The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-02-14

also. cut worms and insect pests make
diversified farming Improbable. a man :
land may be worth ten or even a hundred
times q : much for sugar as ii Is for any
other use TO which it can be put. The
owner may be substantially deprived OF
nearly all of its salable value unless the
plantation can buy it, or use or control
it as a part Of its enterprise.
1t is certainly true that the thousand
acre clause cannot deprive individual
owners of the entire value of their lands
for sugar purposes. Land values as
surely tend 10 find their level as water
does and if direct channels are closed,
cirCuitous ones. to some extent, bring
about the same results. As long as Indl-
vidual purchasers of sugar lands can
lease them to corporations, or can make
contracts for water and certain services,
and raise cane themselves, they can and
will pay substantial portion Of what
the fee would be worth TO the corpora
ton. Nevertheless, the right TO sell di-
rectly to the only purchasers that can
make full use of the lands is a substan-
tiaI factor of their values.
A large portion of the Territory of Ha-
wall is devoted to grazing lands. and
is worthless for any other purpose. Three
or four acres of good tarO land will sup
port a family as comfortably 5 Will an
average quarter section in the Western
States. A thousand acres, like a great
part of the grazing lands of this Terri
tOry-wild gorges. barren rocks. and the
desOIation of lava flows, interspersed
with patches of vegeta tion-win not yield
the owner the income OF a plantation la
borer. On such land il requires the area
OF a medium sized farm for every bull
lock carried. While this may not be ma
terial u the constitutionaity or uncOn-
of the thousand acre clause,
it illustrates the inequality of its opera
ton upon Hawaiian lands, which may be
high at a nickel an acre, or cheap at a
dollars an acre.
QUESTIONS OF LAW.
Assuming that the foregoing statement
Of facts is judiciaIly taken notice Of, or is
admitted to be true, or is substantially
proved. it leads 10 the following ques
tons:
/ Does the word person as used in
the Fifth Amendment include corpora I
tons?
,. Is corporate right or privilege to ,
acquire real estate obtained prior to Oc- .
ober 24th, 1890, when there was no linn
tation in regard to area and was no
statutory provision that corporate powers
should be subject TO future legislative
,hanses-is such right or privilege
property of which the (artifciaD per-
on cannot be deprived without due proc
- of law?
). Is the right or privilege of individ-
lal land owners to sell their lands di-
ectly for the uses that constitute their
hief value property" of which they
annot be deprived without due process
f law? =
I. If the answers to the three preced-
lg questions, irrespective of the fourth,
ilould be in the affirmative. they lead
0 the fourth namely, does large corpor-
te ownership of real estate in the Ha-
'aiian Islands amount to such a public ;
erI as TO justify application Of the ;
laxim: The public safety is the SUI !
RENE law?' Does it, for example, come
-ithin the principle OF decisions sustain /
lg laws prohibiting the manufacture of
DirituOus liquors, even where the result {
a substantial destruction of the value
distilleries lawfully erected prior to
Ich legislation? In other words. is the ;
lousand acre clause within the police :
over OF Congress?
Some of the above questions cannot be s
answered off-hand. It may be that 5
rong lawyers, after patient and thor :
Ugh study, Will reach opposite concIu- :
ons as to whether the thousand acre I
ause. applied TO conditions here, con-
cts with the Fifth Amendment to the
institution Of the United States. 1 think 2
e Territorial government, until a court y
competent Jurisdiction holds other :
Ise should act on the presumption that
does not, and that 1t applies to the
II extent which Congress evidently in
nded. In case of a sale of public land,
think no bid should be accepted from a
rporation owning a thousand acres.
| have the honor to be- sir. with great
spect,
Your obedient servant.
(Signed) f. P. DOLE
Attorney General