The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1906-04-14
THE COMMITTEES REPORT
ON THE REMINDING BILL

! (MaI SPECIAL 10 the AuFeFtlSeI-1
WASHINGTON, D. C, April 3.-Ha-
waiians here are highly pleased over
the report which Representative Cole
! of Ohio put in on the refunding bill
1t covers the ground very thoroughly
and is regarded as constituting a very
complete argument for the enactment
/ Of the legislation.
The report appears as unanimous
| from the House Territories Commit
tee. That is because Representative
Ilovd 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 so as to reduce the period
for the segregation of funds from
twenty to five years. That amendment
was noted in a previous letter. The
bill as now amended, following the
title, which is to establish a fund for
public works in the Territory of Ha-
wall and for other purposes, reads:
BE it enacted by the Senate and
House of Representatives of the Unit
ed States of America in Congress as
sembIed, That seventy-five 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 nun
1,;~- -l,,J h. fn6
held apart in 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, and
military and naval defenses within the
Territory of Hawaii as the Congress
may from time to time specifically
authorize and appropriated
The report by Representative Cole,
who was chairman of the subcommittee
that first considered the bill, bears the
date of March 90 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
when the exigencies of the Span
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
sions except to be returned to their
own treasures.
In the case of Porto Rico, where
it is expected that American SOW
ereignty will be permanent, Congress
has both given to it absolute free en-
try of all its products to our markets, !
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 1928 1858.
This action of Congress toward |
Porto Rico substantially recognized |
The principle that fiscal regulations |
designed for mainland States, are not |
adapted to insular Territories over !
seas. Such insular Territories are not
part of the commercial body of the
with the currents of COM
nerce and money circulating through
hem: instead, they are detached units
With a definite amount of circulating
Medium within each. To constantly
axe revenues from such a detached !,
Territory without some systematic re-
urn of the same can not but result |
n injury to it.
In the case of Hawaii we took over
IN established government which had
,een a separate sovereignty for three
quarters of a century. During that
ime Hawaii had built up it's own ifs
al system, with its customs receipts
more than one-third the en-
ire governmental expenditures 1t
vas claimed on behalf of Hawaii when
IS organic act was before Congress,
hat all those revenues should be re-
urned to the Territory for its use,
nd it was predicted that their loss
would seriously embarrass the local
government. For five years the Terri
ory has tried the present system,
nth increasing difficulty.
"A total of S. SOP JAG in local taxa
ion has been raised by taxes on land, ;
ersonaIty, income tax, Inheritance
Ak, licenses, occupation tax, stamp
AK. and every known form of taxa {
ON. OF this sum approximately $780,
20 has been spent for the care and
of lepers. Their local tax
er capita has during the past five ,
ears increased so per cent
Even these means could only meet =
he current expenses, and in order to I
uild schools and necessary public