The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-11-10

issue of $S,300,000 and took up the
option the law gave them on the land,
despite the protest of the owner that
he wished to return new assessment
value. This land was cut up into
small tracts and offered to settlers on
easy terms. Now, instead of there be-
ing one great, unimproved estate, used
as n sheep run, there are thousands of
farms, thousands of families and great
er taxes coming in to the government,
while the government from the sale
of the lands redeemed its bonds.
"Another immediate result of the
prompt action of the government was
that many other large landowners ask
ed for the return of their assessment
blanks, having quickly discovered that
they had made mistake in the fig
ures they had sent in.
"It is not probable that the New
Zealand or any other law could be
brought here and applied without
changes to fit it to local conditions,
but the principle of some such law
should be applied here. The new Irish
land law, compelling landlords to sell
to tenants, might be modified for our
use, or some other such law. Other
wise, with the estates increasing as
they are in area, our population here
will become one such as the peon pop
| ulation of Mexico.
Everybody admits that our land
system is wrong, but no one as yet
has been found willing to come out
openly for correction of the abuses.
Everyone admits that our system of
taxation is wrong, that our wealthy
escape with lower percentage of tax
alton than the poor, but no one has
come out openly to suggest measures
that will equalize matters. There is
decided fear on the part of our public
men that they would antagonize the
lip interests of the Territory if they
pressed too vigorously for reforms. In
| private conversations our officials
| from the lowest to the highest will
agree that things are wrong in Ha-
| waii, but none are willing to make
any clean-cut public declaration nor
give countenance to any declaration
of policy along the lines privately
agreed upon.
| "We have had a land commission
and tax commission at work. What
! lines the members are working on,
| 10 not know. I do know, however
that unless they will recommend rad.
zeal departures from the systems OF
land administration and taxation now
| in force, their work so far as settling
the question here is concerned will be
useless.
| est appears to me that someone has
to make some declarations along the
i lines of my ideas, and will not hest
tate to come out in public for my
! part. Personally am in better pc
sition to do so than most. am abso
lutely Independent of everybody and
| have, too, no self interest to serve in
this matter. 7 am convinced, more
over, that the future welfare and de
velopment of Hawaii along the linet
desired by the Washington admins
tration depends upon some such steps
las I have outlined. and / am going
to work to bring about the adoption
of such policy by the Republican
party of the Territory.
'sT realize that nothing in this car
be done in hurry. Careful attention
must be given to the questions, ant
the details of the measures to be ad
vocated must be gone into with de
, liberation and thoroughness, but tn
principles must be such as have WORKED
well elsewhere where conditions hav
not been dissimilar.
, ''We must have workable apd gen
, erous homestead law; we must fore
, the big landholders into doing some
, thing with their land or let Others d.
J something, and we must equalize tax
; alton, not tax boatman for working
| for living, for instance, and let tn
8 plantations and the corporations oil
| with the payment of only part 0
A what they should pay into the publ
2 treasury"