The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1905-07-18

IL one Of the main causes which pre-
vent the development OF the resources
of the country-and has been In other
lands the source OF the agitation, by
the followers of Henry George and
other writer's on the movement for a
redistribution of the lands. Landlords,
who by Inheritance or other accidents
have become the holders Of legal titles
to vast areas of Gods footstool, and
who hold on to those lands to the exclu-
sion of other of Gods creatures are
the marks shot at and whom 1t is the
endeayor of popular governments by
taxation and other means to force into
subdividing and giving up their lands.
A narrow policy, followed so much in
many parts of our domain, OF taxing
improved lands at high valuations and
of taxing equally good lands, though
unimproved, in the same neighborhood
at low valuations, has been the subject
of much adverse criticism which Ia
gradually bringing about change In
this respect. Men who insist on hold
ing these great areas In an unculti-
waited and unimproved condition find
that they are being taxed out of ex-
istence and are proceeding to place
their lands on the market, thus giving
those capable and DESTROYS Of owning
or leasing homesteads an opportunity
to make the soil produce. Witness
what is going on in New Zealand.
The available government lands of
the United States, and which by the
broad policy of our government from
| its incipiency has been granted to
citizens in lots of 160 acres, have been
largely taken up and those now desir-
| ing lands are being compelled to ac-
oept what has hitherto been considered
valueless for agricultural purposes. In
their extremity they unite their capital
and energy in conserving the storm
waters and by irrigation compel the
| soil to yield up its riches.
The complaints of those DESTROYS of
obtaining agricultural lands and the
| friction between landlords and tenants
| is as cold as the hills" From late dis
| coveries, uneartbed by emissaries of
chronological societies of America, Eng
land, France and Germany in Baby
| lona, which is considered the cradle of
| the human race, it is found that $500
years before Christ men had been
struggling with each other for thou
sands of years for the possession of
| the soil. Orientalists, through persis-
| tent study, are enabled to read the
peculiar writings of that time and
from steles and bricks have translated
| the just laws of Khammurabi. AS the
whole plain between the Tigris and
Euphrates and in that region was
suitable for agriculture the people were
naturally an agricultural community.
! From the great and continuous strug-
| gle between landlords and tenants laws
were crystallized defining the proper
| ton of the crop landlords could collect
| for the use of their lands, as we have
laws restraining usurious money lend
| ers. 1t was never more than Ia and
less than IA, except when by act of
God bad seasons or disasters were sus-
tanned, in which event no rents could
be collected or charged up. AS this is
the crystallized wisdom of ages 1t
| should be some guide to our landlords
as to what they should charge for the
use of their lands Some will say that
| is a maudlin sentimentality and what
n tenant is willing to pay is what
should fix the price and that land is
worth just what you can get for it."
A belief in such sentiments is what
is retarding the development of the
country, maintaining high prices for
foodstuffs, and causing the agitation
against landlords, absentee or other
| wise.
In Hawaii we find. two phases ex-
listing, namely, a squeezing of small
holders of land by opulent neighbors
and persistent endeavor by holders
of large tracts to squeeze from the
practical agriculturalst all that can
be gotten out of him. We find still a
third, which was an endeavor by cor
porations to grasp the whole earth and
which the government was compelled
to take cogniZance of and pass a law
prohibiting corporations from acquir-
ing more than one thousand acres.
We find on record leases where the
tenant agrees to pay all the way from
$500 to $1,000 per acre per annum for
land adapted TO rice culture. How can
such tenants compete with Louisiana
and Texas rice planters who pay from
two to five dollars per acre?
These outrageous prices have aided
in crushing out the rice industry and
the vain attempts to make good their
engagements have impoverished the
rice planters. If the leases We're drawn
so that the rents We're payable in kind
and the landlords We're compelled to
accept from IA to Ia of the crops as
rental he would find that he was get
ting much less than $55, $40, or even
$40 per acre per annum.
Some will say that it is none of my
business and if they are willing to pay
these prices 1t is their own lookout. ;
A teacher once defined who is thy
neighbor" aud any cosmopolitan who
has the world for his country has the
right to express his views, especially II
the are founded on study of the
history of the world in the line in
which he is writing, and are not fanat
zeal. OF course We cannot expect tc
find landlords voluntarily agreeing or
definite rental to be charged fol-
agricultural lands, which failing was
probably the cause OF the government