The Hawaiian gazette., 1909-02-09
WILL WORK TO
GET FREE
TRADE

hNholfbBCif hHu VIM
formerly made Honolulu his home, ar.
rived Saturday on the transport Buford,
en- route to Washington with the Con.
stabulary band, to help In the cam
paign at the national capital on behalf
of the commercial interests of the Phil.
ippines.
Mr.. Sellner says Honolulu and the
people of Hawaii, generally, should help
the Philippine propaganda for free
trade between the islands and the Uni.
ted States. "It will pay you to help
u.s. he observed.
"In the first place, the opening Of
the United States sugar market to the
product of the Philippine canefelds will
not disturb your present advantage. We
are not after the trade you possess, or
can possess we are simply seeking to
sell to the American consumer the com.
paratively small portion our limited
sugar lands will produce of the two
million tons required annually beyond
the producing capacity of the United
States and Hawaii.
"You have established your footing,
and you have n big natural advantage
in your proximity to the home market.
Apart from the contention that you
have come within ten per cent. of your
total possible production, the natural
increase in both the per capita and
gross consumption of sugar in the Uni.
ted States protects future expansion of
your business. Therefore, IL has seem.
ed to us in the Philippines that Ha.
waiian opposition to Philippine free
trade with the United States is, to say
the least, unreasonable and ungenerous,
You cannot supply the home market UNI
assisted; yet you stand ready with a
shotgun to keep the door closed
against us.
"When Won consider the advantages
you have derived through the occupa-
ton of the Philippines by America;
when you delve a little back into the
history of your own commercial rela.
tions with the United States, sense
of the unfairness of your attitude must
be apparent. We are only asking for
n slice of opportunities similar to those
you enjoyed for twenty years prior to
annexation, through the treaty arrang-
ed in King Kalakaua IS time. To OPP
pose this tardy act of justice towards
our remote possessions is an act that
comes with bad grace from Hawaii.
Ours is American territory and we ask
simply for something which you enjoy
ed for two decades before the Stars
and Stripes were raised over your soil.
During the fiscal year 1908, the Uni.
ted States imported duty-paying sugar
to the amount of 1,6s5,99S tons of 1000
pounds. Only 19,2O4 tons came from
the Philippines. Cuba supplied 1,154,-
594 tons; and foreign, bounty-aided
competitors, $4,000 tons. The Amer.
lean in the Philippines is the advance
agent of American commerce in the
Orient and he is entitled to his com.
mission. In asking n fair advantage
over his bounty-fed foreign competitor,
his request seems modest enough.
Remember that prior to American
occupation of the Philippines, the is.
lands enjoyed the full benefit of the
markets Of Spain. The planter was
sure of ready sale for all the sugar
he could produce and allied industries
thrived. We have closed these markets
and it is up to us to replace them by
our own. We must do this, or see the
| islands languish under our very eyes
without putting out n hand to help
them.
GAS to the moral aspect of the ques-
gress has duty to perform and when
the question is presented as it will be
by capable Philippine business advo,
Gates now on their way to the capital,
the bottom will be knocked out of the
opposition tub. The real opposition to
free trade with the Philippines comes,
in the United States, from the beet
sugar producers, whose total production
i, .,.. a L.
amount of dutypaying imported sugar.
Now, when they say that the free adj
mission of Philippine sugar will spell
disaster for the twelve states in which
they operate, the speciousness Of this
argument is apparent.
"From the American point of view,
it is little thing we ask. From tho
| Philippine point of view, it rs ques.
| ton of industrial life or death. And
the Philippine planter puts it up to yon
in his hour of need to play the game.
81 say it will pay you to help us.
1t will. The presence Of the Buford
at this wharf is an exemplor of one
of the advantages derived by Honolulu
from American occupation of the Phil.
| ippines. AS the years roll on, there
| are bound to arise many matters of
| kindred interest where we can help you
and yon can help us. A reciprocal
policy of this sort seems more business.
like than one of dog-in-the.manger sci.
fshness."
Mr.. Sellner does not favor the 300,-
900 tons limit bill. He says Mr., @. b.
Wells, a Hawaiian sugar planter, ex-
ploded that mythical benefit bubble
when he was in Manila some time ago.
Mr.. Sellner quoted Mr.. Wells as say.
ing:
Large sugar interests will never
come to the Philippines under a limita.
ton of 100000 tons that was the figure
then set free import into the United
States. Such limitation will prove
a most effective barrier in discouraging
capital that might come here, if, as
in Hawaii, unlimited free entry was
allowed. -. As in Hawaii as soon as
il was proclaimed territory, so here,
were free trade proclaimed with the
United States, / believe that capital
would at once turn in this direction and
millions be invested. -
Mr.. Sellner says there is no reason
why Congress should pnt limit on
Philippine free sugar. ''Nature has
done that he says; "the land suit
able for cane is limited.
+" But, given fair chance, II will
I