The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1918-01-11
rHR ADYERTISERy SEMI-WEEELY


TINE ability to produce staple crops year aftei
. i year and market them at low average price
with moderate profits to both the labor and CAPT
ial employed, Is the basis on which all great indus
tries have beeti totuded Highnommodity prices
and huge profits, are, in the long fun, 1inical to
the success and continuity of an, industry, al
though markedly profitable to transient investors
ever on the lookout for abnormai returns. Wheth-
er the particular business is the production OF
sugar cotton, steel shoe leather, or wooden goods
il profits are so high that all the world has to pay
tribute amounting to double or treble the normal
cost of producing the commodity, an impulse is
born in the minds of all consumers oftbese staples
which, carried to its logical 6onclusio ,sotid ar
ray against them combinations Of intelligence and
population and soil and climate which would be
irresistible .&E VA H. ..E.
And SO, in planning for the future OF the sugar
industry stress must be put on the importance OF
getting sugar prices back down to four cent level
The longer,we delay. the greater the cupidity and
animosity aroused by our unusual fortunes, and
when normal times reappear great areas Of unused
lands and vast accumuatons of capital will be
thrown into sugar production in other lands. Other
nations will be spurred to supreme effort to COM
pete with American sugar growers.
The producers of any commodity can control
prices downward more easily than on an ascend
ing SCALE ana THIS Is tne Oltcn tdh-
en- by powerful combinations Of producers al
though in the average, analytical mind, credit
is seldom given monopolistc combinations for
such altruism. ..-@# : a..
Nevertheless, for the preservation OF the sugar
industry and to protect it against the bitter com
petition that must ensue, if we are to believe the
half 81 what the warning nations say each as to the
part they and their people intend to bear in busi-
ness establishments after the war, the American
sugar producers owe it to themselves, and to Their
industry, to restore the period of low prices and
normal profits in time to fend off such destructive
competition. ..#
Time was when Hawaii boasted of its scientific
methods of production but Hawaii no longer en-
Joys superior position in the sugar producing
world Scientific methods of production, labor
saving snpachinery, advanced processes of manu-
facture and skill in distribution are no longer adj
junct to Hawaiian sugar production in greater de-
gree than in other sugar lands Our methods are
no less perfect but the rest OF the world has caught
up in the lines where we formerly excelled. The
possession Of superior methods ofsproduction i
NO longer one OF the tangible assets Of our in.
.dustry. hE% s.. t.@ ..I. &,5&. IT. III =. .r'
long continued era of high prices is therefore
Htraught with possibilities that may lead to ult
mate disaster and it is well to begin to make plans
to put the industry back on a more conservative
basis This is the idea that is at the bottom Of
governmental price-fxing, for the elimination Of
abnormal profits is one of the best methods Of in.
surance against destructive and aggressive com,
petition after the war,