The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-05-11
People Of Hawaii Apparently Are
Not Coming Forward With
Their Subscriptions
LOCAL BANKERS ARE MUCH
WORRIED BY INDIFFERENCE
Islands Share Of Issue Set BY
Expert At Something More
Than s19,000,0oo

The people Of Hawaii arc not doing
their duty along the line Of helping &c
finance the national government for
its great struggle with Germany. Sub.
scriptious TO the Liberty Loan is
sue are far below what they ought t.
be and arc coming in with discourag
ing slowness .a..F
Such is the information gathered
yesterday among the banks and trus:
companies that, without profit to them
selves and purely out of disinterestca
loyalty TO the government, are taEtr ;
subscriptions TO the two billion dollar
loan authorized by congress and ;hC
President
Robert =. stever manager of tn,
bond department of the Bishop Trus
Company, who is taking a personal in
terest in the matter and who particu
larly wants 20 see Hawaii make goot
in this matter, has compiled some
figures that are Of great interest. ..
Hawaiis Share SIS, IT'S, $50 .,.,.. +.
The proportion that Hawaii should
subscribe Of the total of seven bi!ior
dollars the United States proposes 10
raise to finance the war may be start
$40, l79,3 $3.50, or per capita of $84.lT
based on total population of 22S,oe;
But of this 22S,OO0, there are only
10000 whites, intending 1900 soldiers
II would be unfair to suggest that no
body but the white population will
subscribe to the loan, but If il wee
limited TO them, it would mean .hal
each would have to subscribe an aver
o. - 49, - l,.I. II.
that the burden is chiefly the white
man. burden and that a very large
proportion Of the population cannot
be looked to for financial assistance.
The present bonded debt og the Uni
cd States is $l,0S6,6S6,026, or on
basis Of a population Of 95,4ll,
900, per capita Of $l0.76. Adding
to this total the proposed seven 5il.
lions which the United States proPoses
to raise, the Indebtedness of the Init
Cd States will amount to $s,O26,6s6.
026, which means $s4.l2 per person.
Bigger Than Rnssia's
This will be more than the per capita
indebtedness Of Russia. With an esti-
mated population Of l6g, 100000, her
indebtedness is $s2.28 per person. In
other European countries, however, II
is much higher. According to the
figures complied by Mr.. Stever, the per
capita indebtedness of France is $751;.
80, Of England $332,37 and Of Germany
$23i.29. F.3
Mr.. Stever said, however, that in
view of the fact that more money In
proportion will be spent in Hawaii than
many other part of the United States,
the people of this Territory ought real.
~ to subscribe much more heavily to
the Liberty Loan than the residents
or other parts of the country.
One encouraging feature that he
noted was that within the past day or
two subscriptions had been received by
the Bishop Trust Company from widely
separated places-Sehofeld Barracks,
Waimea, Kauai, and Hilo Nor were
they all for United States bonds. Some
were for British, French, Russian and
Canadian bonds T.
Subscriptions Slow ...sit ,.h,
A.. Lewis, president Of the Bank Of
'Hdwaii, stated yesterday that subscrip,
lions TO the amount of $500 had been
received during the day, bringing the
total amount of subscriptions received
by the bank up to 81 ,l0l, 500. They
were coming in slowly, he said, and
mostly for small amounts now. E.,
Rudolph Buchly, cashier Of the First
National Bank, was not inclined to be
overly optimistic. Subscriptions are
coming in very slowly he said. "Ths
people don I seem to realize yet that il
II the duty of every man to subscribe
10 the Liberty Loan. " ',s
a. Mobilizing Money for War; is the
title OF pamphlet put out by the Guar
anty Trust Company of New York Il
which Mr. Buchly referred as a fne
summary of the reasons why the people
of the country ought to aid to the ex
tent Of their available resources il
financing the United States for the war
a few extracts from the pamphlet may
be enlightening.
Our government needs funds fol
Wal" Is the way il starts out. "Part
Of this money will be raised by tax
nti0n and part by great popular LOAF
10 which the public will be given ev
cry opportunity TO subscribe Tn,
United States Is today the richest coun
try in the world. The demands of tn,
war are imperative The Nation 4
wealth must meet the Nations needs
Americans Unframed IL
"The American people are not yei
educated TO the purchase Of bonds al
are the people Of other countries, Les
than one-6fth Of one per cent of Oh,
people of the United States own bonds
and only a fraction of these are hold
ers of government securities. In botl
England aud Frauee more than clever
per cent OF the people have helped in
diyidually 10 finance those countries il
performing their part in the present
war. Thousa nds of persons
who have never purchased bonds, whC
'neser have been in touch with fnan
eial houses, must become investors il
this Issue. The whole Ma
lion must be quiekened to a complet,
understanding OF the spirit and mean
inr ~ this Investment. America mus
enlist it, wealth as well as its man
hooi.
The wealth Of America is inereas