produce them to the
Queens taste. Even castor beans,
which grow like weeds any where
produce crops which sell locally for $50
a ton. Coffee only awaits bounty or
q favorable tariff and the vanilla bean
has immense possibilities. The wooded
country might be made to produce GIN
seng. Pineapple openings are attrac-
tive and the man who will raise an i'm
proved grade of bananas can sell them
at a surprising figure. There is plenty
of public land in Hawaii suitable for
some one or two of these products ana
the Advertiser feels sure that If it is
put on the market in the right way II
will be quickly taken up by an indus
trious class OF people. why not?
A Federal official, in answer TO a
question put by the Advertiser yester-
day, said he thought the available pub
lie lands ought TO be given away in
small tracts to applicants who would,
as "a means of obtaining title, live on
them for FIVE years and make certain
prescribed improvements. He thought
that settlers would come here in crowds
to get free farms, and the Advertiser,
knowing how such things go on the
mainland and how general is the desire
TO get away from the cold northern
winters into some tropical country un-
der the American flag, quite agrees
with him. The returns to the Terri
torial Government would be found in a
vast increase. after five years, of tax
able property and in the steadying in
fuence of a larger white vote; while
the benefit to the people would be seen
from the start in an increased demand
for the articles Of trade which white
settlers require. Better far better, "A
hundred small farms given free than
one immense tract turned over to a cat
tie raiser at a nominal rental. The big
cattle ranches kept California from
getting ahead in population for a period
of twenty-five years.
But methods are things of detail; the
main thing Is to put up the land in
some reasonable way and give the
American farmer a chance ut it, This
is what is coming and in it is bles-
sing for Hawaii which cannot be over
estimated.