The Hawaiian gazette., 1905-04-11
SMALL FARMING.

SmALL ThkWiNNs
Attention has been called by the Ad-
vertiser to the large Increase In the
population of California, produced dur
ing the last few years by the promotion
of the right kind of immigration. Tour
lists are not discouraged but invited
through the most practical induce
ments, and. of them, many invest or
remain; but special and concentrated
efforts are systematically applied to in
duce small farmers, of the American
type. to settle permanently in the
State. The result of the intelligence,
the harmony, and the spreading abroad
of incontestable facts, in the increase
of the best elements of producing and
tax-paying citizenship, has been sur
prising. In Sacramento County alone,
within the last year thousand new
homes, most of them on small farms,
have been established. 49,
The Sacramento Valley was recently
and thoroughly examined by M Kau-
manns. a noted German agpiculturist
and one OF the best experts In sugar.
This gentleman devoted himself pri-
marily to the beet sugar industry, but
he investigated the opportunities for
agriculture and horticulture on a limit
ed scale. His conclusions were tersely
and vigorously expressed and have been
extensively published. They embraced
the most favorable recognition of the
conditions in California for the multi
plication of small farms, and were very
positive in treating immense landed es-
tates as the greatest obstacle to this
kind of development. He argued
against the acquisition of immense
tracts by landholders, as causing a con-
dition, which divided the people into
the very rich and the very poor, and
cut out the intermediate class, who
constitute the most impregnable bull
wark against the excesses of labor and
the aggressions of capital. 1.-THE small
farmer" he said. lis of the most eco
nomic value to the State
In Germany. in France in Austria,
in Italy, in Spain, latterly in Great
Britain, and even in Russia, small
farming is largely and scientifically en-
couraged. and it has secured the pro-
duction of incalculable wealth, in addi-
tion to the growth of good citizenship
and the advance towards clean society
and decent politics. In California, the
Sierra Nevada and Coast Range noun
tains, on which in many places there
are large deposits of lava, such as ex-
list in Hawaii, the fertile valleys, some
of them moderately large but many Of
them of minute size, are being appro-
priated and devoted to the production
of fruits, vegetables and choice stock.
Thus, not only has taxable property
toian aggregate valuation of many mil
lions been virtually created, but fami-
lies, homes, intelligent and honest vot-
ers, have been and are being rapidly
multiplied. This is one of the most
striking features of genuine American
ism.
What has been done and is progress
sing in California with accelerating
speed can easily be done in the Terri
tory OF Hawaii. Here, of course. the
plantation interest, which has long been
the foundation of such wealth as the
islands possess, requires the use of eX-
tensive bodies of land and every en-
couragement that wise craftsmanship
can propose. But sugar lands are not
ordinarily adapted to general agricul-
ture and horticulture. The mountain
ranges, above and even below the 1900
foot level, as has been repeatedly DEM
onstrated, contain almost innumerable
places, where small farmers can be per-
manently located. There is not, after
all, a very serious difference between
these ranges and the Sierra Nevada,
whether reference is had to the noun
tains of the same name in California
or in Spain. Whatever difference there
may be is favorable to Hawaii. The
soil here is more fertile and the climate
free from all extremes and exceedingly
conducive to production. All that is
needed is the adoption and the enforce
ment of a sound policy, with the CO.
operation of the territorial government
and of all classes of it's constituents.
AS leases fall in, segregatons can be
made and limited tracts sold on favor
able terms. There is also much public
land that is now free from complica-
lions and that can be applied to the
fostering of small farming. The for
ests can be protected, without obstruct-
ing settlement by industrious and ex-
perienced men. of family, and although
not capitalists, with adequate means
There Is nothing to prevent the speedy
Americanlzation of the Islands, but the
policy of exclusion and stolid adher-
ence to ancient and inapplicable prece-
dents.