The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-08-25

land is not suitable for sugar cane. but
is admirably adapted for a variety of
crops that it has been demonstrated
can be grown and sold at good profit.
There IS no disposition on the part of
Hawaii to shirk her duty but this task
; is too big a one for that small com
munitv TO tackle alone. Figures have
already been quoted to show what has
been done by private enterprise TO
develop the sugar lands. The time has
now come for the development of other
lands, Adequately to do this work the
assistance of the Federal Government
is required.
In her support of the Federal Gov
eminent, Hawaii Is no laggard Ever
since annexation Hawaii has made full
and regular contributions TO The fed
eral revenues. Last year over a mil
lion and a third dollars were turned
in as customs receipts and practically
every dollar S worth of the articles i'm
ported was used locally. Unlike most
of the ports having large customs re-
ceipts, Hawaii is not a distributing
center. What is imported is fer local
consumption. For the year ending
June 80, 1908. Hawaii s customs re-
ceipts were greater by over half a mil
lion than those of Portland, Oregon,
and We're within 100000 of those of
the Puget Sound district. The dis
triet of Hawaii ranks twelfth in the list
of the sixteen customs districts where
the annual revenue exceeds a million.
In the nine years since organization of
territorial government the customs re-
ceipts of Hawaii have amounted to
81, $3.50, 3S0.37. The geater part of this
amount is net profit to the Govern
ment, for the receipts in Hawaii from
internal revenues collections and from
other sources beside customs duties are
nearly sufficient to offset the operating
expenses of the local branches OF the
several federal departments. But the
Territory does not stop here.
At the session of the Legislature re-
Gently closed, special tax of per
cent, in addition to an existing income
tax of the same amount, was laid on
all incomes over $4,000 to provide a
fund "to promote the conservation
and development of the natural re-
sources of the Territory through i'm
migration and other means - This law
was enacted practically at the request
of the larger corporations on whom
its burdens primarily fall. The fund
is to be used in assisting desirable i'm
migrants and for photographic, forest,
experiment station and other conserva-
ton work. Following visits to Hawaii
in 1908 of James r. Garfield, late Sec.
rotary of the Interior, and F. FL.
Newell, Director of the Reclamation
Service, cooperative work has already
been started between the Territory and
the u. S. Geological Survey in meas
| uring the streams and ascertaining
definitely what land can be reclaimed
for homemaking through irrigation.
The logical eorrollary is the extension
to Hawaii of the Federal Reclamation
| Service and it is to this end that Ra-
wall appears today in this Congress.
| A bill blouse of Representatives, 25,-
! 141-January 4, 1907 has been intro
| dueed and is now pending before Con
| Irrigation of Arid Lands. This bill
contains provisions for securing the re-
payment to the Reclamation Fund of
| all expenditures for irrigation projects
made in Hawaii. To secure its enact
ment into law Hawaii seeks to obtain
| the influence of this Congress.
Let me sum up the argument. Ha-
| wall is a fullfedged territory of the
United States From it's stategic posi-
| ton its protection, development and
prosperity affects directly the protec-
ton and prosperity of the mainland,
particularly of the irrigation states. It's
citizens have already expended large
sums in developing the sugar lands but
the point has now been reached where
IN order to create homes on the public
lands private capital must be supple
mented by governmental aid. The most
practical way in which such assistance
can be given is through the extension
to Hawaii of the benefits of the Re-
clamation Act. A precedent exists in
the extension of this act to Texas Ha-
waii is of right more. directly in line
because the lands to be reclaimed
would be turned over by the Territory
to the Federal Government for allot-
ment and sale, thereby making the
lands to be reclaimed federal lands.
Like all reclamation projects the ex-
penditure of money in Hawaii would
be profitable investment. The money
is not merely paid out. It is a loan
repayable after a term of years, and
in this case loan secured by land of
far greater value than the amount au-
vanced. The money is not for the de-
xelopment of additional sugar land 1t
is for the making of homes. To do
its full duty in the task that the ma
ton has put upon it to perform, the
Territory must have an increased white
population. The only way that such
people can be secured on a sufficient
scale to produce the desired result. is
through the extension to Hawaii of
the Federal Reclamation Act Hawaii,
the youngest of the territories, appeals
to her sister states to support her just
claim that she receive the benefits of
this law