Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1917-08-22
EDITOR
Developing Hawaii Farmers


the starBulletn contests have done more good than
anything else towards educating the scho children
and their parents in agriculture and tht necessity Of
growing food home during tho Mar + rhlld
assistant executive officer Of thu :ood COMMISSION
1t stands to reason hat the Star.Hullctin youI,
not have inauguraed these contests bad it n"1 "T'I
convinced that tn" work undertaken would he. dis
itlnct community service. Especially graifN Ing i
this evidence of direct RETURN Attention j. c""'
to this not in vainglorious spirit. bar rIrh"" t
iIrrall public Thought to the purpose Of this Ialrr
school farm campaign,
These islands are nothing if not agricultural. Al
our prosperity is founded on the successful rulva
ton Of the soil.
At the same time the one great failure IF Hawai-
has been the inability to maintain coinridtnt with
our sugar industry. goOdly number Of agrrultur
alists able and anxious to maintain themselves il
independent comfortable homes by the cultivation
of diversified products in sufficient quantity to sup
iply our local markets.
One of the reasons for this failure has been the
lack of native born ambitious and intelligent farm
ers Agricultural labor has been disrreditpd labor
For a generation education was supposed to have
no place among the actual tllers of the soil. The
youth said they did not want to dig in the dirt anC
the managers of the old school declared that this
schOOlin business ruined all the labor. mpOrta
tOn Of labOrprs did not solve this particular prob
lem. but rather intensified it.
Only one way offers to meet the situation and
that is the modern American mcthod-cOnvnre the
children Of the schools, the future home builders
of the dignity of agricultural labor. There is nc
more rapid means of convincing the children than
to first interest them and then show them what can
be done what they can do
The result in this particular contest was the bios
soming of gardens in hitherto waste places. Chill
dren were interested, families were Interested At
the same time they were all learning and the whole
community profted by this addition to the educated
workers. In some instances the children worked
alone in others they combined and gained expert
ence in cooperation. They learned lessons in indie
pendence and self-reliancP as well as community
action.
The old folks as we'll as the children found that
food products to meet local demands can he grown
side by side with the great sugar producing indus
try. The most enthusiastic converts to the cause
were leaders in the sugar industry, who had been
rather dubious the probability of making farm
ers out of BOYS and girls who had once gained d
taste of books.
OF course, the agricultural contests were Il sue
cess, because the principle on which they were
founded is absolutely matchmaking use of the op-
portunities Immediately surrounding us, through an
appeal to the intelligence of alert and enthusiastic
youth Hawaii has for years had the long felt want
The problem was to find way to fill it.
These school farms and home gardens have not
solved all the agricultural problems of Hawaii's
future, but the test of war conditions shows that
they have started the people to thinking and also
working. The enter prise has been producer with
definite immediate results
In considering the future know that among
the thirty thousand school children the territory
has splendid nucleus of men and women who will
turn to the soil for their livelihood and this be
cause they learned while at school that they can
find pleasure and profit in agriculture.
Hawaii offers wonderful opportunities for these
boys and girls, and those associated with them in
intensifyng and at the time dig
nifying food production from the soil