The Hawaiian gazette., 1916-11-17
Hd,Dai;'s Aloha

y h0NOLULU extends a sincere welcome tc
the returned Great Northern and to the
mary passengers She brings ito 1.-THE Islands, for
their own sakes we'll as for the great deal that
the pp1ing Of this beautiful liner means to an al
most narooned people. Some Of the travellers who
reached this shore yesterday have expressed de-
gree of surprise over the enthusiasm of Honoluans
at the arrival of the excursion. Were they resi-.
dents Of Hawaii they would appreciate the reason
These Islands, ever since annexation have had
the mournful experience of watching the Amer
lean flag fading away on the Pacific. They have
experienced constantly growing chagrin over
the fact that the American neglect of the American
merchant marine has slowly but surely turned the
carrying trade Of the Pacific to foreign ship
owners. 1.-The latest shame of this American
community has been 70 see beautiful liners that
formerly flew the American flag now entering and
leaving the harbor with the flag of Japan flying,
while the modification has been turned to ranCNr
from the further fact that there are today Amcri-
can-owned passenger steamers calling at this AM
rrican port upon which passengers to and from
the American mainland cannot trave!
Few mainlanders, even those of our neighbOr
State of California, know that these Islands, lying
twenty-one hundred miles away from the nearest
mainland point, are regarded under the law AS a
The Coastwise Shipping Law, no foreign-built bot
tom even though American owned and flying the
American flag, may legally transport passengers
and freight between this American port and any
other American port.
Were there enough American ships to handle
the freight and passenger traffic possible between
Honolulu and the ports OF Seattle, San Francisco
and San Diego, no possible objection to the strict
enforcement of the ,Coastwise Shipping Law would
be raised here This is a loyal community, will
ing to do its full share in the upbuiding and the
maintenance of the American merchant marine. But
not only has there been insufficient American ship
ping to handle the possible trade, but there has
been not enough even to handle the trade offering
the volume of which is far below the possible
The result of this has been that the growth of
Honolulu has been seriously retarded Heaped
upon all the rest is the further fact that recent
congressional Legislation has driven the Pacific
Mail liners from American control into Japanese
control, whic the inducements of charters
has taken the American Hawaiian freighters from
the Hawaiian run to the Atlantic.
At the present time the harbor OF Honolulu is
crowded with shipping-but it is eighty per cent
foreign and unavailable for our use either for pas
sengers or freight, while at the same time we can
not get our freights from San Francisco nor ship
our products on time to the mainland market.
The Great Northern comes back to Honolulu
n time, of the greatest pinch. Its arrival yes
terday brings CLEAN of comfort to situation
that had become intolerable. This is one import
ant reason why Honolulu is so glad to welcome
back the Great Northern and why it looks for
ward to the possibility of likewise welcoming back
the Northern Pacific.
Another equally strong reason is that Honolulu
is particularly glad to welcome the visitors from
Southern California, land between Hawaii and
which there should be closer connections than
have prevailed and greater community of e-
fort for the mutual good of both.