The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1915-09-17
DEFENSE OF HAWAII
.BYEASTERNJ JOURNAL
Criticisms of Planters BY Indiana
Congressman Rouses Ire
OF Sugar

ian planters,-and main industry both
of which have been much maligned by
members Of the congressional party who
were guests of the Territory last May.
Under the caption Misinformation
again" the Official organ of the beet su-
gar interests says,
q tFNow, as for myself" one of Indi.
ana 3 representatives. in Congress is ere
dited with saying recently, :" want 1t
known that there is not one atom of
the sugar tariff man about me. "
Riches Too Quickly
I "This outspoken gentleman was n
member of the party that returned frt
o tour of Hawaii couple of months
ago.. While in Hawaii the gentleman
got the impression that the Hawaiian
sugar men are making money too fast
IL is not known who furnished him his
information, but whoever it was, If he
be not misquOted, must have been a
yeyitable mine of nisinfOrmation. Some
body told him that the sugar men are
making an average of $3.50 an acre, and
that some land has been known to pro-
dnee goo tons of sugar cane.
1.-THE Indiana statesman may be hon.
est in his statements. without know
ing anything about him personally we
will take 1t for granted that he makIr
them in good faith. If he honestly be-
lieves that rot about POO tons of sugar
cane to the acre in Hawaii he certain
~ has grounds for arriving at the con-
clusion that the islands do not need
protection.
False Impression Created
1.-The trouble with such mis-state-
ments, however, is not so much one
man 8 belief, even though that man be
q national lawmaker, so much as it Is
the false impression they create whcr-
ever they are given publicity in the
press of the country. We can refute
them and, rove them incorrect time az
ter time in these columns, but, unfor-
tunately, our circulation is not as broad
I forth that Mr.. SO-and- so has been ia
Hawaii or somewhere else and while
there he investigated conditions thor
oughly. He was told this and that and
the other thing. That settles it.
|. "The present investigator makes the
statement, that somebody told him Ha
wall produces 200 tons of sugar cane tC
the acre. How many who read that in
terview know anything about it-hoW
many of them will ever realize that
once upon time the famous Eva plan
tation on Oahu, near Honolulu Gin o
( section remarkably well favored with
' fertile soil, well sheltered and with ex.
ceptional irrigation facilities yielded a.
high as SO tons of cane to the acre from
which was produced S.S tons of sugar
whereas against this high yield is tho
average for the whole territory of some
thing like 4.69 tons of sugar to the
acre.
Opposed to Protective Tariff
con these statements he bases his OPP
position to any protection to the Amer
| lean sugar industry, of which Hawaii il
a part. If he has any influence and hi
=. ements carry weight, all those whC
r. I'd his remarks will probably agree
with him. The pity of it is that h
was not provided with better sourc,
of information on his travels.
| at is estimated that it costs ap
proximately 1861 to produce ano
market a ton of Hawaiian sugar. Thi
is exclusive of interest an depreciati oI
and the income tax. 1t is also true tina
the average price received by Hawaiian
planters for their sugar during tn
period l9lO-l9l4 was $7S.27 a ton. TAX
ing these figures, for example, and de
Quoting, 1861 from $78.27 leaves $2l.
| SO a ton, o. Sl.U6 a hundred pounds
out of which must also, come interest
depreciation, etc. The amount of dut,
! kh. ilh
test sugar is $20.C9 a ton, or $l.004
hundred pounds.
Refiners Would Reap Profit
"If the duty were entirely remove,
the Hawaiian men would be deprive,
of every cent of their margin between
cost and selling price. To get Hawai-
ian sugar the refneTs have to pay OF
the basis of Cuban 90 test sugar plu
the import duty. If they can get thei
sugar without paying any duty SO mucl
the better for them. Their powers o
absorption have been proved boundles,
That the consumer does not benefit b.
any reduction in the import duty ha
been amply proved since March, 1915
when the tariff was cut 25 per cent.
"The gentleman objected to the pre-
valence of Japanese labor, and state
that he is opposed to levyipg a protec
tive duty to take care of alien lab
If he has any plan for populating tn
islands with a high grade of labor it
certain the planters will not object.
Is not known what sort of wOTkmen h
expected to find in the cane fields. Tha
he found any is due to the fact tina
the planters are paying them all the
can afford. He likely forgets that i
operating under the American flag tn
Hawaiian planters are operating at
disadvantage that can only be mad
good by corresponding protection.
No Cheap Labor
Being part of the United State
the labor laws forbid any indenture
immigration or the importation Of choa
Chinese labor. Whether the worker
are to be classified as Fallen or no
the fact remains that Hawaii being
part of the United States her labo