The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-02-01
Direct ACTION ON
MARKET IS ADVISED
Chop L Down With Axes II nec-
essary To Reduce Fish
Prices, Urges BalCh

. /
4 gsE 81 49, g.HtNAi a afrs'
Knock 'obslthe mladlonan Cd. ooi
the making Of four or five profits Be.
tween the fishermen and the consumer,
and go after the ash market with ares
and tear II down II that be necessary
and II it is the cause Of the present
j high price Of FISH" It n ~
These are d few Of the things that
! }. A. Balch advises be done TO reduce
4 the cost of Ash in Honolulu. This adj
lyice to use "direct action" against
the Gsh market and the middlemen was
given first at meeting Of the Ha-
waiian Vigilance Corps of the Ameri-
can Defense League held on last We'd
] nesday when the price Of fish WINS
brought up for discussion. ~ Z IN
When l asked last night concerning
these statements made at the defense
society . meeting, Mr.. Balch said: i
4 "Yoa bet ! would go after the fish
/ market with axes or anything else thai
would bring down the price Of fshs,It
is an outrage the prices which we
have. to pay. ! would get rid Of the
middlemen some way. and stop the maxi
y ing of four or Ave profits before the
fish get to the consumer And ia do
| Il, too, If I had the iauthority,n Balch
yehemently DECLARED. &F =
Price an Outrage s ssgp =, 100
4 az am not backing Gown on anything
j I said At the league meeting. meant
every word Of it. I don 4 care how Il
Il done, but want the price Of fish
j reduced. The prices. we are paying
i now is@ an outrage, - he reiterated.
4 One Of the members Of the defense
league who was present At the meet
ing "Wednesday says Baleh made bne
4 Of his characteristic ATTACKS when the
fish question was brought up. He rather
startled some Of his associates, II In
indged by the hesitancy they show in
\ discussing the leagues attitude regard
ing the Balch Recommendations, but
there was no doubling his sincerity A.
he repeated last night what he thought
ought to be done TO save the Honolu-
In consumer from being gouged BY the
fish dealers and the various middlemen.
noyat rrust Buster Ese.g, \ w
j Mr. Baleh's Recommendations have
revived the memory of the historical
anecdote of how one Of the Kameha-
mehas broke a Chinese poi trust IN Ho-
4 nolulu. W p%sF,s l,gA @a3N# ltasl
4 Formerly poi was sold In ealabashes
\ and the Chinese had secured control
OF the available supply until they were
ableiitu force the HawaiiaBA TO pay
fifty cents for ealabash Of pot AZ
this was double the Usual price II I'M
cited the kings anger and he started
on personal investigation of the poi
stands F.. tEE 3 &i.s 4 ~ IA ks7a asA * m
/ Arriving ~ Chinese stand he point
ed to a ealabash Of poi and asked the
price. The Ohinaman answered "ha1
4 pa lua ~ without N word the king
struck and broke the calabash with a
stillet6, which he was carrying for this
purpose. fost = " Ntyas. I7tt" SIZE -
! Moving to- the next stand the same
thing happened, the king retaining his
silence, except when making query
as to the poi price. a25N's" y
But ut the third stand, the poi ven
dor, who had noted what had happened
at the other two stands, frightened by
the kings presence and his anger,
quaveringly answered; hapa-ha" on
twenty-Rye cents, . afty percent redae.
ton. " }@ t}N8f,S &7 l,FHB 4t1Mfh -
II is recorded that the king bought
the poi for q quarter, and gained title
over Teddy Roosevelt as the first
trust busteru y Nv y -.
/ - Thereafter, also it is said, poi sold
\ for twenty cents ealabash. -
Investigation Started ~
While there were no indications at
the defense society's meeting that Mr.,
i Balch = recommendations about tear.
ing down the fish market are to be fol-
lowed, Il was decided to make an in.
vestigation of the fish prices and the
conditions causing them y .. ~
President George Carter appointed
Col. John HI! Soper, as president of a
special fish committee, and Lee Todd
and 8. s. Baxson as assistants. " N5't
Colonel Bopef says, the COMMITTEES
will make an investigation to see what
can be done. We have. had number
of suggestions, which we win consider
and determine il they are profitable -
These suggestions came from various
sources, he said. ~ -. ~ y
When questioned about Mr., ,Balch &
Recommendation he said; Gwen, !
hardly think that It il practicable. Do
lyouf" q - e. Z
I Mayor Fern 3 idea Of having NUM-
cipal fish market seems TO be growing
in favor almost as rapidly as did the
advance In the price of FISH grow in
disfayorl x after the Inauguration, Of
many meatless meals by the food adj
ministration. ~; ~ ayS ~ &Ef
May Build Market a5' 81 = > r.
One Of the suggestions made for the
municipal fish market Is that N, be
built over the stream which enters the
harbor Mt the foot Of River Street, 80
sampans could bring their load Of fish
to the market and unload them with.
out unnecessary handling. les ~ "FA
Mayor Fern Is latest suggestion Is
that the present fish market be econ
demned and taken over by the city
government, and that the fishermen be
followed 10 soil Sdiryct 70 the consumer,
I with tho entire teIipination Of the mid
dleman, He is, however, reported to be
puzzled as to proper methods of pro-
cedure. h - ~ ..- a.
He also advises the building Of a
municipal market over the river, near
Fort Street, or3the leasing of nun
Der ofsstalls in the fish market by the