The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-02-06
IMPORTANCE Of
THESE ISLANDS
Observations of a Special Agent
of the United States
Government.

! wall the commercial anu 1hdNSA"
!, World, New York, prints the report
Mr.. Clark on conditions IN Hawai
from observations he took while strand
ed here by the Manchuria mishap. III
article is reproduced below. There 1
lust one wild break in it, where MI
) Clark tells of a yield of between fou
and five tons of cane to the acre here
He would have been fairly correct IL
giving that amount of tonnage as thu
average yield of sugar to the acre
The article reads as follows:
w. A. Graham Clark, special agent
for the investigation of the cotton
goods trade of China, while en- route
thither was detained at Honolulu by
a steamship wreck, and made use OF
his time in making a study of the
commercial features of the Hawaiian
Islands. His report from Honolulu dis
eusses the questions of the hour re-
lating to the foreign trade of the Is
lands and their economic development:
"Hawaii, the Crossroads of the Pa
cifc,' is a central point for the great
ships that thread their way back and
forth across the Pacific carrying the
interchange of the muscle with the
brain products of the world. Polit-
ieally, commercially, and strategically
it is important to the United States
and its Importance will be vastly in
creased with the opening of the Pana-
ma canal. AS westward the tide of
empire takes its way and our western
shores are peOpled and the Orient
arouses to it's strength, it is probable
that it viii be but. few years before
the tide of the worlds greatest COM
meree will flow through its ports. Sit
uated In a direct line between Pana-
ma and Japan, between Sydney and
Seattle, the nearest route between San
Francisco and the Philippines, and
touched by the majority of the great
liners plying between the Oceident and
the Orient, its Importance will grow
with the expansion of trade. The Ha-
waiian Territory is composed of eight
principal islands, with a population
according to census of 1900 of 154,001.
That was six years ago and there is
no official census available since, but
it is estimated that the present popu
lation is about 10000, divided, ap-
into 10000 natives and
1000 kanakas, $4,000 japanese, 10000 |
5000 Koreans, 1000 Portuguese,
and 5000 whites. This is about 8 white |
people to ISL Asiatics. Portuguese, and
native Hawaiians. That the above |
slight increase of population is cor
.ect is shown by the fact that while
The japanese numbered ellis in 1900
md 3S,479 have since been admitted,
IN unofficial census in April by Editor
Shiozawa, which is believed to be APP
correct, makes the present
Japanese population less than $4,000.
eat present Hawaii Territory is dis
inctively a one-crop agricultural
country. Sugar, protected by the tariff,
has become the one great product and
orms % per cent. of the total value
# the exports from the islands. Of
he total exports of $40, 1924 in 1906,
'25, 495, 427, or 94.4 per cent, was SUI
.ar; and of the total of $685. 6S in
905, $35,112,127, or 96.7 per cent,
vas sugar. Relying on one product the
of the islands, to consider
BILE extent, rises or falls with the
rice of suga;.
Sugar being the money crop OF the
stands, the cane is cultivated on
lrge scale and is a very important
Industry, covering about 100000 acres.
n the use of improved methods in this
Industry and in yield of cane per acre
between and 5 tons-and yield of
ugar per ton Hawaii probably leads
he world. Steam plows are used in
he fields, private steam railways on
he plantations carry the cane from the
cid to the mill, where the latest Stan
nd electrical machinery is used, and
hen it is shipped on the plantation
ailway to the plantation wharf to be
arried to Honolulu or Hilo for ship
lent east Vast irrigation works and
ostly pumping stations have been in
tailed. Some of the mills cost over a
lillion dollars each, and the compa-
les, of which there are over so in the
stands, are capitalized at from a few
thousands to FIVE millions.
The Territory needs diversification
t industries and concerted efforts are
eng made to this end. The shipment
pineapples and of bananas has
eveloped into quite an industry and
forts are being made to push the
ale of the alligator pear, mangoes.
nd other tropical fruit First-class
offee is raised and with favorable
larkets would develop rapidly. To-
acco is being tried and has had some
lccess. Sisal is an experiment thar