The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-04-17

tNnil tIefial 20 TIE AoNffttfff
wAanINoTON. -. a.. April s-iia.
eahans here are highly pleas'd r''f
4 the mon which Representative Cole
of ohll POT Ia on the refunding hill
It Coycrs the ground very ,horouf ny
aud b. regarded az constituting a very
complete argument for the enactment
~ the legislation.
The report appears as unanimous
nom the House Territories Commit
tee. That l. because Representative
Lloyd of Missouri, the chief opponent
Of the legislation. was absent when
the vote WAS taken. The bill, intro
duced by Delegate Kalanianaole Feb
ruary last. has been amended by the
committee 70 as TO reduce The period
for the segregation OF funds from
twenty 90 Ave years. That amendment
was noted IN a previous letter. The
bill as now amended. following the
title, which is ito esta blish fund for
public works in the Territory Of Ha-
wall and for other purposes" reads
BE II enacted by the Senate and
House OF Representatives OF the Unit
ed states of America In Congress as
sembled, That seventy-fve per centum
Of the customs and internal revenues
collected each year within the Terri
tory OF Hawaii, for a period OF FIVE
years from July first, nineteen num-
dred and six, shall be segregated and
held apart I'm a separate fund by the
Secretary OF the Treasury to be desig-
mated the Hawaiian fund and to be
expended only for public works, In
Guiding educa tional and other public
buildings, harbor improvements, ana
military and naval detenses within the
Territory of Hawaii as the Congress
may from time to time specifically
authorize and appropriate"
The report by Representative Cole,
who was chairman of the subcommittee
that first considered the bill, bears the
date of March 20. 1t notes the amend
ment already mentioned, and then
recommends to the House that the
bill pass, adding:
"In making this recommendation
your committee bases its action on
broad grounds Of national policy.
| When the exigencies of the Sean
| ish-American war gave us the SOW
ereignty OF the Philippines and Porto
! Rico, public sentiment was reflected
! by legislation OF Congress, which pro-
vided that no revenues should be col
| lected from either of those possess
sons, except to be returned to their
| own treasures.
"In the case of Porto Rico where
| It Is expected that American SOW
erelgnty will be permanent, Congress
has both given to 1t absolute free en-
] .n 10 ma L Of
and also further provides that all Gus
toms dues on foreign imports be paid
into the Porto Rican treasury direct,
the expenditure Of those funds being
left wholly to the government of Porto
Rico. The amount of such customs
revenues in Porto Rico In the last fis-
cal year was $723,I93.63.
This action of Congress toward
Porto Rico substantially recognized
the principle that fiscal regulations
designed for mainland States, are no
adapted to insular Territories Owe
seas. Such insuar Territories are no
part of the commercial body OF th'
mainland, with the currents OF com
merce and money circulating through
them. instead, they are detached unit
with a definite amount of circulating
medium within each To constantly
take revenues from such detached
Territory without some systematic re
turn OF the same can not but resul
in injury to 1t.
In the case OF Hawaii we took owe
an established government which ha'
been separate sovereignty for three
quarters of century During tina
| 81, IIa hal htti Ia
cal system. with its customs receipt
furnishing more than one-third the EN-
tire governmental expenditures. !
was claimed on behalf of Hawaii, whe
its organic act was before Congress
that all those revenues should be re
turned to the Territory for its use
and It was predicted that their los
would seriously embarrass the loca
government. For five years the Terri
tory has tried the present system
with increasing difficulty.
"A total OF 81, S,5O2,146 I'm local taxa
ton has been raised by taxes on lane
personally, income tax, inheritanc
tax, licenses, occupation tax, STAN
tax. and every known form OF taxa
ton OF this sum approximately $3.50
900 has been spent for the care an
maintenance Of lepers. Their local ia
per capita has during the past fiv
years increased 80 per cent.
Even these means could only met
the current expenses. and I'm order
build schools and necessary publ
works an Indebtedness OF $3,S7i,0O0 ha
been incurred.
THE total per capita tax of ever
man, woman and child in the TER
tory is now over s22 per annum.
THE cost of living in the Hawaiia
Islands Is very high, owing to the fa'
that all the necessities OF life, incluC
ing almost the entire food supple
are imported. the cost Of governmel
In Hawaii IL necessarily high, bot
because OF the high cost OF living an
consequently higher salaries, and ali
because of the machinery OF govern
ment necessary on each separate 4
land and the high cost of interlslaI
communca ZION, Road construction al
maintenance is expensive for Il
above reasons, and further because
the mountainous character of the
lands ana the numerous deep gulch
| -. l.. ID