The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1905-05-23

you-wait style, to make Chicago
out of Honolulu, and. as is usual in
such cases. strained themselves in the
| attempt. 1t is the same old story OF
riding the wave too high, with the
usual long wait for the sails to fill.
| Many of the disconsolate ones are still
wailing and waiting for wind, but the
plucky ones have got out their oars
and are using their muscle.
| 1t seems z. pity that people will never
learn the way of the boom and the
lesson of the bursted bubble. 1t is too
bad that the fair face of develop
ment should frequently be disfig-
ured by the ugly scars that result from
these descriptions of over-conf1dence.
| There is really nothing unusual about
the situation here. 1t is easily dag
nosed as a commercial CONFUSION of
the regulation order. Our western
towns have had them. one after the
other, just like children take the
measles or the whooping cough.
SUGAR THE PATRON SAINT.
1t seems that the root of all the evil
has been too much sugar. The sweet
staple is to Hawaii what coal is to
Pennsylvania or lumber is to Wash
ington. After annexation, prices were
good and the Islanders went sugar
mad Inside of eighteen months they
raised $4,000, 900 for plantation invest
ment-$4O, 00O, 0C0 from a community
where there is less than 5000 White
United States. or in the world for that
matter, that can equal such a record?
Men. women and children took stock
to the limit of their means and credit.
The game was played by all hands to
a stand-still. Sugar was the patron
saint of the whole population. Then
prices fell and Honolulu went into
If there is anything which IS NOR
ally certain, it is that the price of
sugar will fuctuate. It's rise and fall
is sure as the coming of the wet
and dry seasons, but for all this the |
spectators went at it blind and the |
limb broke under hundreds of them. |
Six of the big companies failed and |
their stock went by the board with a |
crash. The rest have weathered the |
storm and the tardy advance in prices |
is bringing them slowly back to the |
dividend paying basis. Although Homo |
lulu has been hard hit I do not know |
of-another place in the world that |
under similar circumstances would |
have met the decline so bravely, or I
got off so easily.
HOTELS AT SHERIFF'S SALE.
In addition to the low price of sugar |
several other things have concurred |
to make the situation worse. The |
tourist trade was just arriving at good |
when the plague broke |
out, and the easy-going, free-spend- |
ing American rover checked his 1
baggage through and took his coveted |
dollars elsewhere For a time the |
through liners to the Orient would not |
even send a small boat ashore in Homo
lulu. This of course, deprived the !
place of much revenue. The beauti-
full Moana Hotel, where Mrs. Sanford |
died recently, was opened in the face
of all this and it had to run with
empty rooms SO long that 1t is now in
the hands of a receiver. The rare old |
Royal Hawaiian Hotel, which was so !
prosperous in the days of the mon
archy, has just been sold at sheriff's |
sale for the same reason. The Alex
ander Young Hotel which is doubtless
the most remarkable structure ever
built in an out-cf-the-way locality like |
this. is having a lively tussle with the
inevitable.
Mr.. Alexander Young is one of the |
Islands richest sugar planters. At a
cost of over a million dollars he has |
in the heart of Honolulu
a modern. six-story, fire-proof hotel.
the two siX-story ends of this
splendid building is a roof-garden ca
pable of seating $500 people. The floor
space of this garden is one-third of |
an acre in extent. 1t has banquet |
halls. ball rooms, and all the furnish
ings and equipment of our most mod
ern American establishments. He
even has his own farm in the suburbs
to provide provisions for the hosiery. |
This enterprise is certainly a monu-
nent to Mr.. Young's faith in the future |
of his Island home, but in all Iikeli-
hood he viii have to wait long time |
before he realizes upon his unusual |
investment.
IDEAL RESORT FOR TOURISTS.
In this connection it is only fair to
say that the Hawaiian Islands are an
ideal resort for tourists If the hotels
do not prosper eventually it won't be
because they are not deserving. An
outbreak of the plague which occurred
years ago should not scare the wits
out of the people for a generation.
Havana was a pest-hole of yellow fever
for centuries, but people can go there
now with perfect safety. And Hawaii |
is safer than Cuba. Jamaica. or any
Of the West Indian Islands. The
steamers running to it are as large as
those in any tourist service in the
world. The hotel accommoda tons are
not surpas ed anywhere
There are no fogs or hurricanes or
malaria. The forests have no wild