Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-09
Says He Regulates Attempt of
Planters to Conceal De-
veIopment

pOrtant TESTIMONY given during the
last day OF the Fisher hearing by Mr..
l.. 4. ThRr<t0n. Mr. ThurSt0n de-
clarc> that he has repudiated what he
| terms an effort on the mart OF the
planters ito conceal every develop
ment which they make" He also dis
cu>seS the need for organization
among the small farmers OF the terri
tory and for governmental assistance
to hclD them get IA fair start.
Thurston: | have had some expert
enCe in the Olaa Sugar Company. We
took up some land there doing a
, thousand acres at time with picked
men, with donkey engine and steam
plOws, and it cost them $40 an acre to
get that land cleared ready to pillow.
| don't suppose that the mainland
farmer has to pay that.
Fisher: | think you are quite COR
rect. was talking about the time
when ! was comparing the position of
the mainland farmer with the position
of the Hawaiian homesteader on land
which belongs to the government and
which has been in successful cuftiva-
IlOii VI ShhC PCi hdpo SSh vi
years-What about that kind of land?
Not Enough Land.
Thurston: AS to that class of land
there are only about $500 acres Of
land, that would only make room for
few hundred farmers.
Fisher: | suppose you are entirely
right. What we are discussing is why
the demonstrating you have tried has
failed - III other words, the explana-
ton you have given of the failure of
the hOmestPader does not seem to
meet the case of the hOmesteader who
has entered these cane lands and
tried to cultivate them. All right. Let
us dispose of them so far as we have
gone. In the first place, so far as the
homesteader on the mainland is con-
eerned, he has to wait just as long as
does the homesteader on cultivated
land on Hawaii.
ThurstOn: | may have been misled
by the glowing literature concerning
the Imperial valley and its returns of
practically fortunes at the end of the
first year of what has gone on in
Oregon and Washington. happened
to go through Canada, where the Ca
madam railroad is opening up 1,000,-
900 acres.
Fisher What | want to call your
attention to is land of the other kind
that has been taken up and success
fully homesteaded under circum-
stances that present. so far as | can
see, substantially all of the difficult
ties that you have here, but involving
the same fundamental principle and
certainly they involve the question of
delay for the crop, certainly they in
volve the question of having limited
market, certainly they involve the
question of the middleman. You
know that the middleman successful
ly controlled the situation until the
farmers formed cooperative assOcia-
tons.
Need Of Farmers Organization.
Thurston:' Before taking up the
cultivation of sugar cane on the clear
ed lands here, may just add another
item in regard to my observation of
the attempts to market any kind of
Lroduce on the mainland and the re-
peated attempts which have been
made among the more intelligent pro-
QuCerS to get a combination of fruit
growers and their utter failure to do
so | believe it a case where we have
to take leaf out of the experience of
New Zealand and Australia and have
the Government take over that mat
ter. 1t was recognized here yeals ago
that that was what must be done here.
drafted and have down on my desk
still a proposition for local producers
getting together on precisely the Cali
fCrnia lines. 1t was a total failure,
even among the pineapple people VINO
ere the most intelligent Of the small
producers for this reason: the organ
iZation and working together neces-
states a certain amount of familiarity.
a certain amount of good faith be-
tween one farmer and another The
difficulty here is that there are so
rany nationalities who can scarcely
make each other understandable fact
is that the bulk of the production is
carried on by Japanese, by Portuguese
tv Hawaiians in a small way, and
smattering of otner nationalitieS, and
while We get along here well enough,
as a matter of fact, when it gets down
to business and signing up contract
il has not been found poI sible. spent
months working on that pineapple
pl opposition with a committee appoint
eG from the organization here, and
drafted up paper after paper trying to
get down to an agreed basis, and fin
ally threw it up in despair. Nobody
get a cent out Of it. have hopes that
iris will some day be resuscitated.
feel that the government SHOULD cake
it up as a public measure. not for the
benefit of those planters, but for the
benefit of the country at large.
Again. by information am informed
that the methods Of New Zealand and
Australia were to have a Marketing
Superintendent within the colony to
nom any producer could con IGN his
produce and be sure that ii could be
taken care Of. That has been EXTEND
"a until each one of them maintains
II, | OO6OO and in one or two other