The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-11-26

The same question that is agitating
the island of Cuba, in the Atlantic
ocean. is the one that most vitality af-
fects the Hawaiian Islands. five thou
sand miles to the westward, in the Pa
eific. We know now that there is no
immediate chance of the annexation of
/ Cuba. The administration at Wash
! ington has dec1eed that the people of
that little nation are to be given one
more opportunity to prove themselves
capable of self-government.
| But the question is not yet solved.
We merely do not care to grapple with
| it at this time, and have postponed
it to some day in the future. The
matter will inevitably come up again.
1t can be put off for the present, but
it can not be permanently evaded.
As to whether or not annexation is
may be, and are, two opinions. There
are those in Cuba who are doing every
thing in their power to bring it about,
and there are others who oppose it as
strenuously.
But whatever might be the effect
upon the future prosperity of Cuba,
there can be no doubt to the effect
of Cuban annexation upon Hawaii. The
day that Cuba becomes a part of the
United States spells ruin for Hawaii. 3
The very reason for which those Gu
bans in favor of annexation are work ,
ing to that end is the reason why Ha !
waii opposes it. The incorporation of (
Cuba into the United States means the
removal of the tariff on Cuban sugar.
The consequent cheapening of that /
product will make it practically impos-
sible for the Hawaiian sugar planters
and manufacturers successfully to com
pete with those of Cuba
The reason that Hawaii, with all her
Incompatible fertility Of soil and per-
lection of climate, can not manufac-
ture sugar and place it upon the mar
ket as cheaply as Cuba can depends
principally upon two things-the closer
proximity of the latter country to the
markets, and the greater abundance
and cheapness of labor there 1t is
twice as far from Honolulu to New
York as it is from Havana to the same
place, even by the shortest route-and
much of the sugar made in Hawaii goes
in sailing vessels around the Horn,
which increases the distance many
thousand miles. The costs of trans
portation are prOportionately greater.
Cuba has an abundance of cheap la
Dor. Hawaii is troubled by danger
Gus scarcity of labor of any kind, and
the trouble IS increasing, rather than
decreasing, year by year. An sorts of
fruitless efforts have been made from
time to time to supply the deficiency.
The Molokans were imported into the
country in the hope that they would
remedy the evil, but they proved prac-
tically worthless, and in the end most
of them left, and went to the main
land or other countries. Porto Ricans
were brought in, but they were worse
than useless. They were lazy, dis y
honest, criminal by nature and instinct
They would not work, and property
was unsafe anywhere near them. The
majority of them finally went home
and Hawaii congratulated herself on
being rid of them. The comparatively
small number who remain are pest.
The greater proportion of the crimes
committed in the islands may be safely
laid to them. They are as handy with
a knife as they are nimble with their
fingers, and one never knows, when
among them, at what moment a dirk
may be plunged into his back. -
AS to the native Hawaiians them
selves. while they are as q rule honest
and comparatively Industrious, they