The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-02-27
HhNA||'S
PROBLEM
Public Lands and
How to Use
Them.
B. F. DILLINGHAM;
GIVES HIS VIEW
Exhaustive Opinion is Furnished
to Pres. Roosevelt Upon His
Request for Information.
Ii AWAITS land problem is being
studied by President Roosevelt.

studied by President Roosevelt,
and without hunting opinions
with acclaim he has been able to Sc
cure many views upon what is deemed
necessary by the leading men of the
Territory.
While n Washington early in the
winter MIR. b. F. Dillingham; was asked
1y the President to furnish an opinion
upon the necessities in the way of land
legislation and the status of the land
question here. This swas ya task of
moment, and in preparat1on for it Mr..
Dillingham; secured many opinions, and
finally sent to Washington complete
summary of the situation. Although it
is opposed in some points to the Presl-
dents policy, as outlined in his mes
sage, it was well received at the
White House, and has been used in
consideration of the subject by Presi-
dent Roosevelt. The letter follows:
San Francisco January IL, 1902.
To the Honorable Theodore Roosevelt,
President of the United States, Wash
ington, d. c.:
Ny Dear Sir:-I count ii a high honor
to have been requested by you at our
interview last fall to express my views
upon the condition of matters at Hawaii.
At that time, Ii was my expectation TO
proceed at once to Hawaii; but on reach
ing San Francisco, found business Ee-
manding my attention, and 1 have been
kept here ever since. As soon as real
lied the delay that might occur, wrote
to several OF my Hawaiian friends, and
this letter is the result of their replies
to me, in part, but mostly of my own OBJ
servations, made during a continuous
residence of SO years at Hawaii. My
views are those of a business man, as,
during my whole residence i have been
actively engaged in business pursuits,
both commercial and Industrial.
When I went to Hawaii in 1860 an
American sailor. the government was
monarchial in form. 1 saw this give way
to the Republic, and later have seen
that Republic merged into the United
States.
As an American theorist I should :e-
joice TO see American territory every
where and titled only by Americans or
by those who in time might become such.
But theories vanish in practical expert
ence. and just as aliens are permitted to
hold real estate I'm the various States of
the United States, so the menial labor
throughout our country Is iarEe'y per-
formed by foreigners. The growth and
DEVELOPMENT of the country have beer
such as to bring about this condition.
Hawaii has not been behind, during my
residence there, in this growth and de-
velopment.
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
HawaiPs main product for many years
has been, ald now IS. sugar. Rice and |
ands. but are produced n only moderate |
quantities.
The location of the Islands. the fertility |
of the soil "a decompOscd Laval, the skill !
shown in irrisating the growing cane al /
Just the proper time, and the use OF !
fertilizers calculated to supply TO the |
soil the exact nutriment needed for the |
growth OF the cane. have enabled planta- !
tions TO produce fabulous yields OF cane:
and by the. use of the most improved ma
l. reavN~ n L
ages of juice have been extracted from
the cane. and remarkable results achieV-
ed
These results have naturally turned the
OF everyone at the Islands 10
the cultivation of sugar.
Hence arose the necessity for more ana
more laborers, not skilled labor alone
but unskilled labor for planting. Guilt
waiting. irrigatinS, stripping and loading
the cane.
Sufficient help could not be found
among the native Hawaiians, and the
problem arose. where TO turn for help.
Attention was first drawn to the Por-
tuguese OF the Azores. who came In num-
pers so that there are now some 5000 at
the Islands. They constitute the best ,
and most competent class of laborers;
are moral, honest, Industrious, home-lov-
ng people. and are almost the only class
If foreigners who are not transitory-
rhey are not however. void of ambition,
md many of them with the money ac-
.umulated on the plantations have gone S
nto the dairy and other businesses, and {
rave left their places to be filled.
The Italian peasant has come in small /
r numbers and has proven a fair wage /;
.arner, but only that 1t was not pos
ibIe to induce other nationaiities TO come
n any quantity. Various reasons were
.iven. but the most common one was |
he remoteness of Hawaii from their !
ormer homes s
In this emergency attention was drawn 7
o China and Japan and the demand tenn
orarfIy met by immigration from those
Ountr!eS-
Up 10 the time of annexation. laborers
Or1ing to Hawaii had their passage palo. %
lothirS and necessaries provided for the -
rim. and a contract OF employment was q
ntered into with them for short term :
years So well satisfied were most or :
hem that at the termination OF their b
ortract they were usually ready to en- o
age for another term