The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1909-10-15
IS STRIPPING
CANE PROFITABLE?

of Hawaii for September. The article
reviews the main points of the strip
ping and antistripping controversy
which has been going on between the
plantation managers for the past many
months and invites correspondence
from practical operators in order that
additional light may be shed on the
subject.
The Planters Monthly contains
more than the usual amount of up-to-
date sugar information and articles of
special interest to the plantation man.
A review of sugar conditions through
out the world, of crop prospect and
estimated consumption, contains much
to encourage the Hawaiian producer
with prospect of good prices. Local
opinions on the advisability of adding
a mechanical department to the plant
ers experiment station are given, the
arguments in favor being that i'm.
proved harvesting machinery might be
evolved at the station, whereas the
expense of experimenting is often too
heavy to be borne privately. Another
of the main articles of the issue is
the report made by F. Muir in his
search for cane borer parasites
The question of cane stripping is
discussed as follows:
What Saves Pays.
"To evolve labor saving ways,
means and devices should be the slogan
of the Hawaiian sugar planter. Iu
season and out of season, there should
be ever present before every plantation
manager, this question:
"What can ! do to accomplish a
given amount Of work with a less
number of laborersi Under existing
conditions it is more important to re-
duce the number of laborers required
on plantation than it is to reduce
the cost of production of sugar.
cit does no good to reduce the cost
of a given operation by dollar ton,
if the operation requires ten men and
there are only five men available to
perform the work! Under such cir
cumstances the economy is theoretical
only; one that would be achieved if
the work could be done; but if the
work can not be done at all, owing
to lack of laborers, then what becomes
of the economyH The situation is like
that of the man who would lift the
world if he could get fulcrum on
which to rest his lever.
"Reduction of the cost of produc-
ton is always and ever to be sought;
but the manager who can devise ways
or methods of accomplishing with nine
men work which now requires ten men,
is the man which the present occasion
| requires.
cit is up to each manager of a plan
tation to take account of stock of the
various operations on his plantation
one at time, and see if there is moi
some one of them, which in some way
by some means or other, can not bt
accomplished with a less number OF
laborers than are now being used.
''Some managers have been doing
this. Why do not all of themf
HPractical managers of plantation:
know more about the practical detail:
of managing plantation than doe'
the editor of the Planters Monthly
but the latter would like to put up tt
the managers for consideration, tn,
following propositions and inquiries
and let them, out of the plenitude OF
their experience, furnish the answers
"The planters experiment station
has demonstrated by two successive
field experiments, that stripping can'
is not only an unnecessary expense
but that it is positive injury to the
cane; that unstripped cane weighs
more and produces more sugar per tor
of cane than stripped cane, so that tn,
cost of stripping is not only dea'
loss, but causes an actual reduction
in the output of sugar.
"The results of the experiment sta
tion have been verified by a numbe
of plantations, both irrigated and non
, irrigated, some showing greater an
some less degree of saving; but non
showing any benefit from stripping.
"Stripping is one of the most dis
. agreeable tasks on plantation
and one of the greatest labor cor
sumers; and yet if we are col
| rectly informed, many of the plar
tation managers are still strippin
} cane.
"Pertinent questions to each mar
ager are;
"Are you still stripping your cane
If so, why9
"lf the demonstration of the e'
pertinent station and the plantation
who have tried nonstripping on larg
scale do not convince you, have yo
tried nonstripping on your own plai
tatioI on commercial scale-not o
n ten rows in the back yard-but o
two hundred acres in the regular couri
+ of cultivationi IL not, how do yo
know that you are not wasting, NJ
/. only the money of your company, b'
/, using laborers uselessly, when the
n services are urgently needed at 9th
10 woTkf
"Is It not time for You to get
Ie hustle on aud find out for yourse
a whether stripping pays or not, instel
10 of going on like the Chnaman, wi
70 does thing because his greatgran
o father did the same thing before hin
10 "The editor does not presume
n make suggestions 10 practical men,
n, Is simply exercising his legltima
function NJ asking questions, Amol
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