The Hawaiian gazette., 1918-05-10

! t'If ! correctly understood Mr.. Nc.
Candless on the telephone today he
has broken our regulation and charged
$40 a bag FOR ten bags Of rice. I can
hardly believe that he has thus used his
own feeling Of personal injustice as an
excuse Tor taking the law into his own
hands, Haunting the authority of the
legislature as embodied in the commits
sion and endeavoring To exact Illegal
tribute from the rice users for his per.
sdnal gain.
.F.P' such action would, II seems to me,
be clearly uhpatriotic and contrary 10
the public interest. The present time
Of war "a bringing out clearly those who
,place the public welfare above their
selfish interests. I cannot believe that
Mr.. McCandless win not stand at the
fight place nj this time. If he does;
II he is real patriot; If he is good
sport, he will take his medicine, rebate
the overeharge on the ten bags, II he
really made it, in which case I should
recommend that the slip be forgotten
and get to work coustruc lively to help
the food authorities determine what
would be nm honest TO God fair price
for the next Hawaiian crop. fair 20 the
growers, and fair 70 the people who
eat il. p
,sf'.In case Of what I believe the re-
mOtest possibility of Mr.. McCandless
taking q different line of action thar
that outlined above, or any other party
violating this regulation of the com
mission, it is the clear intent Of the
law tScction 10y that the legal penalty
be imposed. -
Defends Action
In defense of his action of arbitrari-
" raising the price of rice, Mr.. Me
Candless said last night that unjust
Z discrimination by the food commission
forced him to take the action that he
ytffd yesterday. His contention is that
Hawaiian rice prices have always been
governed by the prir" of rice in Cali
[ fornia. Up to yesterday he had been
selling rice At eight dollars n bag in
conformity with the laws of the food
| commission. Libby, Mcneil and Libby
offered McCandless ten dollars bag
for all the rice he could deliver. This
offer, according to McCandlcss, he re-
fused. Later in the day MrCandless
discovered, through his agents, that
Fred l.. WaldrOn and Co. had made a
sale of 1900 bags Of California rice at
ten dollars and twenty five cents. Mr..
Booth, of the firm of F. l.. Waldron
and Co. had made an offer to McCand-
less Of nine dollars and fifty cents n
bag, which Mr.. MrCandlcss says no
refused.
CYLINDER these conditions" said Nc
Candless last night, 81 felt that my
self and all Hawaiian rice growers were
! being nm Justly Disseminated against
and decided to take the action that |
did. sold twenty bags of rice only
to the Libby, Mcneil and Libby people
\ although they wanted more and am
| keeping the balance for distribution III
' small lots to satisfy the needs Of as
many as possible I claim unjust dis
| elimination. If this is a violation of
| the law, | admit the allegation. Fur
I ther procedure Is out of my province.
| 1t is now up to the fool commission.
| 81 have been offered nine dollars and
sixty cents bag for all the rice / can
land IN California. THE freight rate
is thirty.fve cents n bag which would
| give me a profit of one dollar and
TWENTY-FIVE cents above the standard
price of eight dollars n bag set by the
! food commits sion, if ! wanted to ship to
! the coast, which 10 not intend to do.
! 7 may be criticized for my action but
| will go on record now as being will
| ing to sell nv rice for five dollars bag
| if the importers here will sell California
rice at a like fgare plus the freight
rate. | have nothing TO hide, deny
nothing and all ask is fair play.
Whether the raising of rice prices by
other growers will be done following
the action of McCandless yesterday
could not be learned last night. There
il very small quantity OF Hawaiian
rice in the nGarHet and the shortage Of
Japanese rice is so great that sake
brcwcries are threatened with shut
down A small quantity of rice WAS
shipped from the other side Of the Isl
and yesterday.
Food Commissioner William II. HoOES
says that the proposition said to have
been advanced by the Union Pacific
| Transfer Company to haul rice paddy
\ from the other side Of the IsIand at
the rate of 81 ton is just another of
Food Administrator CAild's dclusionS
The company admittedly is unable to
move the rice paddy, he says, rs it
lacks the equipment.
Commissioner Hogs explained the
|
food COMM ssion meeting which was
that the Honolulu CONSTRUCTION and
Drawing company stood ready to move
the rice paddy at rate of 50 Il ton
and he said this concern is ready t.
give a bond that the paddy can l."
moved at this price, rain or shine.
incidentally Food Commissioner
IIoogs said that although he organized
the courern that is now the Honolulu
Construction and Draying company, he
I does not now own share of it's storN
and has no connection with it whatever
The situation as Commissioner lioog'
explains it is that the Union Pacific
Transfer company has quoted II 10"
figure for a service it is unable to per
form and that the Honolulu COnstrur
ton aud Drawing company stands ready
to undertake the job at the figure h'
announced. ..
The question about the hauling of the
rice paddy grew Out Of a charge v"irr'
bv Commissioner Hogs at the rrr"n
meeting that All Chuck was h"ardns
his rice. In answer to this, it WAS snI'
the product could not be moved Will
the roads in the condition they Al" III
Commissioner Hoogs replied quoting ,h'
price at which the rice paddy c"uld h'
brought TO Honolulu.