Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-03-31
EDITOR

IS given practically no authority, can secure bet
ter results? OF course it isn't
The marketing superintendent is not Bur-
hank nor politician; he is a handler of prod
uce, and in this capacity he has done a good deal
in Hawaii The promising onion industry has
been directly developed by him, and gardeners
are beginning to reap rewards from cucumbers,
eggplant celery and tomatoes Some weeks
ago, before the house investigation was ordered,
Starrett reported that in some instances in
creases in the amount of produce being grown in
the islands are as high as 200 per cent And this
has been accomplished in spite of a good deal of
public apathy and occasional limitations of hos
tility from island interests that did not want
produce shipped away from their vicinity. The
superintendent function primarily is to act as
a commission man for the growers of garden
stuff; to sell it for them in Honolulu or else
where, and this he has been doing.
The committees one constructive suggestion
is that an appropriation of $50, 600 should be
made available for the next two years for dis
bursenent by the special agent in charge of the
federal experiment station here, and that the
marketing division should be placed in charge of
this federal official.
The Start Bulletin, as is well-known, has for
a long time advocated the merging of the var
Iious agricultural and marketing organizations in
this territory, and there is some merit in the
above suggestion At the same time, the COM
mittee ought to recognize that the commercial
function Of the marketing division must be main
tanned and developed, no matter to what extent
the experimental, cultural functions are en-
larged And we hardly believe that the agris
cultural experts of DR.. Wileox's station will get
ont; take their coats off, crate garden stuff and
hunt markets for.it as Mr.. Starrett does and has
had to do since he was employed. They should
not Their time is worth more in their own line
There is no denying the fact that the market
ing division should not be placed under the board
of immigration. The legislature of 1911 prob
ably put it there because both are supported by
the conservation fund. If anything, the division
should be under the territorial board of agricul.
ture and forestry Moreover, this territorial
board and the federal experiment station and the
marketing division should sbe more closely re-
lated and in closer cooperation
We do not wish to be understood as in any
sense disparaging the fine work that DR.. Wilcox
and his staff are doing, nor discouraging the APP
preparation of money to help that work along
But there is danger, if the territorial marketing
division is abolished in the summary way which
the committee proposes, that the plan for receiv-
ing and selling produce here will go awry, or
that Honolulu will simply become the place
where private commission men get a middle
mans profit in comparison with which the two
or five per cent charged by the present office
will look small indeed!
The report, in short, is not one of which the
COMMITTEES Representatives Tavares, Paxson
and Hubby may feel proud About the quick
est way to chloroform the good beginning that
the superintendent of marketing has made is the
way taken by these mileaminute Investigators.
Instead, the bill they submit abolishing the mar
keting division ought to be chloroformed ia the
house, and if the house doesn't do it, the senate
should administer the lethal dose.
Now that President Wilson has taken stand
against the United States using suasion with the
Chinese republic to take the siX-power loan, it
appears that some of the American finaneiers
are able f6 make the deal anyway. Which ought
ITO satisfy everybody.