The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-06-18

II 4.-Sugar WILL of course. always be
the dominant industry as most of the
best agricultural lands are at present
! given over to it. There are. however.
quite extensive tracts o. land on Maui
suitable for the growing of rubber.
The island of Hawaii due to water
! impcunded and made possible for dis
| tribUtion by the Kohala and Hamakua
| irrigation bitches, Will omen up a vast
| field of territory heretofore unavaiI-
! able for agricultural purposes because
| of the insufficiency of water, Lands
| contiguous TO this are now in tobacco
| and produce a coffee second to none.
i Sisal is doing extremely we'll on lands
| which in the eastern countries would
| be passed as worthless. At present
nearly all of our fruit and most of our
vegetables are imported from the
mainland. The islands of Maui and
Kauai have grown and do grow excel
lent deciduous fruits. On the slopes
of Kilauea on the island of Hawaii
excellent celery is grown and all kinds
of vegetables could be grown. If the
lands available for growing fruits and
vegetables We're used in the territory
of Hawaii as lands are used in the
more congested districts and states,
ten thousand profitable farms and or
chards could be easily placed
5.-The land laws as they stand at
present are best suited to the advance
ment of the agricultural and indus
trial sides of the territory and there
fore L consider they are best suited to
the advancement of Americans. They |
are the concentrated wisdom of 100
years of local experience. To script |
and allot the territorial lands under !
the land laws of the United States !
would be to d,sintegrate our large |!
Plantations, place a fictitious value on !
some of the lands embraced within !
them particularly those from which !
water is now being supplied, and !
would generally disorganize real and |
personal property rights.
6.-My experience with the japanese ,
has not been extensive enough to make
my observations notwithstanding .
not instructive. They seem to take |
kindly to American ideas which suit !
them, and to rest smugly in their |
Oriental shell of exclUsiveness as to !
American ideas which do not suit them. |
1T is. Real European labor can !
obtain fee simple lands from the plan
tations or sharing or community ar
engagements with them The attitude |
of the plantations is not one of ph'lau-
thropy but self-preservation. They
want reliable labor.
and 9.-The immigration of any i
laborer who may in the course of time
become an American citizen is of the \
highest civic Importance to the terri7i
tory Whether or not they will be a |,
success on the plantations depenGsf
entirely upon the laborer. The FIST
sugar planted. cultivated, stripped, cut
and ground in Hawaii was handled en-
tirely by white labor. The cane fields
in Hawaii are not as hot, and the
work not as arduous as we find in the
corn fields of Illinois and Nebraska or
the wheat fields of Minnesota and the
Dakotas Whether a satisfactory Eu
ropean labor would displace the Jap
anese is entirely predetermined and
would depend upon the immigration
laws relative to Orientals. In the alb
sence of some restriction on Oriental
labor. the cheap and hardy labor from
Japan would be rather a formida BILE
figure to remove.
10.-From a purely commercial stand
point the islands are source of vast
revenue to the United States in times
of peace the excess of revenue over
!
million dollars year. Aside from
considerations and as a
halfway station to and from the
Orient, the islands do not appear to me
to be of any special value to the
United States in times of peace.
lift the islands are to be retain
ed as part of the United States. it
is impera lively necessary that they
be amply fortified, and as the only
method of attack would be by naval
enemies, and the nearest mainland is
two thousand miles away, a naval
base should be established at Pearl
HarbOr Hawaii has been called the
Door of the Pacific a door without
bolt, latch or key is not security
against molestation. AS the islands
are at present, a second class cruiser.
if it had time and ammunition, could
raze US to the ground before. even
with our cable communication, We
could receive aid from the mainland.
A naval base at Pearl Harbor and for
tifcations such as the natural contour
Of the islands. particularly Oahu, ad-
mits, would serve as a hub from which
the entire Pacific portion of the navy