Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 342, 10 Kekemapa 1891 — [Illegible] GROWING PAY? [ARTICLE]

[Illegible] GROWING PAY?

1; uucs*, and will, even at the present low price. Every plaiitatiori on these islands would earn a p v it if they could escape out of I.*. • hands of the avaricious a<rents in i lonolulu. It is not the cust of that handicaps the planter and- absorbB nearly all of his pro- ] ■£ts. : but the excessive comAiissions fr«' &c., that he has to pav. > ■ :u careful estimates that have made, we learn that of thō t t average cost of production <01. y about one - third is for the (heap fietd labor, for the great perornt&,ge of the halanee goes in a < >nble commifision on outlay and ; tums, freights, companies interf st, .1:. In the latter lies the tax tiiat needs revision, more than the ehean labor out!ay. The expense f r > āarieB should also stand some ► ;iaving. ln certain of the British Colonies, einee the abolisbment of the slav«ry, the rate of wages for eommon i T ; labor is equal to and in some plaeiftore than the amountpaid here; yet Sugar is raised with profit. When these British planters were forced to free their slavee, and in coneequence, obliged to nearly double their former outlaye, they £elt that tbe industry was doomecr Bnt they iac€ki the situation with eharacteristic British pluek and energy, and with improved eeonotnical methods of production, and handling of the crop«. and the loriir experience thev have gained therewitb, they are enabled to a good * profit froui the industry. To l>e Hure the quick fortunes whieh th«y formerly made and whieh att $eted them originally to sugar srrowing, are not possible now, but they realize a liberal interest on i he capital invested, good pay to! t skilled labor and decent living wuges to the eommon laborer. The naain trouble in theseißlandB 1k s been that our planters have beeu in a most inordinate haste to '. r "t neh and get away, and wl|ile >gar was high and they had the b-oefit of the treatv, they hasteued to <ill th®ir jx)ckets with gold by witatever ii»otbods the sugar craze roudered available. They did not study to create an industria! hueiness by eeonomieal methods or principles, but on the credulity and capital of the moneyed me;i songht to make rapid fortunes. Tbe 4 most of ihem were and are advcntures who havo no patriotic interest in the cotintry. out hope in īive to ten years to make a fortune thatj will enahle them and their to Jive īn Arnerica or Europe inl ease. Mauy of. thcm have made j forlunes whieh hav. been in-i vested and spent abroad and has heen 00 henefit to this eo»iriry whoae pmliūe produeeil (he Vv*#altih. What ehiīm lutr, 'hru ro frgisfatioii Jur thri, * w that sugar has etinio d<.;\ 1» to a e .mparativelv lwv ngure whieh \\iii nrobably apennaiiōni bosis,

the planters realize* th;it they must alter their econoinies, and their fir.st cry is for eheap labor. The i adventure pi:ti»tcrs aa \lisappoi9t- | e:l and wiil probably close up and j 1 "avc tho country-god sp?ed them. j r rhe planters who have made their |homos here and propose tO remain jwii! prob:ih!y strugg!e wilii the ceoii<-Mio qriCStion hefore them, and the majority wili puil through aland eoniiuue to make money v though not so rapidly a formeriy. r Fhe National Party propose to rccommend and urge government assistance to railroads v particularly on Hawaii, in order that beside the opening Up ot new lands for other industries, ali produce may be rapidly and cheaply convey«d *to some central for foreign shipjjpent. This would effect a greafr feaving in the present cost of bandiitig t and also enahle eaeh island to s&p a,way its fruits and other prodncts, without extra expensein handiing. Hilo and Kawaihae on Hawaii, Kahului on Maui, Honolulu on Oahu, Waimea on Kauai, ought to be the cehtral d«'pots for a rsilway oystem on eaeh • isi;md, and the port for foreign shipment. The saving in inter-island freights, double handling, ckrtage, storage, &c., in Honolulu would be avery handsome percentage. They would-still be enough internal trafic to keep our present fleet of inter-island steamers in aetive service, especiaily with the settlement of the public lands with an indastrial population as the Nartional Party recommends. The present method and svstem of sugar agencies īn Honolulu .as we have before asserted, is also a severe tax upou the product of thē planters that could &nd ought to be obviated. What need for so many business houses eaeh with a large staff of clerks that have to be supported by corami3sion charges upon an aunual crop of less than $10,000,000 that could be easily handled by one firm. These various agents or i£ sugar factor" as thev prefer to be caUed, have it is true, obtained and adyanced to the plantery tlie bulk of the capitai that has been i»vested ia sugar, but it is also true that they have realized a handsome profits on their venture: many fine houses have been built and manv families aro trayelitig abroad 011 the commissions charged against the sugar product. If the planters were satisfied ifc were no ones business} to eomnlain. But now the < i onditions are changed, the big dividends have disappeard and economy is absolut<ily neceseary. Let the planters eomhiue and form a cooperative joint stock eompany with a ecrtain neccssarv amou nt of eapita Htnd*-©Htai>iigb. a central house in Honohilu with )>ronch agencios in the cent>ral ports named above for tho roceipt shipmcnt of the sngnr, and the importation and <listrih'ntion of plan|tation supplics. Tlk <apitalization «houkl be such to assist thase who are iti debt but in.good '4r tion, to gei clenr of their present agents. Such a oorporation Cviild easilv arrange their*in»nemlcredit* so as to ol»tain the funds m;ccds:u , y rV>i ;»<1 va!iocs oa the <T»-ps. Kaeh piantatiun \vould N» charge<l with itii proportion of oxact oost of; sueii ;t syslein. u hie h would undoul)tofl]y be ,m j»erllian \ i>o present eo?t : he pi>ititef uf ohhūnini! %lippli«3s a:ni his imm> to market, rhetv 1 h poutr in org.\m2ed

and £p>pital, and such an organization of the planters would, we feel eure, result in such a large saving oF profits that now gō to the middleman as to plaee every -plantation on the isiand on a sound an< l paymg basis. The ierop also bei«g h indled in bulk by a combined agency of all the plantation conld prubab]y be handled better in relation to the foreign market than at presem> with so uiany differnnt combinations.