The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-06-05
SUGAR IS KING
IN HAWAN-NE|

|
is King. To Hawaii he is a most in
dulgent monarch, for he has brought
this little group of islands to the point
where it is the greatest exporting eoun-
try of its population on earth. This
year the Hawaii sugar crop will sell
for between s4O,OOO.OO0 and 5O,OO0, 900.
The price is high on account of great
shortage in Cuba, Java and elsewhere.
The crop here is larger than ever be-
fore. Last year it was ii0,017 tons.
This year it is estimated at from
475,O0O to 100000 tons.
Hawaii has been growing sugar for
nearly century. By 1875 the produc-
tion had increased until the annual
crop was 1880 tons. Then something
happened. The United States made a
reciprocity treaty with the Kingdom of
Hawaii and the sugar from the islands
was admitted to America free of duty.
Immediately the sugar business began
to take on new life, although the crop
returns did not show an enormous in
crease for some time. Sugar cane can
not be grown over night Each crop
grows two years in Hawaii. Even the
two-year period was not the beginning
of the greater day, for all great busi-
ness must grow. Modern methods of
agriculture have brought the Hawaiian
cane fields to their present productiv-
| ity, but it was the abolition of the duty
on sugar entering the United States
that made this development possible
Twenty years after that treaty went
into effect hawaii became frightened
lest the United States might abrogate
it, as it had the right to do upon one
years notice. Hawaii was clamoring
for annexation. The war with Spain
came up, Hawaii's great strategic value
was impressed upon Congress, and an
nexation came. Free sugar was made
a fixture by that act, for Hawaii was
annexed and made a part and parcel
of the United States before the in
sular possession" to which the Consti-
tuition does not follow the flag, was in
vented.
The treaty of 1875 was made before
there was any beet sugar interests in
the United States, or it would never
have been made at ALL If the Ameri-
can beet sugar industry had been as
great in 1898 as it is now. Hawaiian
annexation probably would have been
defeated.
Hawaii, having benefited by these
things, is now a unit n opposing the
extension of like assistance to the
Philippines. The worst nightmare
that can come to a Hawaiian planter
is the dream of Cuban annexation
Hawaii has the backing of the power
full beet sugar interests in this, and the
beet sugar people have the backing of
the entire stand pat" party on prin-
ciple, so its danger is remote.
1t is interesting to take retrospec
tive glance at the industrial history of
Hawaii to show what King Sugar, with
an American free market, has done. |
Just twenty-five years ago a pamphlet |
was published in Honolulu reviewing |
the sugar industry of the islands. |
Maps of the various islands were given |
with the plantations marked on them |
in red. Tables showed how much land |
was planted in sugar cane and how
much more there was available for that
purpose. At that time, 1882, there were
$4,000 acres of cane, and the estimate /
of the maximum possible acreage
was 1880. As a matter of fact the
present acreage is 213,4O0, or nearly
three times the maximum possible"
of twenty-five years ago The same
said that on the island of
Oahu, where Honolulu is situated, the /
acreage was 5000 and that its maxi
mum extension would be $500. The
sugar acreage of Oahu now is 36,532.
The statistician of 1882 was honest
and painstaking. and his estimates of !
the maximum possible extension of the 1
were not made by guess, but !
by careful surveys. But he did not,
and could not, take into considerat ton {
the present methods of irrigation and I
steam cultivation. I
The irrigation plants now in use on s
Hawaiian sugar plantations cost over I
IA .00O, 000 AS there are only fifty plan 7
ations of considerable size this indi- T
,ates a great expenditure for indi- {
7idual plants. In fact only twenty-six I
have irrigation systems at ]
LII, the others depending on rainfall h
Six plantations have plants which cost Il
'ver a million dollars each. A good
ain that will fill the reservoirs means t
saving of a thousand dollars a day il
or pumping on more than one planta- e
ion. 4
This kind of agriculture requires I
apital. The sugar plantations of Ha n
vail have combined capitalization of v
over s7O,OO0,OOO. The owner s
hip of this is divided between about
900 shareholders. The control of the Il
ugar industry is centered in the hands o
f half a dozen big companies in Ho
olulu, sugar factors. These companies A
ct as agents for the plantations, and Is
hey are not prohibited from owning A
hares in plantation stock. not by any s.
means. There are fourteen suga.
gents on the list, but there are six C
zig ones. These big companies grew r
ut of small stores established many {
ears ago in the days when nobody t
Ireamed of doing business by the mil q
ions. e
The small sugar planters of the old [
lays had to have supplies for their p
places. They obtained them from a r
trading store. When the crop g
vas made they sold their sugar to the C
anne store, or employed the store to Ii
Ict as agent for its sale. As the sugar y
business grew from small matter of f