The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-08-02
bRAsH ON THE
FARM QUESTION

Editor Advertiser: Your kind con-
alteration of my writing on the Goth,
brought many arguments along. some
of which to my surprise meet my views,
especially those of Mr.. Dole.
1 have been living for twenty-eight
years in Santa Clara valley, CAL, and
have seen this valley transformed from
sage-brush country, and rabbit and
cayote haunts, into the most beautiful
orchard and vineyard country, dotted
with comfortable and even luxurious
homes instead of ramshackles and
crooked, wind-blown habitations; land
that was not considered fit even for
pasture was sold afterwards unim-
proved for $500 per acre and with
trees and vines planted, at $500 per
acre.
Now, for the last six years I have
lived in these islands and am very
much in love with them and can there
fore not help wishing to see the above
transformation taking place here.
We have here better climate, more
sun, more rain and good soil, and if
anything we have the advantage over
California in this, except we have not,
as it seems the knowledge to raise not
alone the same fruits, but also tropical
fruits.
In the SOS when everybody was
rushing to the California mines and the
country as farming country was con-
sidered worthless, except for the Span
lard or greaser to herd his cattle in,
Hawaii supplied California with hay,
vegetables, etc. Why not raise such
things nowi Talk about blight, in
sects and pests. Has California not
its share of them as well3 DOM they
have to spray their trees several times
each year9 Do they not fight Goblin
moths right along and sulphur their
vines to Eeep off mildewg Don't they
have to prune their trees and cul-
tivate their soil to retain moisture and
keep weeds out? Don't they study
their soil to get the right roots adapt
ed to it and prune and graft their
trees to get the best possible fruits
To my surprise it seems that Hawai-
ian farmers do not care for either
of these procedures and afterwards
complains, he has too many insects to
fight. He never dreams that his own
carelessness allows them to multiply.
This proves that the Hawaiian farmer
has to learn a good many things yet,
before he will succeed.
But, what I would like to say is
this. How can Hawaii expect to re-
tain or get white farmers from the
mainland, as long as Uncle Sam is in
the real estate businesss Why, if we
want to be Americans, why don't we
adapt American land laHs9 Don't we
know, that, mainly Canada and Mexi-
co and some States in the United
States give their settlers 160 acres free
of chargef And here Uncle Sam is an
auctioneer and auctions off small par
cells of land, a piece too much to
starve on, and not enough to live on.
viii this induce any sane man to
come from the mainland to settlei
1t takes man with family several
hundred dollars to bring his family
and belongings to Hawaii. several
hundred more are spent before he has
picked out piece Then he has to
pay for the small piece as much as
he can get it for on the mainland in
the Middle States. Now, he, the
future farmer, goes to work and builds
house and barn, sinks well, if there
is no spring or creek, then he plants
his crop (Which is a very doubtful
one, inexperienced as he is) and as
a careful man he must provide pro-
visions for year, or even two, and
after he has bought his tools, imple-
ments and stock (horses and cows),
how many thousand dollars all this
may require / will leave to the
imagination of those who advocate
this auctioneering scheme; but 1
would like to see those very persons
to carry this glorious farming scheme
out and / am sure in a year or two
they will curse the auctioneer.
No, gentlemen, you will only bring
Markham poem, "The Man With the
Hoe,' to realization in Hawaii. Too
many of these pictures are to be seen
already.
On the other hand, I repeat again,
let Uncle Sam get down from his auc-
tloneerlng block, adopt the United
States laws and become Americans by
principle, protect the backbone of the
country, that is, the small farmer and
his family and do not produce Mark
hams picture.
Give a citizen of the United States
60 to a 100 acres free of charge, enable
him to raise variety of fruits. If
one thing fails, the other may help.
Give him land enough to raise his own
feed for chickens, horses and cows,
as no farmer should buy these neces-
sites out of a feed yard. This can
not be done on a small tract and those
trying to live on these small lots are
bound to fail sooner or later, as they
can not work during the day on the
plantation or elsewhere and in the
night on their own ground; then in
after years, after the man has man.
aged to live and has crop for sale,
protect him from other sharks, which
generally follow the farmers trail,
that is transportation and commission
men, etc.