Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1912-10-04


part of them rotted on his hands.
Market Too Small.
Another difficulty is that the mar,
ket is so small that it has not paid
any large number of people to ra'sa
garden truck to furnish the local mar.
| ket, consequently the local supply
| dealers have made their arrangements
and placed their orders with CalilOr-
! mia. Consequently, if farmer comes
in with a load of cabbages, he runs
into a market that has already been
oversupplied from San Francisco. That
same kind of illustration runs through
all vegetables here. Now, as to trans
portation of vegetables. Steamer con-
nections are very irregular, conse-
Quently it shuts off almost all Of the
other islands from attempting to ship
any vegetable stuff, as the only places
where coast steamers touch are ka-
hului and Hilo. The direct HiIc
steamers are freight boats running
about five weeks apart and not run
ming even regularly then. Fruit and
vegetables decline to recognize steam
er schedules and ripen at the right
time. The Wilhelmina has to come 10
Honolulu first, so that the large par;
of a crop of that kind is too long in
reaching market to make profit.
Fisher: Is the United Fruit Com
pany doing business here?
Thurston: 1t does not. We have
often tried to get the United Fruit
Company to come here. When l was
away l had talk with the president
of the company in Boston and tried
to get him to come here. He inform
ed me that it was entirely too small
a market and too far away for that
company to come to.
Fisher: Now, do you know how, for
instance, the San Francisco market is
supplied with bananas?
Thurston: 1t is supplied by the
United Fruit Company from the Gulf
of Mexico. .....
Fisher: By rail?
Thurston: Yes. !.
As to CoastWise Laws.
Fisher: How far do you think the
provision in the coastwise laws af-
fects the situation?
Thurston: 1t undoubtedly has an
Injurious effect on the situation.
Fisher: Do you think it is a Sc
rious question?
Thurston: l do.
Fisher: Suppose the coastwise re-
striction were removed, what reason
have you for believing that there
would be adequate transportation be-
fUnan hnrn nnd-fho io1o
Thurston: Well = it would en-
able foreign steamers to operate =
enable them to operate at so much
lower price that they could make a
profit out of what are losses of the.
United Fruit Company l have, been
an earnest advocate of American pas
senger steamers to operate here =
Fisher: Then l understand that,
taking everything into consideration,
even though you might, there might
be some advantage in the fruit bust
ness, you are not an advocate of re-
moving the present restriction with
respect to freight?
Another Vital Point.
Thurston: Not until a further at
SSAAPI h1o DOOA aAAouC " OSfClOp Tic
fruit and vegetable business here
and that leads up to third point,
which / think is the vital one, as to
why demonstrating is not success,
and which seems to me. if covered, is
the line along which success is to De
sought. The question is frequently
asked why a small man goes out in
the Vest and takes up land with his
pick-axsand little capital and makes
a success, whereas higher class Of
man comes to Hawaii and makes a
failure, and l size it up from perhaps
not complete knowledge of the sit
uation to be conclusive. l simply sub
NIT it for what it is worth. l have
been informed and from what l have
seen in passing through the country
that man who takes up land in arid
country or through any district that
the Federal government is opening up,
if he is capable of getting a snack
over his head and if he has the man
ual skill and power to put in crop
of grain or wheat and deliver it to
the railroad station, where he has d
market-all this question of getting
market is eliminated-he has an ex.
ceedingly simple proposition. Now
take that same man and put him On,
say, Kappa or any of the homestead
lands that you have been visiting on
Hawaii. There isn't crop that is
now produced in which he has an &C
cess to the mainland market which he
can get to market there either pro-
duce in year or get to market in
a year that is in his control. Crops
-pineapples take more than year;
many of them two and three years to
mature. Therefore, he has, in the first
place, when he is located in Hawaii,
long time to wait for a return, as
against half year in the States. He
has in the States market at his door
where he can get his cash. Take the
homesteader here. He has first to
get his stuff to the landing. l know
of one producer who has raised as fine
corn as Iowa or Nebraska can pro-
duce, and he told me that it cost him
moro RI his oorD n the landing