The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1907-08-15
INAUGURAL
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by the construction of the lsthmian
canal, will enlarge the market for the
products of this pivotal point as well
as increase its facilities of transporta-
ton out of all proportion to its Sc
parate importance The development
of harbors already begun will enable
us to take advantage of these faVorlng
circumstances and at the same time
will encourage the building OF belt
lircs of railroad about the principal
islands. Such lines will remove one
of the main obstacles now confronting
the would-be settler, not alone by IA
cilitating transportation to and from
the seaboard and reducing its cost,
but by affording means of conveying
crops to central factories and furnish
ing the advantages of competing rae
tory owners Development of internal
means of transportation will make pos
sible the production for local consump-
! ton of much that is now imported IN
such enormous quantities. The Ter1-
tory is underpopulated; it needs de-
Ivelopment along many lines in proper
relation to each other in order to
reach the highest point of efficiency
through division and combination OF
labor and capital Changes that may
at first seem inimical to this enter
prise or that will in the end prove
advantageous through the general up
building Many of our lands do not re-
ouIre irrigation; as to those that do,
fsilure to devise feasible methods of
irrigation for small proprietors would
rlean qualification in view of the re-
cent reclamation projects of the west,
the ancient complicated systems OF
Hawaiian water rights, and reputed
American ingenuity and enterprise.
The Planters Experiment Station, the
Federal Experiment Station, the Blu
reau of Agriculture and Forestry, the
College of Agriculture and Mechanic
Arts, the special employment of eX-
perts and scientists in many lines in
dictate a disposition to pursue appro
pirate methods for discovery of suit
able crops and methods of cultivation
and manufacture. The public schools
must be directed by the same spirit of
inventiveness and adaptability in Or
der to meet requirements by instillins
into rising generations respect for
manual labor and interest as well as
instruction in agricultural and mocha
nical pursuits. The factors are many;
all must be made to contribute. The
more detailed the consideration the
more feasible appears the object, but
in general it would seem strange if the
spirit that is converting what was
once called the Great American Des-
ert" into what is coming to be called
the Bread Basket of the World can
not insure success in a land of sucn
salubrity of climate, fertility of soil,
favorableness of location and natural
attrictiveness as these islands possess.
The policies of small landed prOprie-
lOISulDS
not necessarily antagonistic to the
prosperity of the sugar industry There
is no inherent reason for opposition to
that industry; every reason for aiding
it, Probably nowhere are business en-
terprises, large and small, conducted
more generally under corporate forms,
but probably nowhere are they con-
Quoted more honorably or with less
abuse of capitalistic power. The SUI
gar industry is the proverbial goose
that lays the golden egg-from which
directly or indirectly the Territory and
her people derive their main support.
To destroy or seriously cripple it would
deprive us of what we have and rem
der us impotent to get what we want.
If it were still in it's infancy it would
call for most strenuous efforts to bring
it to it's present extent and state of
efficiency. Our policy should be con-
structive, not destructive, nor even
substitutional except as to methods.
Indeed, far from being in opposition,
the campaigns for small landed pro-
prietorships and the sugar interests
should be, for best results to each, in
closest conjunction. 1t is not too much
to expect this. Those in control of
the sugar plantations are among the
most public spirited of our people or
of any people; more than that, they
need the small settler as much as he
needs them. The land laws must, of
course, be applied literally for the
promotion of settlement and strictly
for the prevention of speculation of of
absorption into large estates, but these
very objects demands that the laws
shall be applied with due regard to
facts. 1t would be fatal to those OBJ
jects to divide among small settlers,
as leases to plantations expire, sugar
lands which would inevitably soon pass
to the plantations in fee.-whether be-