Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-09-11

country as this. IL Is true that or
] the higher elevations we can raise
cereals but when you get back on
those elevations you get so far away
from any place that the cost OF inland
transportation makes the cost of those
products prohibitive. Coffee was
thought to be very promising. / tried
| it myself when first came here, and
| lost five or six thousand dollars. There
| are a few localities where coffee Is
successfully grown, and that Is by ia.
panese. There are great many diff;
ficulties to contend with-some of the
trees grew very well, some Of the
trees didn't. Some were affected with
a blight. 1t is hard for us to compete
the American market.
Mr.. Ashford: Was there not O
slump in coffee at that time? Was
not that the chief reason for your
failure?
A. No. / would not say that was
the chief Z
Mr.. Fisher: You think that IL the
market was in good condition and the
transportation facilities were ade-
ouate, nevertheless there are climatic
and physical handicaps?
A. It must be in a locality where
there are no stones. where the rain
fall is even. There are only few
localities in the islands where those
conditions exist A large part Of the
plantations in the 0laa district was
formerly planted to coffee. There
was a heavy rainfall, apparently lit
tie wind. when they planted the trees
they went to wood principally, and
had it not been for sugar plantations
being started and buying out those
growers those people would have gone
into bankruptcy. So far we have only
found two staples that is sugar and
pineapples. Others are in the expert
ment state. Possibly cotton will be
found profitable. in the future. but it
takes time; it takes experiment. So
far we have only got the two. In re-
gard to cane culture the question has
been asked by you, Mr.. Secretary,
whether or not a white man can grow
cane here. My reply is that he can,
but he is not inclined to do it. am
speaking now of white men-I mean
the mainland man. The reason is OBJ.
vious.. The mainland farmer raises
nearly all of his products .by machin-.
cry. He plants his corn by machinery,
heand many Of them take their
produce to market In an auto truck
Here the greater part OF cane culti-i
walton is by hand 1t is true the plan
tations pillow with steam plows, but If
each individual farmer tried to buy a.
steam pillow they would soon be put
out of business. On an irrigated plan
tation il is impossible to cultivate by
machinery. When it comes to har-
vesting, which is the hardest part Of
the cane cultivation, no machine yet
has been designed to cut cane att
tempts have been made to invent cuts
ters. The Hawaiian Sugar Planters
Association is doing its utmost to Sc
cure up-to-date machinery.
up to within q few years ago the
hard part of cane cultivation was the
stripping By stripping mean taking
each individual stick with the hands
and stripping the blades off, and when
you consider that the cane grows thick
and heavy, that is "a pretty hard job
for any man to tackle, especially the
American farmer. The experiment.
station has demonstrated, however,
that stripping is unnecessary. It took
q long time to find it out. l am tell
ing you all this to show you that it,
takes time to work out the problems
of demonstrating in these islands. We
will take up the other staple of pine
apples. The production of spineapples
in 1907 reached half million cases.
That was Immediately following the
panic of 1907. The consequence was
that there was slump. The differ
ent sugar agencies were making adj
yances to nearly all THE pineapple
people. My firm alone advanced up
to nearly 100000 to a cannery on
Maui, and without such help / think
it would have failed. l think the same
is true of nearly all the other Gamer
les.
don't think that would include Mr..
Dole. but think nearly all the others
were supported by the sugar agencies.
The advertising campaign was work
ed up to which the sugar agencies
they advanced the money to carry it |
on to bring to the attention. of the
people of the mainland the superior
qualities of the Hawaiian pineapple,
and as a result the market is in a
much better condition. think 1000
700 cases this year. This has been
without any difficulty. There
will be thousands of acres on Maui
at least, near that-open for pineapple |
production, and am very much afraid |
that the market will again be over
supplied.
You must remember that pineap.
pies now lead in canned fruit in the
United States. There is more canned |
pineapple marketed than any other |
single fruit, and there is the question |
as to whether the market may not |
be oversupplied with pineapples DUR
ing the next seven years. The pine |
apple industry had to Be nursed along |
and had to be thought up to what it |
Is by very careful handling, and had /
it not been for the help of the sugar |
interests, the pineapple industry would I
not be what it is today. We advanced /