The Hawaiian gazette., 1907-12-06

Journeying from one island to another
one is bound to hear a lot of talk abou
the need for Americanizing Hawaii
Different men mean different thing
when they employ this phrase, or rath
er they have widely varying prescrip
| tions for bringing about the same re
suits. The ideal they seek is the agri
cultural communities of the well-peo
pied farming States of the mainland
When they talk about Americanizins
Hawaii they see in their minds eye the
fertile valleys of these islands dividet
into small farms. and each farm ownet
by a white American citizen and rails.
ing a diversified crop. They see the
Asiatic eliminated as a social and labor
factor. They think of every man own
| ing his own home. They want to see
these small farms growing coffee, pine
| apples, tropical fruits. cocoa, rubber
and sisal. as well as sugar. This, II
is to be feared, will be a dream for a
long time to Come.
If it were not for Hawaii's primacy
as a sugar-producing country, 1 do not
believe there would be thousand peo-
pie in the islands today. There would
be nothing to keep them here. Broad
ly speaking, nothing is being raised on
large scale, and profitabiy. except
sugar. Pineapples can be, and are be-
ing, grown successfully both on Ha-
waii and Oahu. But pineapples are not
one of the staple necessities of life,
and the market can be easily glutted.
Again, they cannot be raised profitably
except in the vicinity of a cannery.
Presently the leases will expire on
large tracts of Government land now
planted in sugar cane. What is tn be
done with this land? Many people e>say.
cut it up into homesteads for new set
tiers. The query arises, what would
people grow on the land? Nobody
seems to know, or rather everybody
seems to know, but to have different
ideas. All of the big cane plantations
were cattle ranges before they were
taken up and planted in sugar. The
improvement was made possible by
costly irrigation works. If the sugar
plantations were destroyed, many be-
lieve that the land would revert to its
original condition, and the wealth of
the Territory be swept away as though
by an earthquake.
AMERICAN FARMERS WILL NOT
COME.
The men most deeply interested in
the future of Hawaii have about given
up hope of inducing American farmers
to come from the mainland and settle
here in the islands. There is not wide
enough play for opportunity. If a man
m okaS n foi1 1rrra III
ing, he has no recourse left excep: to
go back home, and home is more than
1000 miles away. Conditions here are
wholly unlike those on the mainland
AS in other tropical countries, the
agricultural products that can be rails
ed successfully must be grown on large
areas of land, cultivated by a low
priced and unambitious tenantry. A
man with broad outlook and with
any desire to improve himself in the
world would hardly be contented cut
ting cane
To preserve her economic balance,
Hawaii must have large number of
contented laborers willing to work
cheaply and not desirous of improving
their lot. This is the basis of some
the feeling against the Japanese: tha-
they are not content to stay in the
zane fields, but move on to the main
land, where better wages and bette
conditions OF living prevail. OF those
that stay behind. many seek to bette
themselves by going into business or
becoming artisans in competition with
white and native labor
1t is the hope of those who are bring
ng Portuguese laborers to the islands |
low that they will establish homes |
Ind become rooted to the soil. Oppos- |
ID to the principle of settling the in
iabitants of the country upon the land, !
Ind giving them individual crops, has |
,een the plantation systematic homes, |
With individual interests in the system
# doing things by wholesale, by COM
,ining large capital with labor in
'reat numbers-the very antithesis of
he homestead or individual system.
MEN WANT NO
SMALL FARMERS.
The advocate of the plantation sys-
EN- looks with a shudder upon an in
ependently owned kuleana anywhere
within the radius of his Jurisdiction,
nd buys every small holding that is
or sale. AS for selling a piece of
and lying within his sphere of in
uence" to laborer or small farmer,
ne bare suggestion of such a propo-
ition seems sacrilegious to the ultra
dvocate of the plantation system.
The sugar industry of Hawaii and
he plantation system have grown up
1t has been a natural
rowth. In the early days of the in I
ustry, when the plantations were |
lemselves small, lands adjacent to
lie plantation were almost entirely
eld by those who had neither capital,
Intelligence, nor desire to engage in the !
agar cane business. They were con- !
mt to work for wages, and small ,
ages at that. The men who did en-
age in the sugar business were keen,
ltelligent business men, who natural |
; were willing to employ cheap labor
nd take the chances of large profits.
THE HUNT FOR LABORERs.
AS the business grew, the necessity &
n additional laborers became acute. I
he planters with more or less spas I
odic energy searched for laborers J
sewhere. Naturally they secured /
lem along the lines of least resistance. l
hinese were easier to obtain; their c
ages were low, and there was an un- z
mited supply of them. South Sea Is S
nders were comparatively near at 4
and, and, although less efficient than
hinese, offered a desirable divergence a
nationality The rfsino tide - - | =