Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-09-11

attendance, estimated to cost employ-
crs $500 per laborer. Then there IL
bonus paid the laboters. which. for
two years and ten months ending &c
tober 81, 1914. was 10 per scent Of their
earning. The bonus earned from No
yember 1, 1914 to April 80, 1915, was
IL per cent. In 1910, Japanese farm
workers inaHgurated strike for high
er wages Vs. 80 :
Farm LsboreFs Fare Well. $50
According to a recent report issued
by the Japanese department of finance
for 1914, farm laborers are paid $500
month, about four times less than
they receive for q months work In
the Hawaiian Islands. Under a dec
rec Of President Wilson, the Demo-
Gratis In Congress- recording ma
chine ordered sugar on the free list
after May /. 1916 after that date alb
soluteiy no legislative projections Is
to be given that extensive industry
In the United States or in Porto Rico.
the Hawaiian or the Philippine is
lands, where the Industry means the
very existence Of agricultural life, for
no other profitable crop can be sub
stituted. There are at present Eeceiv-
ing the wages mentioned on sugar
plantations in the Hawaiian Islands
1880 Iaborers. You can fully UNDER
stand how essential the constant EN-,
ployment OF these people at good
wages Is to the continued peace, well
fare. prosperity and happiness of this
American territory with q total popu-
lation Of only 225,000, a territory
which, since annexation in 1890. has
proven to be our best most valuable
customer in proportion TO population
we have In all the world. In addition
to the annual business Of $25.000. 900
which they give the merchants and
businessmen In the United States, the
amount they annually contribute to
our national treasury In postal busi-
ness, custom house duties and inter
nal revenue taxes runs annually into
millions. Last year Honolulu expend-
ed 100000 for an armory for the use
Of creditable and efficient force con.
stituting part of our National Guard
for service whenever needed by our
government. s
It is utterly impossible for the Ha-
waiian sugar planters, with American
wages and standard Of living, costly
fertilization and irrigation. distances.
from the American market to COM
pete with the sugar planters of Cuba,
who have q soil needing neither irTi-
CATION nor fertilizers, where the cane
matufea In q shorter time and plant-
ing IL not required as often: The
cost OF Hawaiian production Of sugar
laid down III the American market I'M.
1914--New York where Cuban sugar
is met and the refneries are located
was $53.654 per ton, and the average
cost per year for the last i've years
was s5691S per ton. In addition to-
the advantages, In the cost Of labor,
fertility Of soil and methods Of cult
walton. the Cuban planters pay s6.25I
per ton less to transport ton of
sugar to New York, where the raw
sugar must be purified and refined be-.
fore being placed on the market 1t.
is just as impossible for the Louisiana
sugar planters and beet sugar farm
ers of our western states to compete
with the producers of Cuban sugar
without q protection tariff as it Is for.
the Hawaiian sugar planters.
II Means Destruction.
Sugar on the free list means the
destruction of this industry, not only
In our insular possessions, but in the.
United States. After May !, 1916, our
country will be the only one without
q tax on sugar, and even free trade
England leyies . tariff or duty on IT
The Wilson idea shout placing sugar
on the free list was to reduce ex-
penses and thereby keep that pledge
In the Baltimore platform promising
q reduction in the cost OF living The
new tariff law reduced the duty on
sugar twenty-five per cent. on March
/, 1914, and yet sugar Is higher to-
day than It was before this twenty.
i've per cent reduction became effec-
tive. After sugar goes on the fee. list,
May I, 1915, the American consumer
viii in short time discover the price.
of sugar advanced. After the sugar.
refiners-large owners of Cuban sugar
lands-who for years swindled the
United States government out Of mil
lions in tariff duties for which they
were convicted, paralyze and destroy
their competitors, the sugar planters
in Louisiana, In our insular posses
sions and the best sugar producers In
the western states, the price of DOM
estic sugar will be advanced and the
treasury of the United States win lose
an annual sugar tariff income of $780,
000, 900 at time when there is gov
eminent deficiency somewhere be-
tween SIS, 100000 and SLOT, 000, 900.
The consumer not only did not profit
by the twenty-five per cent reduction
on sugar last year. but the treasury
lost during the first month when II
was badly needed In customs duties
STATS, 1853. Should we make the re-
timers q further present at the ex-
pense of depleted treasury amount
ing to the. magnificent sum of $780,
000, 900 per annum or make them con-
tinue to pay it to the United States
to aid In meeting the enormous and
ever-increasing expenses of the gov
eminent of the United States and at
the same time protect and encourage
the great sugar industry in the Ha.