Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-08-21
WHAT THE nation EXPECTS
IN PRODUCTS Of HAWAII

I, .IuNing arr extracts from an al
.nG--- - Hon Q. =. Austin, chief OF
'h" i.H,#4 OF statistics. department.
u tnu'"orc, ard Labor, before the
Are. an Association Tor the Ad-
Ianc-w"Ht OF Science and NE Man
ufarrt,r,.rs' C!''D Of Philadelphia
. printed in the Congressional Record
Ju!y i. 1912. Its references TO what
= INC Nation should expect from Ha-
val in the lire Of tropical products
/ are celebrated to make our business
men sit up aHd take notice:
In one great class Of products We
nave Dc"H in the past absolutely de-
! pendent on other countries. While it
j. IIue thar We are the worlds great
est producer Of bread and meat and
coal and iron and steel manufactures.
We have been in the past entirely de-
pendent upon other parts Of the
world for tropical products. And il
is in these articles that the chief
growth In our impOrtati0hS has Oc-
Cured. Year by year the people con-
sumo increased quantities Of tropical
productions for food and drink. Our
imports Of sugar have grown from a
little more than 1000 ,0U0 900 pounds
in 1870 to five and One-half billions
at the present time, if we include that
from our own tropical islands: those
Of coffee from 235.000,00O pounds to
nearly 100000, 900: tea from 47,000,-
600 pounds TO 100000,0O0 and cacaO
from less than 100000 pounds to
1=0,000000.
But more important than this is
the fact that the great manufacturing
interests of the country are making
greater and greater demands upon
the Tropics for their supplies Of raw
materials. The imports Of fibers,
chiefly tropical, which in 1870
mounted to less than $4,000 tons,
were last year nearly 10000 tons;
those of rubber have in the same
time increased from less than 10000,
900 pounds TO over 100, 900 900 pounds;
tobacco, from e 100000 pounds to So
100000 pounds; silk, from half mil
lion pounds to over 20,000,000 pounds;
and cotton. from less than 100000
pounds to over 100,02O,000.
The result is that the value Of
tropical and subtrOpical products i'm
ported has grown from $143. 100000
in 1870 to about S700,000.000, includ-
ing that from our own islands. The
value of our imports classified as
manufacturers raw materials" in
1890 was $160.000,000 and amounted
&C % per cent of the total; in the
year just ended the value of manu-
facturers' materials imported was
about $550,000.000, and formed about
SO per cent Of the grand total.
Our Growing Dependence Upon the
Tropics. -
What does this mean? Clearly that
we are increasing our dependence, up
en- the Tropics.
What does it mean to the produc-
ters and manufacturers and exporters
of the country? Clearly that they
should seek to pay in the products of
the field and factory for the increas-
ing millions of tropical products
which they import and must continue
to import, and that in the great I'M
developed markets of South America
and Africa and Asia and Oceania,
which supply these tropical products,
We should seek to enlarge our sales
and encourage mutual interchange of
commodities.
What does it mean to this Nation,
which has recently extended it's con-
troll over three great groups of trop-
ical islands with an area of 100000
square miles, population of 10000
900 people, and. an unmeasured posi-
bility for the production of the very
articles which we are .now importing
in Increased quantities and must con-
unue to import in greater quantities? p
Clearly that much of this great mass
of the necessities of life and manu-
facture which We are now importing
can be produced under the American
flag, With American capital, and BY
American citizens.
Any one of these islands, Porto
REQ, Hawaii. Guam, Tutuila and the
Philippines Islands, is capable of pro-
duCing part of the hemp, the jutc,
the coffee, the cacao. the tropical
fruits, the sugar. the hgih-grade to-
b2cco, and probably the silk and the
tea and and india rubber for which
VIC are now sending hundreds of mil
lions of dollads to other countries.
would not see them take a dollar from
the earnings of the American farmer.
but until he can produce at home the
sugar and the high grade tobacco and
six and rice for which We are now
sending our millions abroad why
should We not eXpend that money in
;-1o ToTJr nd IN InjT1 ht1;t1
Up in them a splendid market for our
products of the farm and factory?
Looking to Hawaii.
The Hawaiian Islands have increas-
cd their producing power more than
tltirtyfold since We annexed them com
nerCially by the reciprocity treaty OF
1876, and have also Increased their