The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-01-15
TOURIST PLAN FUNDS.

the addition to its attractions of cabi'
communication, and with. a commend
able degree of unanimity upon mat
ter OF so grave Importance as the in
: augurat ton of plan of wide advertise
ment of local availability as a health
and pleasure resort, the time seems
propitious for the enlistment of the ser
vices of commercial bodies and bushes!
men at large in aid of the proposals Of
the Joint committee which has care
fully considered the questions.
AS briefly given out after submission
to the Chamber of Commerce yester-
day. the success of the proposals seems
to hang upon the diversion of the ten
cent tax on freights, now going to the
assistance of the Board of Health, to
! the objects aimed at by the Tourist
committee. This tax is the successor
of the one which was one-half greater,
levied by the commercial bodies, upon
and has been paid since that time for
the laudable purpose of insuring against
/ a recurrence of the epidemic. The rev.
enue is derived as one of the most di-
erect taxes upon the people, since it is
! laid upon every ton of freight coming
| to this port. The people pay it in the
end and they have raised no voice
against it's collection, knowing that
it's intent is to save them from incon-
venience and loss, and too, being salts
fed with the administration of this
trust fund.
But the time seems to have come
when there is no longer need of this
insurance. In resigning his office as
President of the Board of Health, DR..
Sloggett announced that Honolulu,
never in its history, perhaps, had been
so clean and free from disease and
danger of epidemic.
This is the statement of the head of
of the bureau which has given hard
service to keeping the city free from
disease and danger, and whose in-
spectors have been unremitting in their
duty to the people and the city. It
was to bring about this condition that
the people through the commercial
bodies paid the tax. They have seen
great things accomplished. Under the
joint bodies the wharves were treated
with sulphur fumes and the rats driven
out The corps of inspectors was in
creased and the city made clean, many
comes the time when this work done,
there appears an object which seems
to commend itself to the progressive
people as a worthy one.
There are other causes for congratula-
ton, too, than the mere fact that the
health authorities consider the city in
a sanitary condition. The Legislature
which is to meet within the next month, |
will have strong Republican majority. !
1t needs no declaration to impress upon
the people that this legislature will not
try to trim down expenses. BIZ shaving !
where danger would follow meanness.
There is a certainty carried in the per-
sonnet of the membership, that the
health of the people will be guarded as
closely as possible, and that the in
vided for by the legislators as by the
commercial bodies themselves. This |
gives added security and makes the in
tention, expressed on the part of many
of the business men, to urge the diver |
sion of this fund, one which carries |
with it a laudable desire to share a
full part in what seems to make for
progress.
OF the desirability of action, and at
once, there seems to be only one opin-
ion. The single point of difference so
far lies in the matter of methods. That |
there is a need of money is evident. |
How much it shall be must be gagged |
only by the capacity of the city and !
Territory to contribute to a fund. In
the amounts expended in the past, there |
may be lessons. One of the great rail- |
road lines recently decided to make a
bid for share of the business between
Chicago and San Francisco, though it |
furnishes only a link in the chain. 1t
determined to equip a train de luxe. |
as it has been described. The cars are
maSnlncent out the adued cost there
does not enter into the comparison. AS
soon as the train was decided upon and
arrangements made, the advertising be-
gan. Descriptions were printed in the
magazines and newspapers, until it is
said that before that particular train
turned a wheel, there had been spent
in its exploitation more than 500, 900, |
and it win run not more than eight
months out of the twelve.
The tonnage tax will provide a
nucleus for the fund which would en-
able an active committee to make sub
stantial progress in advertising Ha-
waii, and perhaps in securing imme-
date results in inducing travel. To it