The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1919-05-09
HIIrIIrS LAND PROBLEM

nav AIRS LiND INObLEh
The legislature has asked the Congress to amend the land laws
Of the territory. and a commission Of territorial lawmakers is to go to
Washington to push this and other measures. What they VIII accom-,
pHsh is of course uncertain; but it is reasonably sure that they Will
not settle the land question in Hawaii.
best advantage OF the lands owned by the territory. 1 is true a lot
Of persons do think that that is all there is to be solved. But it isn't
Whey e7fyy acre of tubhc land in the Islands is IN the hands Of
q tyi,qtc o,yuey, Hauaj ouH still hare her land question" And it may
even be more vital then than it seems today. .,
Let us look at the facts. The total amount Of agricultural lands
Of all classes owned by the territory is today about $4,000 acres. What
does this mean; Well for one thing it means that II every acre OF
this land were cut up into homestead lots averaging so acres each, 1t
would provide for but 1000 families, or, counting to a family
families were the choicest to be found in the whole world, it could not
materially ch2ngss conditions in the I Is,2nd 5r, r.eo,din Indeed
it seems that entirely too much stress has been laid on homesteadng
and economic problems. If instead OF seeking to get rid of such lands
as the territory still possesses, we should abandon such an idea once
and for all we might be on the road to better results.
OF the $4,000 acres of tlable lands owned by the territory, some
10000 acres is cl2 SS .% as cane ivan Land bs on mo", at more for tba reaiou u fbat
1t probably could. never be made to yield its fullest return If titled by
a multitude Of individual owners. ,
If this seems brief in favor of our present plantation system and
against the small land owner in Hawaii, it is and it isn't
1t is hard to believe that were all the sugar lands ever cut up into o
small holdings, the result in tons of sugar produced would be what it
wrong. 1t remains yet to be demonstrated that growing sugar on a
small farm basis can ever cope with the big unit system under scientific
seems remote. The evidence now points exactly the other way.
But this applies to only the sugar lands-to the one big, dominat-
apply to the many times larger area of other kinds OF lands-lands
sufficient, were they properly utilized; to sustain IN comfort a popuIa-
Nor does ii argue in favor of a tenant and landlord system, NO
nation has ever reached a very high plane on such a basis. 1t has in
fact been the cause OF untold misery and injustice throughout the his
tory OF the world. To develop the highest type of citizen a man must
be anchored to the soil by a home that is his very own. 1t is an old
saying that no man will fight to defend his clearinghouse, but he will
fight for his home. The home is the foundation Of a stable nation:
But the lands OF Hawaii, whether cane lands or not, are not for
sale. They are not to be had by the mar who would make a home.
What wonder is it that the labOrers of Hawaii toll from day to day
with their ewes fixed elsewhere, and dream of the day when they can
go elsewhere to seek a home which they may bequeath to their chill
dren?
Now, the territory, in its 10000 acres Of cane land, does control
a very significant part OF the cane area OF the lsands-posslby a sixth
to an eighth. Why should no. the territory then use this land towards
upsettng the mistaken policy or habit OF the sugar interests to hold or
control all land, whether of cane value or not, Why should it not for
get, once and for all, about h~omesteading these sugar lands, and in
stead lease, or perhaps even sell them outright to the CorporauOns-f,
as a part Of the bargain an abandonment of land-hOggng as a fixed
corporation policy could ako he included?
This might not be so difficult as it would seem. Thousands of
acres of lands on every island are now held by plantation companies,
that pay little if any adequate return, but which would make homes
of greater or less desirabiity for thousands of people. Such lands
should not be given away, but should be made available to those who
wished to buy at a fair valuation. They should go to furnish homes,
or the possibility of homes, for the workers of the Islands; and should
be looked upon by the present owners IS an investment towards the
future labor supply of the territory.
This plan would mean the recognition OF the plantation system as
developed in Hawaii as a sound economic development. 1t would
divorce sugar from a multitude OF minor and not especially profitable
pursuits. 1t would furnish room for a real population to develop-a
population having a deeper interest in Hawaii mel than a mealticket
And it should go far to permanently solving the never yet solved labor
problem.