The weekly chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Craig County, Okla.) 1905-1913, 1912-01-12
PRODUCTION Of
HAWAIIAN ISLAND

The development Of the Hawaiian
Islands under American guidance is
illustrated by figures presented in a
document just received by the Bureau
of Statistics, Department of Commerce
and Labor. The document, entitled
The Hawaiian Annual, 1912" is is
sued annually by Mr.. Thomas G.
Thrum. of Honolulu, and presents sta
tistics of the production, commerce,
finance, population, and education in
those islands during a term of years
down to 1911.
The figures of growth since the an
inexation OF Hawaii TO the United
States and, indeed, since the reciproc.
ity treaty of 1876 between the islands
and the United States, by which free
dom of commercial interchange with
this country was established and in
vestments of American capital thus
assured are extremely interesting. A
table shows, for example, the produc-
tion of sugar by far the most impor-
tant product of the Hawaiian Islands.
/ from 1875 down to and including 1911.
The production of sugar in 1875, the
year Immediately prior to the adoption
I r
of the reciprocity treaty is given at 25
million pounds, by 1881 it had grown
to 94 million pounds; in 1891, 275 mil
lion; in 1901, 691 million; in 1910,
LII million; and in 1911, 1,011 mil
lion pounds, or 40 times as much in
1911 as in 1876. The value, which was
stated at l Il million dollars in 1875,
was given at 96% million in 1911, or
30 times as much in 1911 as in 1875.
Thus the quantity of sugar produced
in 1911 is 40 times as great as in the
year Immediately prior to the begin
ming of reciprocity, and the value 80
times as great, the relative difference
in increase between quantity and value
being due, of course. to a reduction in
prices of sugar meantime
OF this increase of practically one
billion pounds in the sugar production
of the Hawaiian Islands since the ad-
option of the reciprocity agreement
with the United States, more than one
half has developed since annexation,
which occurred in the year 1893. The
sugar production of 1897, the year i'm
mediately prior to that Of annexation
was, according to the table in ques-
ton, $50 million pounds, as against
25 million in 1875, the year immediate
ly preceding the reciprocity treaty,
ILL million pounds in 1910 and 1,0l1
million in 1911. Thus the increase
in sugar production in the islands dur
ing the % years of reciprocity, 1876 to
1898, was 495 million pounds, and dur
ing the period since annexation, 1898
to 1910, was 592 million pounds.
Sugar. however, is not the only
product of the Hawaiian Islands. The
statements show numerous other ar
tieles or products of the islands, in
dicating that the recent attempts at
diversification of production have been
at least moderately successful. The
value of canned pineapples sent to the
United States alone in the fiscal year
1911 was over 2 million dollars; of
rice, the quantity shipped to this coun
try from Hawaii in that year was 2-3
million pounds; of coffee, 2% million
pounds, of hides and skins, p million
pounds; of bananas, III 900 lunches;
while of manufactures Of wood the
value of the shipments in 1911 was
about $40, 600 By far the largest
item of shipment to the United States
is sugar, valued in the fiscal year, 1911
at 36A million dollars, and AZ 2-3 mil
lion in 1910, against ~ million in
1876 the year of the reciprocity treaty
Practically all the imports into the
Hawaiian Islands are from the Unit
ed States, except few articles, re-
quired by local conditions, which can
not be obtained in this country. The
imports of foreign merchandise
amounted to about 5 million dollars,
made up chiefly of nitrates from the
western coast of South America, and
japanese products imported from ia
pan to NEE the demands of the 10000
persons of Japanese birth or parentage
now living in the islands. The CEN
sus of 1910 shows the population of
the Hawaiian Islands at 1911 ,907, of |
which 70,500 are classed as Japanese,
10000 as Hawaiian" $4,000 as Portu-
guese, and q 500 as Chinese. The
of persons born in the United
States residing in Hawaii in 1910 has
not yet been announced by the census