The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-12-29
NO DANGER
OF STARVING
Fleet Will Leave
Enough for Us
to Eat.
Cable and Extra Supply
Prevents Possible
Famine.
Honolulu Could Not Stand a Long
Siege-The Meat the Fleet
Took Daily.

Honolulu will not suffer from food
famine as result of the presence or
departure of the feet today. All day
yesterday and last night stores pur-
chased III Honolulu were loaded on the
battleships and cruisers, although the
Wisconsin and Oregon finished taking
on supplies early in the morning.
Had it not been for the. great quanti-
ties of food stuffs brought by the Ala
media and Solace there would have been
famine in Honolulu. The presence
| of the fleet, has shown one thing very
| conclusively and that is, that Hawaii is
not able to provide for any great force
of soldiers or sailors in case of siege.
| If such an array as the Asiatic ships
| were bottled up in Pearl Harbor by
hostile fleet, the people of Oahu and
| the men of the vessels would soon be
reduced to short rstions, and pro-
longed siege would mean starvation in
the island. For of all the fresh vegeta-
bles purchased here by the feet, such
as potatoes, cabbage, fruits and green
produce nearly all of it was exported
from the coast. The usual supply would
be exhausted in less than two weeks if
the regular ships were kept out by a
| blockading fleet. The conditions made
apparent by the presence of the fleet
illustrate more forcibly than anything
else the necessity for placing as large
an area of land on Oahu under cultiva-
ton as possible Small farms and what
they can produce will be the salvation
of the islands in case of war. There
is a large tract of land on this island,
which was ceded to the United States
upon annexation, for military purposes,
and which could produce a sufficient
amount of green vegetables and such
things to keep an army of men for a
long period. The land was originally
set aside for the use of invalid SOL
diers from the Philippines, and as there
is no chance that it will be used for
that purpose, efforts to regain posses
sion of it on the part of the Territory
might prove successful. The land joins
that of the Wahiawa colony and is very
i fertile
1t is impossible to estimate the "a
mount of food that the fleet purchased
in Honolulu during its two weeks stay.
The greatest demand was for fresh meats,
which were purchased daily in enormous
quantities for the use of the men on
the, ships. One butcher estimated the
amount used daily as ten thousand
pounds, while another firm supplied the
!, fleet with eight or ten cattle every
day. A conservative estimate of the
+ amount of fresh meat used by the fleet
while in port would probably be thirty
five tons. This is at the rate of about
| two and a half tons per day. Two days
t supplies will be taken on for the voyage
This is in addition to the canned meats
which are regularly supplied by the
Navy Department. The canned meats
are put up now SO that you can't tell
the difference from the fresh meats,
said Lieutenant Chaplin of Admiral
Evans's staff the other day. 1T is q
regular picnic going to sea nowadays
We take on only fresh meats and green
We. .ables for our cruise to Cavite. The
d .rtment supplies the fleet with regu
lar -ations, and the vessels are depend.
ed upon to get what additional supple:
they need as they touch at different
!. ports.
Potatoes, onions and cabbages were al
so taken on board the ships in 1arg,
quantities yesterday. These are prac
tically all the fresh vegetables that thu
, vessels take for regular stores, although
it is not by means the only variety O.
edibles that went aboard. Every shil
has separate mess, crew as we'll a
: officers. and they loaded up with al
sorts of delicacies yesterday Canned
fruit, raisins, fancy vegetables, cake
j. and an endless variety of good thing
to eat were sent on board the ships, ant
the clerks at many of the down tow
. stores worked far into the night getting
: their orders filled Foodstuffs are mucl
cheaper in Honolulu than in either Ma
Mia or Yokohama and the various mes
funds were largely drawn upon to re
plenish their respective larderS. At on
is store only was it reported that there wa
n any probability of a shortage in foo
stuffs in Honolulu because of the pur
chases made for the fleet, the othe
: merchants joining in the statement tina
there would be plenty to eat for every
e one left in Honolulu after today. |
s was said, however, that had it not beer
1t for the shipment OF stores from Sal
Francisco there might have been Sc
rious shortage in the food supply o
I Honolulu Another grocer stated tina
had it not been for the cable, which
. would permit the increase in orders il
time to catch the Sierra which sail
= from San Francisco December 3Ist, Ho
t nolulu might even now be facing tn
prospects of food famine.