The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-01-01

later; coffee cultivation needed cheap
labor, and labor went steadily up, Will
the price went down
Heavily mortgaged for expenses that
proved greater than anticipated work
ing without stint. and under all sorts
of discouragements, the coffee planter
sold out, when he could do so, to the
sugar plantation
COFFEE UNPROFITABLE AT
PRESENT.
The writer having sought for in
formation at first hand from those con-
nected with the coffee business in Ha-
wall, knows of no one who would rec
ommend that business to any one but
his enemy except in a few favored
localities unless there is a radical rise
in price; as to other products more
favorable story can at present be told.
transportation is difficult and eXpen-
sfye The market in Hawaii is limited
and very easily over-stocked. We can
not compete with California in citrus
other fruits, and apparently in none OF
the staple articles that to large
amounts are steadily imported. The
writer knows personally men of intel
Iigence and energy who have worked
indefatigably to demonstrate the pos
sibilities of small farming in Hawaii.
Their experience is not a consoling one.
Since the first lines of this article
were writtel, the question was put to
an intelligent American farmer who
took up public lands not far removed
from Honolulu. the center of trade and
consumption. and who had the advan-
tage of experience and capital-can the
HomeSteader prosper in Hawaii? His
answer was unhesitating that he could
not. unless favored by some special and
orally apply, and this statement is di-
rectly in line with the writer's ObServa-
tons
What then. under these conditions,
has been the result from the Land Act
of 1895?
Thousands of acres to which the title
had been perfected, were sold for the
cultivation of sugar, the one vital in
dustry of the country. considerable
amount of the land taken up still re-
mains in the possession of the original
applicants, but no new field of industry
has been opened up, and it is doubtful
whether the occupiers Except perhaps
the Portuguese and for the reasons pre-
viously stated are enabled to make
their whole living and from the oc-
cupied land. By means of employment
in the vicinity. they may be able to hold
their lands and make their homes upon
Them but this is not the fundamental
idea of a Homestead proposition.
A MEASURE OF SUCCESS.
Here it is worth while to note that
the efforts at Homestead settlement
have only had measure of success
where they have been made in close
proximity to the sugar plantations or
towns Isolated tracts have proved un-
conditional failures.
This is not a very cheerful picture of
results-considering the honest effort
made for so long a period, to establish
small landed proprietors, and yet many
good results have come.
Lands that had lain for generations
wholly unproducttve were opened up,
roads were built and homes established,
and in spite of the discouraging num-
Der of those who sold out their hold
ings as soon as they could do so, the
number of small land holders was in
creased, and even the holdings that
were sold became in other hands part of
the productive area of the country.
The results of the 1895 Land Act were
not all that had been hoped for, but
nevertheless were good
LEASES OF PUBLIC LANDS ADVO-
GATED.
This article would be incomplete with
out a reference to the leases permit
ted under Hawaiian land laws and in
regard to which much misrepresenta-
ton is made.
The old method of leasing great tracts
for long periods and for inconsiderable
rents without auction sale, conspicuous
in the old leases of Crown lands has
nothing to be said in it's favor. except
perhaps by some favored lessee. But
such leases are of years ago. The