New-York tribune., 1918-02-17
A Market in Mimatrre-The
! Little Wall Street Of Hawaii [

I'LL OIrGCl
pie, than there are in Toxic, with
its two or three millions--probably
by the time this article reaches New
York nearer the latter figure
through normal infantile increase.
There are only thirteen members
of the Honolulu Stock Exchange,
but on a busy day each one circu-
lates so rapidly that there appear
10 be many more. Their profits
must be very large, for there is an
air of great contentment and pros
perity in Little Wall Street." The
older men are very distinguished
looking, and are possibly descend
ants of good old American and Eng
Iish families. The younger men are
noted for their good looks and their
up-to-the-minute sartorial adorn~
ment. Panama hats from Panama
and vicinity; pinchback Palm Beach
suits from McInery's-the Brooks"
of Hawaii-American silk shirts,
cravats and hosiery from MeInery's,
and impeccable white suede shoes
from the best Newark maker-this
makes an ensemble quite up to the
fashion of Broad Street from Wall
Street to Exchange Place. The only
difference is in climate, which in Ha-
wai is like nothing have ever
known, except in the Azores, and
that is slightly more moist. My ther-
mometer stands on this mid-January
day at 76 at noon, and it was exactly
at that figure at this hour last May.
A glass registering 10 degrees
would be sufficient for all practical
purposes, although the government
instrument often informs one that
the temperature got down to IS at
a. m.
Soft Pedal on
Sugar Discussion
When visited Hawaii last spring
l made the mistake of telling one
progressive broker that l might
write something about the stock
market and the Exchange here. He
seemed alarmed and said, "What-
ever you do. please do not say
word about sugar." Flatteringly,
said, "Why not? Are you all max
ing so much money out here that
you want to keep it quiet?" He an
swered, "It's our one big money
crop, you know, and the less said
about it the better!" l think he is
right, from his standpoint. Since
then | have gone around in quiet
way getting my impressions much
in the manner of patient financial
writer's in New York, more by the
inductive method than in any other
way. | have waited eight months
before writing anything about sugar
or Hawaii. During this time l have
been IN other sugar-producing coun-
tries, notably through Java, where
terrible commercial conditions have
followed the cutting down of their
markets with the rest of the world.
In Java the sugar Of commerce is
of such high degree Of purity that
one soon finds he needs very little to
sweeten his coffee l was informed
that it comes to the table over 80
per cent pure, but it is not dead
white, and it has not been through
the "secret-room" Of an ultra mod
ern refinery, and become so miracu-
ously refined that five bags of raw
have emerged as six. In Java there
are ITS plants for treating the cx-
cellent canes.
From Hawaii, in 1916, the exports
cf so-called "brown" sugar-which
is pure sugar, almost white, vet
slightly tinged with coloring m Yer
to be later bleached or extracted by
"bone-char" in the process of rcfn-
ing-amounted to the astounding
total Of nearly $53,000,000; while
the actual refined sugar exported
equalled only about $2,000,00O. 7
was told that there is but one refn-
cry in the entire territory, and that
the process Of refining is so involved
that it can be done much more eff
fectively on a large scale in the dis
tant centres. l am not expert on
sugar-or on anything else, I think
but I do not necessarily believe all
| am told.
Perhaps the greater sweetness of
the Java "unretined" pure sugar is
due to the superiority of the cane,
but personally I shall hold to the
belief that no soil in the world can