The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-05-14
TO
GET SQUARE DEAL

~ taH Is y
. The Waiskea Homesteaders League
on the leland Of Hawaii and others in.
terested in demonstrating on the Big
Island see hopeful signs In Governor
McCarthy's announcement concerning
what his policy WIT Ne toward M
Territory y, 2 land problem, baa tEe be
lief 10 Hilo,i hased on what. the, eoyern-
or has said, e that the waiakea cane
lands are at length TO be opened soon
Because of the opposition 1ofsthe hd
ministration Of Demonstrating ? Die gpro.
duetiom Of sugar from the 'Wafakea
lands from which homesteaders have
been excluded after sprveys had been
made has fallen stchdiiy =, Lacking
assprahee that new. nkascs bwpuld be
gfanted, the plantation has permitted
one big area after another ito 20 out of
cultivation, with the result that the
sugar production has been dropping
steadily. .
MetzRer Gives Views
Judge Delbert T. Metzger. who has
been nominated Territorial treasurer
by Governor Mccarthy, and who IL
president Of the waiakea Homeste cad
Lesgue, expressed the belief that home.
steaders are about TO have their
innings.
"1'm afraid we will not make a
very good showing at first, " Judge
Metzgcr Is quoted as saying by the
Hilo Tribune. Nobody could, and
why is one of the things that should
be known.
Land Running Down
- For the past several years the plan
tation has been letting the land run
down. Last year the crop was q little
under $4,000 tons. 1t will surprise me
greatly If II lie much more than 5000
tons this year. Next year it can t
possibly be more than 1000.
"You cant particularly blame the
plantation. The administration has
kept il dangling on tender-hooks,
hoping il was going to get a renewal
Of it's lease, but not daring to invest
anything on il. To my mind it is
little short of criminal to hold out
false encouragement Of that sort
vague, indefinite assurances of sym
patty that ism I worth anything, but
sounds big with promise. If the plan
tation had known two years ago just
where II stood, II could have cleaned
mp with much greater profit both to
itself and to those who will come after
win Get Black Eye
dwell, the result is that homestead
ing is going to get a black eye. If
the lease were to be resumed tonight
and me plantation were to start to-
morrow ,eultiyating the land to the
limit il its productivity, it couldn't as
] said do better than 1000 tons this
year and 1000 next year. The home
steaders, naturally will do little
worse. Maybe 5000 tons the first year
Then everybody viii hold up his hands
and exclaim: 'Ten thousand tons
short! Well didn Z We tell you!' a,"
Eventually, the, 4bomesteadert lwill
do better than the plantation. =" I
suppose you knew that ninety percent
of Waiakea is under suitcase to smull
contractors now. Between the small
contractor and the homesteader there
us little difference, except that the
homesteader will likely get more
money for his cane than the contractor
is getting now, or know. the reason
why;
|, HBut even suppose the homesteader
was less efficient than the plantation
which nobody who has studied the
situation dispassionately admits-Hilo
could well afford to have it so. What
the homesteaders receive will stay in
the town and help to build it up. What
the plantation earns, except for the
minority holdings owned locally, goes
to Honolulu and the British Isles. 1t
never does HilO or the Big Island one
cents worth of good.
III consider the opening of the
Waiakea lands the biggest thing for
Hilo that ever happened.
w q q