The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-12-03

it, not to be separated from, and alb
solutely dependent upon il.
| Hawaii has always been Dependent
upon one industry. First, il was
Sandal wood. then supplying wheat
and potatoes TO the California solc
miners, next the whaling industry
then a short regime OF pull and cot
fee, and finally sugar. It has been SUI
gar SO long and TO such profit that We
have almost forgotten that a land
which has only one industry is weak
and vitality vulnerable. Whatever af-
/ fects our one industry influences the
whole social and political fabric.
When prices rise or seasons are good
| we are all prosperous, but a shortage
| Of labor. a plague Of pests, overproduc-
| ton of beet sugar by the German grow
, ers, or a phenomenal crop of cane in
| Louisiana or Java react here in Fa-
wall, SO that the very foundations Of
! business are shaken and we live in fear
| of what the morrow may bring forth
| Agriculture has become a complicated
problem, not simply here in Hawaii,
but the world over. Today's price of
! flour in London is influenced by yes
terday's advices in regard to the wheat
outlook in Argentina and India or
snow storm in the winter wheat belt
| of Kansas.
No country dependent upon other
countries for its food supply can ever
attain that economic stability requisite
to the building up of self-suffcient
commonwealth. No country can stand
upon one leg without danger of over
throwaI by a very slight displacement
of the center of gravity.
Agriculture has been variously de-
fined. At first it was the cultivation
of the fields or of the soil: modern
scientists say it is the cultivation and
care Of plants to supply mans necessi-
ties; but politically, agriculture is
something more, for mans necessities
are not simply bounded by hunger and
thirst or the desire to be clothed. The
field of agriculture has broadened so
that States now consider the means
employed in production equally with
the quality Of the product and it's
cost.
Rich lands do not of themselves,
make rich country. so that the pos
session Of extensive areas of rich land
by a State is of less Importance than
that the land, whether rich or poor,
should be well populated. Land cap
able OF growing large crops may be
ditions of government are such that
a civilized population can not exist.
Take a map of the world and one can
see that there are on every continent
millions of acres of tillable lands alb
solutely untouched, immense areas al
most unpeopled. Nations as well as
individuals may be land-poor through
the possession of rich and well water
ed areas. Men are worth more than
acres.
Hawaii is an integral part of the
United States. Potentially it stands
as the western outpost for the defense
of the Pacific coast. But until Hawaii
is peopled with a citizen population it
would cost more to defend than would
all the rest Of our western coastline.
AS long as it's citizens are few in num-
Der. Hawaii would be more of men
ace than protection to the mainland
in time Of war. A large garrison would
have TO be fed and would require large
naval defenses to keep open the lines
OF communication and prevent the
starving out of the defenders. But
establish in Hawaii hundred thou
sand white farmers and these islands
will become actually what they are
now only in a theoretical sense, the
western outpost anu HTSL line OF de-
Tense, a country which could not be
starved out by simply cutting off or
destroying transpacifc communication.
1t seems to me that we should look |
conditions squarely in the face. Ha-
wall is weak because Of the poverty
Of four-ffths Of her present population, |
who have absolutely no resources: on |
an average hardly enough accumulated
wealth to tide over a weeks enforced |
idleness. Such utter dependence of a
weak race on a strong one does not |
tend towards economic or political |
stability. Substitute men who cu1- |
tivate and live upon their own lands |
and while the initial cost of production |
of raw materials may increase to the |
detriment of some mems fortunes, the |
wealth and political health of the whole |
body polite will become immeasur- |
ably greater.
What Hawaii needs most of all is |
not an abundance of cheap laborers, |
who, through racial fncapacity and |
stress of daily necessities lend them |
selves to the indefinite supremacy of |
a particular industry or system, but a |
race of men who have faith in both |
the present and future of these is
lands. Citizens who win constitute the |
support OF the state IN times of peace
and its defence in periods of danger
are worth more to Hawaii and to the
United States and constitute a greater
than a million acres of |
government land leased in large areas.
United States Judge Dole arose as
soon as the paper was finished and said |
he wished to most heartily endorse the
remarks of the writer of the paper
He suggested that the paper should be
printed to be appreciated. Secretary
Wood OF the Promotion Committee
spoke along the same line. W. W. Hall
moved that the paper be given to the
1aily press with the request that 1t be
printed, which motion was seconded
and unanimously carried.
The Institute then adjourned.
a WOMAN KILLED.
A 80 I