The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-11-03


+ iinfa ai Hsliaf ln lefliffiaG shh Islands
Ul llauHll Sac, iaf, mofe ID eath. be-
llapi. fhaf SIZE advantages nf tht elHaf
/ inlualfY d lhf Islands aff worth % uf
we mNsi klFr tUuelioiaiie bodies ~
IfnnIt fhfrn On ihr 4nlrgnit bills. and
/ then. a. protect ouf communications We
must have ihr fnffhof protection VI n
I zig navy and Of q fortified Panama
lanai, and We must make heroic efforts
% subfidifa merchant ships that they
may become ARhtiuH vessels I'M time 0f
need. What combination of costly
projections In order that n few rich
men should become still richer hy PRO
dhcing sugar on lands where. without
taxing the consumer Of the sunnr. 10
could not possibly bc grown IN compe.
tition with great sugar producing conn.
tries like Cubal
cone wonders indeed what would
| have happened VI fiawnii he'd never had
protective tHriff on sugar. Certainly
no such amount of land could have been
opened for sugar production. hut this
might have given nm opportunity for
more white settlers TO come in naturally
and to practice more diversified agri-
culture No such domination Of the
politics Of the Islands would have boon
possible. Tho development would I'M
doubtedly not have been so rapid. but
IL might have been steadier and in the
long run more democratic. And immi-
grants would have come in slowly and
could have been more educated and as
simiiated without placing the institu-
lions Of the island TO the strain under
which they are now laboring The Inn
portation of hordes Of ignorant peopls
have brought in all sorts of diseases
which in this tropical climate spread
like wildfre and necessitate, costly sani-
tary, hospital and health measures to
deal with the cholera. the plague. lep-
rosy and other diseases. Recently in
Their eagerness to get any sort of cheap
labor the planters have been importing
Filipinos. and DR. Ramus, of the u. S.
Marine Hospital service. told me that
over half of them had contagious dis
eases; chiefly dysentery, hookworm, sv-
philis, and tuberculosis
.'Under the same strain it has been
| impossible to maintain the common
school system of the Islands on even
a fair basis of efficiency. Although
the sugar industry was never so profit
able as it is today, giving off rivers
of wealth, thousands of children in the
Islands today are without adequate
public school advantages. / found the
government actually renting rooms in
private Japanese schoolhouses because
there was no money to provide new
school buildings. And yet, while / was
in Hawaii, during the session of the
legislature, the planters association
made fight against an increase in the
tax rate which would give the Terri
tory more money for its schools. :
The profits on sugar during the last
Few years have been enormous On a
product worth over 100000 last
year it is estimated that about one
third was clear profit or course not
all the plantations are profitable, for
under the stimulation of artificial con
ditions, much rather poor sugar land
has been opened, but other Plantations,
on the other hand, have been abnormal
| ly profitable. The actual cost of pro-
dueing sugar on one of the smaller
/ plantations on the ishnd of Hawaii
this year was about $3.50 ton. The
value before shipment was nearly $40
| a ton.
"The same narrow group of men
who own or control the plantations
also own or control nearly everything
else. For example, the fertilizer bust
ness of the Islands, which is very i'm
J portant, is wholly monopolized by two
non-eompetitive corporations, and both
of these corporations are controlled by
the agency corporations. Both are
made to pay fine profits. One of them,
which had been paying IS per cent
profit ona capital of $SO0,00O last year
made stock dividend of 5000, 900
doubling the holdings of its stockhold.
ers. The same group also controls the
| profitable Honolulu iron works, which
has been successful in building high
grade sugar-mill machinery. They also
control practically all the wholesale
and most of the retail mercantile bust.
ness of the Territory. They are inter.
ested, back and forth and in and out
in the banks and trust companies, and
they control, directly or Indirectly
practically all the public utilities, tele.
phones, electric light plants, railroads
and in some degree the steamship lines
If one venture proves Improbable
they make it up on some other venture
" AS in the old South the system has
been eminently successful for those in
control of the land, the machinery
and the labor supply, Many of then
have become very rich They live il
excellent style; they send their SON,
and daughters to Eastern colleges ana
universities; they themselves take FIRE
quent trips to Europe or to the United
n States, and they are as cultivated ant
4 as delightful n people generally nj
there are anywhere to be found in Thu
world.
4" As to the remainder of the popula
tion-the vast majority who do thu
hard work OF the Islands-the system
presents entirely different aspects
some of which ! shall point out in an
other article. The system makes mucl
sugar and large profits, but what sor
of democratic citizenry does it make
Are men improved by III Is ther'
more Justice, more liberty, more broth
erhoodf"
SOCIALISTS AHEAD