The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-12-10

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HONOLULU, May 20.-Sugar is kin
in Hawaii and will continue TO be for
long time to come. 1t is estimated tha
there are approximately 5s9,0o0 acre
of arabic land in the Hawaiian Islands
of which 1900 acres are appropriate
to rice culture, and $4,000 acres t
cane, and there are 10000 acres tina
may eventually be put into cane. o
the possible sugar land, 10000 acre
may be classified as irrigated land
that is. land that requires irrigation q
produce any crop; and $4,000 acres a
rainfall land.
The crop of 1905-1906 was harvested
from 95.440 acres, yielding 427,S65 shor
tons of sugar. or an average yield pei
acre of $500 pounds OF sugar. 1t mus
be borne in mind that there are already
two crops and part of a third in the
ground, and that II takes the cane
eighteen months, and in some locali'
ties longer, to mature.
For the purpose Of comparison II
might be stated that the crop of 1896
was harvested from 47,399 acres, yield
ing 1888 short tons, or SAP pounds
average per acre. The increased ton
mage per acre, as shown above. Is
largely due to improved methods of
cultivation and fertilization and the
introduction of more thrifty varieties
of cane; also to the establishment of
the large plantations bordering Pearl
Harbor, where the largest yields per
acre in the islands are obtained, the
Nd cfao dx-c
ply of water available by pumping.
Increased technical skill in the mill
and sugar house, with resulting de-
crease in losses of manufacture, has
also added TO the output per acre.
CUBA'S FUTURE A VITAL QUES-
TION TO HAWAII.
Because sugar is the mainstay and
backbone of these people and their
principal source of wealth, nowhere in
the world is the future of Cuba being
more closely watched than in the Ha-
waiian Islands. Nobody has a keener f.
nancial and business interest in the
outcome of the present occupation of
Cuba than the Hawaiian sugar plant
ers. Whether the Cuban people de-
clare for an independent government
of their own or whether they make
necessary a permanent control of the
island by the United States means al
most the difference between poverty
and riches to the planters of Hawaii.
II may be said, also, that not only are
the sugar growers of Hawaii the clos
est watchers of the destiny of Cuba.
but they have made up their minds
almost unanimously as TO the ultimate
political fate of the island.
Almost without exception the chief
expect to see Cuba come under Ameri-
can control. Some place the limit of
Cuban independence at ten years, but
L large number believe that five years
will tell the story. 1t is rather difficult
70 get adequate comprehensive rea-
sons from these Hawaiian planters for |
he belief to which they adhere so
closely. Some of them have been in
Cuba and profess to base their belief
IN the tendencies they observed in Ha-
1ana and other principal cities of the
sland.
WHY PLANTERS ARE APPRE-
HENSIVE.
I have visited many of the principal
and talked with the
managers and proprietors about the
economic future of Hawaii, and what
he effect would be on their principal
Industry if Cuba came under the polit-
cal control of the United States, and
he present tariff on Cuban sugar was
bandoned. With hardly an exception,
found these men. most OF whom are
americans, apprehensive about the
uture. Naturally, in the interest of
heir own pockets, they are opposed to
'uban annexation, or the abandon
lent or reduction of the tariff on su-
ar coming from Cuba into the United !
tates. There was some slight divers .
" of opinion among them as to the ,
robable effect of Cuba's loss of inde-
The more pessimistic Of the manag-
rs and proprietors of the great sugar
states of Hawaii declared unreserved- (
: that if the import duty on Cuban q
agar was abolished, the sugar indus 4
y in the Hawaiian Islands would be /
bsolutely ruined, and that the great c
antations, and the millions of dollars e
vested in them, would be a total
ss. They said that sugar could not
. produced in Hawaii to compete with G
lie Cuban product on equal terms, and 2
lat the present high tariff was neces- h
Try to prevent this Territory of the n
nited States from becoming an abso- r
te bankrupt. Hawaii has no great k
condary crop, like tobacco in Cuba,
preserve her from economic dis r
ess should her principal crop be a F
ilure. fl
Other planters held a more hopeful L
ew of the future. in the event of D
Iba coming into a closer political re- pC
ton with the United States. They la
Id me that, in the event of Cuba's Il
ming into the United States, either Ii
a Territory on the same political "
sis as Hawaii, or under a protec- D.
rate with free access Of her products m
the markets of the United States, oil
lille the blow would be a. staggering h
e to the sugar industry OF Hawaii, D,
would not paralyze it. These men d;
ofess to have made a careful ac- D.
uniting, and TO have provided for such w
They asserted that free n
lban sugar would ruin the weak &C
intations of Hawaii and those that ST
2 barely paying a profit under pres
conditions The strong, well-man-
ed, dividend-paying plantations, they