The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-06-10


Hawaii, II there Is nothing TO be gain.
ed by tho aforementioned railroad
To me IL il as clear as the sun ON a
bright cloudless day and / believe, gen.
tlemen, that the same thing is ap.
parent TO each and all OF you.
Should the railroad men in this Ter
ritory succeed in having the interstate
commerce law applied TO water trans.
portation in this Territory, it will be
the means of placing the entire trans
portation business between aud on the
islands in the nrnds of Oue OF the big
gest monopolies that the merchants OF
this Territory have ever had to contend
against. That this is the object IN
view is clearly shown by an article
published in last Sunday 8 Advertiser,
from which 1 quote as follows:
"The railroad company}s represent
atives contend that the lnterlsland
business here Is practically that Of u
local railroad company. Ii the eompa.
ny is not placed under the interstate
commerce laws, and made to publish It's
rates and submit to the conditions of
those laws, the railroad company may
ness itself to insure rates 20 It's over.
land shippers beyond their island
terminal ports"
Gigantic Monopoly.
Now, gentlemen, what does that
meant Simply this: That you will be
at the mercy of a gigantic monopoly,
who will snap their fingers at any at
Aat at In tar 20,
cure reasonable rates of freight and
you will be in the hands Of eombina-
ton of men who are trying to do every
thing in their power to advance their
own personal interests at the expense
of the merchants and people of this city.
Again let me quote from Mr.. Thurs
ton IS paper as follows:
1.-THE railroad company's attitude in
the matter is said to be due to an opin-
ion that the interisland rates are too
high, and that the proposed federal reg.
nlation would cause reductions to the
benefit Of settlers, small farmers,
etc. -
Wool and Small Farmers.
Now, gentlemen, this is an attempt
pure and simple, that has often been
made to pull the wool over your eyes
and to make you believe that the fail
ure of the small farmer to make a sue
cess in his line of business, is owing
to the exorbitant and excessive freight
rates at present being charged by the
company carrying on the water trans
portation business in this Territory
This is absolutely false in every re-
spect, as can be proven by an investi'
cation of the freight rates now in oper-
alton. At the time Mr.. Newell of the
Federal Reclamation Service was here,
this matter was brought to his atten-
tion by parties who claimed that moth
| ing could be done in the way of small
farming, as long as the freight rates
then charged were continued. Mr..
Newell made personal investigation
into the matter and went thoroughly
into the details of our freight charges
at the close of which he stated that
he was satisfied that there was no
foundation of fact in the complaints
made. He stated further, that the
failure of the small farming business
in Hawaii, was not owing to the freight
rates that the farmer had to pay, but
was owing to the fact that there was
no systematic way in which his prod
ucts could be disposed of, after he had
! gotten them to market, and until some
plan. was carried out, through 6
farmers Exchange or otherwise for the
sale of his produce, it would be use
less to attempt small farming in this
Territory, even if the product of the
small farmer was transported for moth
ing.
Venture That Failed.
Mr.. Thurston also knows this to be {
fact. On one occasion, he himself ask
ed the management of the Inter Island
company to grant special rate d
freight on thimble berries from Hilo t.
Honolulu, to see il any business coulC
be developed in that line, and the com
pany agreed to bring the berries to Ho
nolulu for three months without charge
but in spite of this the venture proved
failure.
To show you, gentlemen, what tn
people of the mainland think of tn
proposition to put water transportation
under the jurisdiction of the interstat
commerce law, let me quote from an ar
tiele published in prominent marine
journal during the month of May last
which reads as follows:
GA bill introduced by Senator
Ell1ins recently, as an amendment
to the Hepburn Act, is intended to
bring regular steamship lines en-
gagged in coastwise trade under the
control and regulation of the in
terstate commerce commission. 1t
terstate Commerce Commission. 1t
is admitted that coastwise traffic by
steamers is regulator of freight
rates and the public generally has
been much benefited by COMPETE
ton existing between regular lines
and other steamers. 1t frequently
becomes necessary for the regular
line steamers to meet cuts in freight
rates to save the traffic, and to ham
per them with the restrictions of
the interstate commerce law would
be detrimental to the general trade.
One of the worst features in con.
nection with this regulation, would
be the requirement that regular
lines must publish their rates and
can not change same without Civ
ing thirty days notice. This bill
has met the disapproval of all com
mercial bodies not only on this