The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1908-01-17

House and also with Samuel Gompers
president of the American Federation
of Labor, who was once opposed tC
the matter but who Is no longer so.
There was a question of how best
, TO introduce the matter into Congress
The Secretary of the Interior promis-
ed that he would send a message tS
Congress with a bill, but later events
decided him not to do so. There arose
some antagonism against the depart
mental heads suggesting legislation
: although that has been the course pur-
; sued for the past fifty-one years. Some
of the new Congressman took the mat
. ter up and it has now been referred
to the Committee on Rules.
in this matter. as in all others, all
the Hawaiian representatives in
Washington. the Delegate, Mr.. Hatch,
Mr.. Mcclellan, Mr.. Wood and myself
cooperated. Finally we concurred In
) the suggestion of the Delegate that
} Representative Hepburn should intro
duce the bill into the House and Sem
ator Clark into the Senate. This has
been done and we hope for favorable
action.
Another matter that I worked on
was the securing of an amendment TO
the Coastwise Shipping laws that
would suspend them in favor of pas
sengers and perishable goods from Ha-
wall. The matter OF sending perish
able goods has been somewhat over
looked by the majority. but 1 rather
think that it is Of greater importance
20 us than the passenger feature. 7 be-
lieve that many of US do not realize
the great advantage and profit that
will come to us in the shipment of
fresh pineapples. AS I understand II
there is no limit to the market and II
we can get vessels fitted up to proper
ly handle the fruit, and enough of
| them, We can send our pines all over
the United States and even to Eng
land. A large dealer in Chicago told
me that he alone could handle two
thousand carloads in a year. and
understand that another large dealer
in New York can do the same. The
dealers say that there are no pines to
equal ours and that there is no limit
to the demand But we must have
them delivered in good shape. Two
shipments were made recently, ona on
an eight-day boat with ventilated hold
and one on a six-day boat not fitted
with accommodations. The shipment
in the ventilated slow boat arrived in
San Francisco ninety -eight per cent.
in good condition: the faster boat, not
ventilated. arrived with only sixty per
cent. of the fruit in good shape. Our
growers can sell (. o. b. on the vessels
here If the vessels are properly fitted
up to carry the fruit. Every effort is
being made now to have two other
steamships to afford space and forced
ventilation, with good prospects of sue
cess and there are others being ap-
preached, making five in all. Maybe. !
if we get satisfactory assurances that
this will be done-the proper schedules
and the boats fitted properly-we can
strike out the words 'perishable goods
from the bill. The steamship COM
panies are very anxious that we do
this, lest this be the opening wedge.
Another question of tactics arose
over the manner of introduction of
this bin A bill had already been in
troduced allowing the Postmaster Cen
eral to extend to vessels of the sec
ond-class on the Pacific the same small
mail subsidy as the boats of the first
class on the Atlantic. that is to six
teen-knot boats here the 81 a mile al
lowed to twenty-knot vessels plying
between the Eastern coast and Eu-
rope. l have hopes that this will pass,
for II will reinstate the Oceanic boats,
the Sonoma, Ventura and Sierra, on
their run. at least 1 trust so, and en-
courage others to put steamships on
the run or add vessels to the lines al
ready established. This same bill was
introduced into the last Congress and
passed the Senate. but not the House.
The matter is up again now and the
Secretary of Commerce and Labor
feels very sanguine that it will pass.
Now we cannot expect to get both of
these and the question is, which would
be the most valuable to us? 1 hope
that the subsidy bill will pass. Then
the question will be whether to in
troduce the other or not. 1t was un-
derstood when left the East thar the
subsidy bill would be favorably re- !
ported on after the holidays.
I'm the immigration matter there
was question of tying up with the
South which wants a measure some
what similar to ours but it was de-
cided best to go it alone. This would
not mean opposition to the Southern
bill, but would mean that If that gem
eral bill passed we would get the
benefit of it. while If the bill were
defeated we would have a chance Of
our bill passing. There are some rea-
sons why our bill might pass even If
the other were defeated 1t does not
involve any general legislation and
would not meet the same opposition
owing to our peculiar conditions
81 have hopes that subcommittee
of the special immigration committee
will visit Honolulu in the very near
future. We cannot expect the Con-
sressmen on the committee to come
now, for Congress is in session and
after the adjournment there will be
the elections, but a portion of the
membership might come
ORGANIC ACT AMENDMENT.
Another matter that I worked on
was in regard to the amendment of
the Five Year clause, as il Is called.
BY the Organic Act we are limited to
i've years, in our leases of public land
IN the Territory. l sought to have this
to allow Of leases for twenty
rears. This is not meant to tie up