Evening star., 1945-01-18
Butter and Cigarettes
Plentiful in. Hawaii;
Few Are Hit by Draft
By JOHN LARDNER,
North American Newspaper Alliance.

4'Si eAi nhicia aSoh WSpdpcE hillhnCe.
HONOLULU, Jan. 18.-If the
housing situation in Honolulu i.
desperate-and it is, with peoples
mouths watering at the sight of ar
empty fair-sized birds .lest-some
of the other problems which Amer
leans back home Lnow are spectacu-
larly absent.
Butter? They serve it on the table
in bricks. Cigarettes? You can gel
pack OF any popular brand at any
cigar counter, or grocery store, OF
bar.
Your correspondent, conditioned
to the tobacco famine back on the
mainland, started out here with his
customary tactic of diving alertly
for butts tossed in the cutters on
kalakaua avenue, King street
Punchbowl stree. and Kapiolani
be ulevard, but instead of having a
rival sniper's foot clamped on my
wrist, I found citizens standing by
starting curiously and saying, MY
goodness, how uncouth And such
a genteel looking fellow, too"
There is another point. The
draft is light here. Selective service
is thing which affects few men of
eligible age in Hawaii. For this, as
Tor the absence of food and tobacco
ratlonlng, there is good enough rea-
son, though the civilian visitor needs
time and one more cold shower be-
fore he can realize he hasn't STUN
bled into Chapter l of some light
piece of escape literature.
Few HawaiianS Drafted.
Few Hawaiians are drafted be-
cause most Hawaiian men work
more or less directly for the gov
ernment. Gas, electricity and rapid
transit services of Honolulu, for in
stance, are practically soldier and
sailor utilities. Without them, the
war effort hereabouts would be seri-
ously inconvenienced The same is
true of Honolulus shops.
On broader lines, the American
Government has need of the sugar
and pineapple produce on which
Hawaiian economy is based. The
Government takes so per cent o. the
pineapple crop right off the barrel
head. This crop has got to be
worked and in the few instances
where men are not working it, it is
because groups of them-200 car
penters, for example-are out on
loan to Army and Navy yards.
Another factor in the draft situa-
ton is that HaWaiians of japanese
blood were omitted from selective
service until very recently. Nisei
japanese of the famous Tooth Bat
TALON, which fought so we'll in Italy,
were not draftees, but volunteers.
Some Exceptions.
Ihere are couple exceptions to
Hawaiis happy exemption from
ratloning and these are liquor and
gasoline. There is little of either
TO be had and the visitor with a
tender palate is apt to feel that
what liquor and gasoline he finds
come out OF the same bottle. That's
not quite fair. Domestic LIQUOR is
not bad but domestic LIQUOR is
about all a civilian can lay his
hands on right now.
There is a ration which consists
OF one bottle of hard liquor-whisky,
gin, brandy or rum-weekly. but
as we go to press it's imaginary.
The last supply of imported hard
liquor reached here months ago and
was exhausted by the middle of the
second week.
Such rye and bourbon as YOU find
In occasional bars is black market
stuff or boarded and nursed stock
scotch is a miracle of chemistry
which natives know only by hear
say. For compensation they have
a native brand of rice liquor called
okolehao, or "ok" for short. which
IS palatable if properly aged and
charred in keg.
The gasoline situation is about
the same here as at home. though
most drivers have enough because
their jobs are essential. If the lob
is unessential, you just stay home
q nH CY7nln