The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1912-04-23

h''"b NA' oW'tA Auulut lIOIu WHICH
II has never freed itself. The dawn
of the sixteenth century saw England,
France and Portugal engaged in tri.
angular duel, each endeavoring to
wrest from Spain the European sugar
trade.
And now enters another factor. the
slave traffic. The introduction of su.
gar cane from the Barbados gave this
traffic its first impulse in the British
West Indie5. Less than twenty years
later a company agreed to furnish
5000 slaves annually to these islands
and thus was made possible the i'm
mensely important West Indian sugar
trade. The American colonies entered
the double trade of slaves and sugar,
in which England and France and
Portugal were engaged, and the West
Indies became the international mart
where slaves from Africa, manufac-
lures from Europe and lumber and
live stock from the American colonies
were pooled together for the sugar
and the rum that poured from the
isles in ever increasing shiploads.
Sugar became the craze of the hour.
Books were written and plays pro.
duCed with fields of feathery canes
for backgrounds. In 1864 an English
gentleman left his home for the "su.
gar islands," where he wrote 20
COO-word poem on "The Sugar Cane
A public speaker in London coupled
its necessary complement coffee"
with sugar in this fling: Sugar and
COLLECTIVE vegetables that have been
the ruin and misery OF two parts of
the world-Africa and America. Amer
lea has been unpeopled to get land 10
plant them, and Africa has been UNI
peopled to get men to cultivate them. -
The part played by Porto Rico in
the worlds story of sugar is neither
a large nor an exceedingly brilliant
one. The worlds consumption of su.
gar in 1910 amounted to 14914,375
tons, of which the United States con
sumed 3,350,365 tons, and of this total
Porto Rico contributed only 276,7SS
tons, less than one-tenth of the entire
amount required by the wants of this
country. Yet the prosperity of the
sugar industry in Porto Rico is of
benefit to the United States.
In 1901 the total value of articles
purchased from and sold to the Unit
ed States and foreign countries by
Porto Rico amounted to S17,5O2, 1O3.
In 1910 this was increased to SOS,
326, gain in ten years of $51 100000.
Now eighty-siX per cent of this total
trade value represents shipments to
and from the United States. The to-
tai cash purchases made by Porto
Rico in 1910 amounted to $3O,634, S55
of which $27O97,6 54 came to the Unit
ed States, giving the island twelfth
pluNC vi tllC lioI vi JuS WI ~ - CuolO
mers in the American home market
and refunding to the treasury of the
United States more than one-half OF
the entire $52,O0O,OOO sugar tax.
Louisiana is spending more than
any other state in the Union in inves,
tigating problems connected with SUI.
gar production and other countries
are adopting her methods. Since 1855
the average yield in Louisiana has
more than doubled but Louisiana with
all her skill brought only 3250G0 tons
to market in 1910, against 30S,0C
tons from the lowlands of Porto Rico
The cane of Porto Rico is larger and
sweeter and sells for more than the
Louisiana cane That both the better
cane and is greater value in public
market have been due to the improv
ing conditions on the island goes
without saying.
When in 1899 by virtue of the treaty
] VI al 10 llG 10 anu Ndo NCuGu " tHN
United States, the sugar industry was
| at a low ebb: The opening of the
American market gave it new life
American capital came to it's aid, ant
the crops increased. In 1901 the is
land exported to the United State:
| 6S,601 tons of brown sugar, with {
value of S4715,611, an average o.
$6S43 a ton; in 1910 it exported tC
the same mart 2S4,522 tons, with 6
value of $29,545,922, an average o.
$S275 a ton-an increase of output o.
over 400 per cent.
In the meantime laborers' wages ad
vanced 100 per cent, and mechanics
artisans and professional men re
ceived from $50 to 200 per cent. more
than they did ten years before, The
small farmer, or "colono," has beer
caught in the upward swirl, and thou
sands of unproductive acres have
been turned to profitable use.
With new roads came a greater de
/ for haitian