Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1904-07-19
PROMOTING AGRICULTURE IN HAWAII
10y BULLETIN sookMAN.I

reaches only to visitors, but | will be
slow to accept any such conclusion.
Judge Dole deserves respect for his
positive statement that our lands we're
good to come to. and. so far as | know.
he retains his early belief. There are
other Hawaiian-born Americans, too.
who would welcome American settlers,
and they have wholesome respect for
their co-citizens. The unfriendly Il am
inclined to Think are those foreign |
Americans" who have come here from |
the States for purely selfish purposes,
who are able to hold positions here,
social and pecuniary. which they could |
hot possibly hold in any Of the Stat. :.
\ man who gets salary of at least |
$500 month said in regard to the com |
ing of Americans: I'VE don't wan. any |
more d-n tdamn) Yankees" Owing |
to our peculiar conditions and the ma.
ture of the specific knowledge he had
picked up. he held his place, but on the
mainland or anywhere else he would
have been a day laborer, or, what is
possible, section boss on railroad.
To some extent this sporadic senti.
ment is flected in books and travellers.
and to that extent hurts us. That an
American traveller should fall In with
the aforementioned section boss and
hear what he might say is unfortunate.
= 4 +
! The hopes we had for the coffee in
dustry have been dissipated by a fail
ure to realize even a good living out of
1t. and while this may be only temper
ary and better conditions yet prevail,
our enthusiasm for the sail has been
dampened.
Probably II Is true of the present that
Hawaii IL a country OF one industry
cnly-cane growing. But because a
great deal of money has been made In
sugar and will continue to be made It
does not follow that the country can
support no other agricultural enter
prise. Sugar interests like the south
ern politician we had here some years
ago, are paramount, and We owe to
plantations many of our material bene.
fits I. for one. take off my hat to them.
Yet they are not all by any means,
nor is the existence Of a plantation In
a locality absolutely necessary to that
locality's prosperity. And II in a com
munity like Kona sugar plantation
seems to have a rocky time of II, there
are things to take its place.
The ordinary resident of Hawaii has
been SO used to sugar profits that he
utterly fails to consider crops which
allow OF modest margins. He forgets
that in most cases elsewhere farming
is a means of living, not money.mak-
ing matter. Happy is the grower OF
things In general whose farm pays
per cent. on the investment after labor
and living are attended to. But the
prosperous farmer has houses and
lands. stock, Is free to work or play.
and without cash In his pocket perhaps
has enough In store for months ahead,
let the financial world wag as II may.
Taxes may be worry II they come at
the wrong time. Yet, on the whole,
farming like poetry is its own great re-
ward. The life Is one Of freedom from
restraint; a dependence only upon the
soil which demands in return cheerful,
patient labor.
"Ah," some one remarks, cane grow.
ing is farming II is planting another
kind Of corn" Very true In one sense,
but really It is not SO.
II has taken on business methods;
1t Is corporate; tills by forced labor,
urges, hastens, grinds, bags, ships,
hurries In the proceeds, gets rich and
forgets the soil; It resembles some au-
riferous gnome rising out of the earth
with ducats in its hands. 1t cannot
stimulate home life, nor encourage the
spirit of personal independence - II
never will. And with all its material
advantage to a community, we must
frankly confess that a plantation has
a hardening effect upon its dependents
and is not conducive to the highest
form OF communal life. There is de.
gree of authority and influence (often
fancied. to be sure, but more or less
reaD which is prejudicial to the public
interests Of a well.balanced communi-
ty, unless, indeed, the manager be a
man of exceptional character and at
tainments.
In a book of necessarily limited cir.
culation issued some years ago. and
which probably none of your readers
have seen, encouraged the coming to
Hawaii Of the American settler. ] ex'
pressed the opinion that parts Of Ha.
wall were well suited to general farm
ing, and tried to picture what the
farmer happily settled here on his own
land would realize out of his labor. UP
to this date | have received over 300
letters of enquiry for specific informa-
ton regarding the subjects Of interest
to persons away from here. What
said on coffee" am obliged to modify
but the rest ! restate and now have
come to the place which prompts me
to say more.
= 4 4
have no timid scruples about Kona
which is, am free to confess, the only
place have seen In Hawaii that ap-
pears to be adapted to all the needs Of