The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1922-07-07
MAKING GOOD ON LAND

One of the points that DIR. Elwood Mead brought out strongly
in his talk to members of the Maui Chamber of Commerce was that
primarily there is no difference between taking up government land
and embarking upon any industrial enterprise. Capital and eXecu-
tive ability are as essential i'll starting farming as they are in open
ing a store. This is a fact that has not received proper attention
from the government nor from prospective homestcaders on the main
land and here in Hawaii.
1t is a very pretty concet to say that the government has land
for all its sons and daughters and will give it to them If they will
cultivate it. All they have to dc is to build a home, get the farm
ing tools and machinery, till the soil and garner the crops. Mighty
simple i'll theory, but how different in practice!
On the mainland it used to be said that "t takes two generations
of failures before there is a generation OF successful farmers" in
demonstrating. Those failures either had insufficient capital to start
both causes for failure became apparent. DR.. Mead S right when he
saws that tbe overnm snends millions on an IRRIGATION problem
then holds a land lottery and the rest il. left to the lucky ones who
draw land prizes, it not being a concern of the government where
will come the money to enable a start. Such is a condition it is de-
sired to avoid in Hawaii where the prize has already been made valu-
able by the efforts of others when the land homeseaded was cane
land. In the Hawaiian Homes project the situation is more like
the mainland, however.
Another point that DR.. Mead brought out was the necessity of
conducting experiment work first. He suggests the University Of
Hawaii conduct such experiments. Already there is much avail
labe data on the subject which could easily be made available to the
the services of +. G. Krauss who has done o much and such success
full experiment work on this Island. The lands that will ultimately
be available are in Kula and Mr.. Krauss did most of his experiment
work at Haiku, but he is thoroughly familiar with Kula also, The
advice to the commission to hold off on distributing Maui lands until
a considerable amount of investigations and experimenting has been
carried on seems sound.
One of the noticeable things in homesteading is that the home
steader considers the more land he secures, the more wealthy and
fortunate he is. lie does not reckon on the need OF more capital
with the larger tracts nor does he pause to consider whether he has
the ability to cultivate a large area. He is Gland hungry" and
may live to discover there is such a thing as "land poverty
Especially in regard to the size of tracts to be given to those
who would rather work for others than cultivate a full sized farm
for themselves, did DR.. Mead make a point worth considering. The
idea of increasing their self respect and lettering their social status,
as well as making them more permanent in residence through en-
aiding them to get a home was well set forth by DR.. Mead.
The keynote of his talk, perhaps, was that the purpose should
be the formation of rural communities where persons are not only
put on the land but so circumstanced that there is a good chance
of succeeding. That he made clear to his hearers and they were
able to take home with them much information on land settlement
that they will find well worth while.