The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1902-12-30
AND
THE HOMESTEADS
LOOKS TO DEVELOPMENT OF
OTHER PRODUCTS THAN CANE
TO MAKE HAWAII PROSPEROUS.

T. Thomas Fortune special commits
soner of labor to the Philippines and
Hawaii, and who has been investigating
labor conditions on Oahu under the
tutelage of j. Gilman of Castle and
Cooke for the past two weeks, leaves
today for Hilo returning on Sunday,
He Will remain here until he has as
sCmbled his facts in readiness for a re-
port. At present he has not arrived
at any conclusions as to the Hawaiian
LAT or problem as related to cane. He
believes however that the final solution
lays in the, taking up of other Industries
well fitted to thrive in this climate. He
is particularly looking into the lands
available for homestead properties
with thought to their productiveness in
other fields besides those of cane pro-
duction.
Il have been quite busy for the past
few days" said Mr. Fortune, "inves;,-
eating conditions on this island and
| have been very fortunate in securing
| AIR. Gilman as a guide. 1 have not YET
| completed my Investigations here as
wish to visit two of the large oahu
! plantations before l start in to sum
up my conclusions. Have l any solu-
| ton of the problem to advance" l
! nave none at present and do not know
| whether l shall be able to suggest one.
1 nave got a lot of material together
| and today We are going in search of
] more, which has got to be carefully di
| gested before 1 can begin to ge5 near
| t. any conclusions.
| There is no doubt as to the local Opt
Mon. There is but one and that is
that Oriental labor is needsl l, Chinese
preferred. Everything is dominant to
| cine at present, even the hack drivers
| talk sugar to G. as | drive and the
paramount idea is how to get sugar
| planting back to the old time basis
| when every body, according to all ac-
counts, carried round a hundred r. so
| in his pocket just for change to rattle.
How this is going to be accomplished
is hard matter.
THE Oriental, and especially the Chi
naman is living on the edge of things.
! He sleeps on a mat, he wears clothes
| that cost less for a year than most
mems monthly laundry bill, his food
! bill for a year would be covered by a
white mans grocery account for a
month. He smokes no expensive cigars
! buys no twenty-five cent drinks, en-
tertains no friends and has got the
white man, who spends half his in
! come and clothes, entirely out of the
| race as regards labor competition. With
| the Japanese this is not entirely so. He
! has a disposition to dress up and be a
! bit of an American dude, which costs
| money.
''The white man, realizing this has
! placed a prohibitiVe tariff, so to speak,
! against this competitive labor. Now
the territory of Hawaii wants to re-
| move it to a. certain extent and be-
! lieves it the only solution to the welfare
! of the country. The question remains
as to whether you will get it. 1 don't
think you will.
\ AT present 1 am looking largely into
the lands which are open for home
stealing and the likelihood of their
producing other crops besides sugar.
While sugar is course the chief strong
hold of Hawaii's prosperity, l am in
clined to believe that others things have
| been overlooked which if cultivated
1 would in time BRING to the islands as
much prosperity as sugar, as big pro-
fits and no uncertain dependence upon
a supply of field hands.
Take your higher levels. Coffee
ought to grow there in excellent shape
and yield big profits. Where coffee
grows vanilla grows. Then there is
rubber, cacao, and many other products
which must be grown in a semi tropical
cline and which bring big returns.
"One thing you want l think and that
is high prohibitive tariff on Japanese
! rice. l know that it is higher now
than the native product and that the
japanese will import it and eat it in
preference to that grown and milled
here. Make the tariff high enough and
they will eat the native rice.
after l get back from Hilo and get
! my report together 1 am going on to
the Philippines. The reports l hear
! from there are not very encouraging
. and it seems doubtful whether I shall
! be able to cover much of the country
: with the cholera and quarantine ar
J rangementA Still l must do the best
. can. 1 hear they want Chinese la
Dor over there too