The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-13
MARKETING PUBLIC LANDS.

The Territory is now in the way of
getting white homesteaders. 1t is start
ing out on the right track. 1t proposes
to advertise its landed possessions as
thew have not been advertised before,
lusing the island press and perhaps some
mainland papers as descriptive me
: diuns. Hitherto the general public has
known very little indeed about the
lauantity, quality and geographical posi-
ton of our public lands, and there was
I a genuine wave of surprise when the
i Advertiser announced, two or three
! wears ago. that there were 10000 acres
of such property on the island OF Oahu
clone Hereafter the light will be
turned on. and the public Will know
precisely what there is available we
miss 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
70 offer as in the case of Oklahoma
but Hawaii has this advantage over
|
oklahoma that 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 Mr..
Buchholtz has shown what such land
can be made to yield Sisal is a fine
crop for the poorest soil; chickens can
be grown on rocky land and where eggs
are five cents apiece and broilers seven !
fair thing. So 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 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 a bounty or
a 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 and !
the Advertiser feels sure that if it is :
put on the market in the right way it
will be quickly taken up by an indus
-rious class of people. Why not? ]
A Federal official, in answer to
Question put by the Advertiser yester-
lay, said he thought the available pub
ic lands ought to be given away in
small tracts to applicants who would,
as means of obtaining title, live on {
them for five years and make certain {
prescribed improvements. He thought
that settlers would come here in crowds
20 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 I'M
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 6
huence of a larger white vote; while !
the benefit to the people would be seen
from the start in an increased demand J
for the articles of trade which white 3
settlers require. Better, far better, a S
hundred small farms given free than
one immense tract turned over to a cat :
tie raiser at nominal rental The big +
cattle ranches kept California from {
getting ahead in popula ton for a period c
of twenty-five years
But methods are things of detail: the +
main thing is to put up the land in c
some reasonable way and give the
American farmer a chance at it. This
is what is coming and in it is a bles-
sing for Hawaii which cannot be over ]
estimated.