The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1907-08-16

with other losses, has deprived the
people of Hawaii within the last year
of over one-third of the already re-
stricted accommodations which they
have been forced to accept since an
neXation.
l have it on so high an authority
as that of Mr.. Schwerin, General
Manager of the Pacific Mail Steam
ship Company, that the trade of Ha-
waii was immaterial to his company
He stated in an interview lately in
San Francisco that if he had to move
a small coal pile from land of the
Naval Reserve or pay ground rent for
their coal storage (Which is borne by
all other steamship companies here)
he would sooner cut out Honolulu
from his service entirely.
For long time every effort has
been made by the people of Hawaii
to force the Pacific Mail Company to
recognize the focal trade and permit
small portion of each steamer to be
set aside definitely for the Honolulu
trade, so that those who might be
here, for business or other reasons,
could be sure of accommodations, and
not be subject to the inconvenience,
as has repeatedly been the case, of
learning that they have booked with
fifty or sixty other passengers desir-
ing to leave and that the steamer
can only take three or four addition
al passengers at Honolulu, thus be-
ing obliged to await another steamer
of American register, lose their time
and be greatly Inconvenience by The
delay during which they often see
British or japanese passenger steam
er arrive and depart. In fact, | may
say the agitation of this question was
started, not by residents of Hawaii,
but by visitors here, who claimed it
was the first time they had found
that being an American (and in an
American port) was a distinct dis
advantage.
1t can not reasonably be argued
that the application of the coastwise
law was ever intended for port
which had no rail communication
with other parts of America. As i
have already stated to you, in the de-
velopmept of our country there have
been few features of more potency
than the free interchange and travel
of our people from one part of the
country to another. This has not
only made us homogeneous but has
brought about the immense trade be-
tween the various states and terri
tories. 1t can not be claimed that it
was the intention of Congress in the
passage of this Act to hamper or re-
strict this free interchange of our
commerce. The American drummer,
the wonder of the business world,
finds it most irritable to stop off
with his samples in Hawaii, expect
ing to catch a steamer which he sees
scheduled to leave in a few days, and
then learns that he can only travel
on that vessel by the payment of
fine of $4,000. He cables his prin-
cipal that his expenses go on and his
time is lost.
If during the eight years that this
law has been applied to Hawaii the
service from these islands
to the mainland has been bettered or
increased because of this protection,
you would not find public-spirited
men in Hawaii opposing it. So far
as l am aware, there has not been a
murmur raised by the sugar planters
against the restriction to American
bottoms, though it costs them $780,
900 a year-a tax practically of
$500 per capita of our population.
Our people do not ask an exemption
for freight, but we do maintain com
mon sense dictates that ordinary
judgment be used in the application
of our national laws.
l presume those who have money
invested in American ships will feel
that they are acting rightly and hui
namely when, by insisting on its APP
they subject the local
naval authorities to keep one of
their sailors here for three weeks in
a dying condition, after his physi-
clan has stated that the only way to
save his life was to send him to the
Coast. The application of the naval
authorities for an exception had
been denied and no transport or 9TH
er American bottom would touch
here for that length of time, although
there have been two or more oppor-
tunities for placing him on an Eng