Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1902-09-19
Money In Hawaii,
Ss! 9 Batehelder,
Is Well Invested

Hilo, Sept 1S.-Geo. A. Batchelder,
San Francisco manager for L. II. Rol.
lin & Sons OF Boston, and superintend.
ent Of the Oakland electric railway
system. who is touring the Islands in
search OF good investments, is pleas.
I'd with Hawaii as a field for this pur.
pose. Mr.. Batchelder was interviewed
by Tribune man at the Peacock Mon.
day evening. He spoke frankly and
openly regarding his impressions OF
the Islands and gave clear.cut ideas
Of what he considered necessary for
their continued prosperity.
You are trying to do a Wholesale
business on retailers capital" said
he. "All you need to make a complete
success is the aid Of outside capital.
You have undertaken to do too much
with merely home capital. have look
cd over some OF your greatest plan.
tations and investigated some of your
biggest enterprises. They gre In
splendid physical condition and show
that they were projected by master
minds. The planning was well done.
The managerial skill in developing
these plans has been Of the highest
order.
But you have not been able to bring
into this expansion enough local CAPT.
tai to bring these later ventures to
complete development without the In.
ovitable stringency in local financial
circles. There is going on here the
same transformation that has reyolu.
tionized business enterprise else.
where. You are passing from the era
Of small business and big margins to
the modern era of large business and
small margins. General prosperity
may be as good under the latter con.
ditions as under the former. But Il
takes more capital to run things under
the new order.
in my travels through your Island
! have seen nothing that should make
1t difficult to secure outside capital.
Hitherto business and political condi.
lions have been unsettled In Hawaii.
ss~bN NS"NAeioho oiS pabbiuB
sequent stability will follow. From
what ! see in Hawaii you are the best
sugar raisers in the world. As long
as there Is sugar raised anywhere you
will raise 1t here, and 80 long as there
Is money to be made in sugar, you
have certain advantages which will
keep your Territory at the head OF the
procession.
San Francisco is the city which
should rightly finance these Islands.
She has money IN abundance and her
situation makes Hawaii
Tier field exclusively. San Francisco
has not put the amount of money In
these Islands that she should. This Is
owing to the unsettled political and
business conditions which have been
incident to the overthrow and annex
ation. The labor problem is one
which think will adjust itself.
One thing I notice is the high
prices that prevail. I do not know the |
cause Of this unless commodities are
being artificially held at a level fixed |
"hen sugar was worth woo ton. ] |
think you must diversity little In az.
riculture.
Il have been interested and pleased
with every step OF my journey through |
the Islands. Our firm took hold OF
Rapid Transit in Honolulu and are
well pleased with results. We came
down to look into some proposed ex-
tensions OF that system and will fur.
uish the money to make them"
How soon will you be ready to give
Hilo a Rapid Transit street railway? |
when Hilo has a population OF 90.
)00," replied Mr.. Batchelder. There
are electric systems in towns of less
Size than that, but few Of them are
making money"