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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Aug. 7, 1904)
Governor Carter Talks Hawaii Copyrighted, 1904. by Frank a. Carpenter.) ABHINOTON. Auc. 4. (Special.) A Correspondence of The Bee,) V I "Uncle Bnm can well afford to da something for the Sandwich lal-lands." These were the words of Mr. Oeorge Robert Carter, the young governor of Ha waii, who In now in this country, where he came to attend the national republican con Ten lion and the St. Louis exposition. ' "Tea," continued the governor, "I say that Uncle Bam cannot afford not to do more for us than he Is now doing. We are one of the best pieces of dividend-paying property that the old gentleman has. We are paying more Into the national treasury In proportion to our numbers than any other iart of the United States. We are Betting the government aimoMt $7 per head very year, and there are no deficits. Our government taxes now amount to 8.53 per capita, and the government spends upon us only $1.62, so that there is a gain to the national treasury of $8.91 for every man, woman and child In the Hawaiian Island very year. Here In the United States proper the annual cost of government la $7.97 per capita, a wonderful showing la favor of Hawaii." "But what the the Sandwich Islands cry tng about, Mr. Carter? Do they not get all tbey need In the way of government funds?" "No,' replied the young governor. "Wa need new harbors and other public Im provements. The United States , la now pending something like $66,000,000 on Its harbors, and it Is alleged that millions of that money go Into dry rivers and creeks In the back counties. However that may be, none of It comes to Hawaii, one of the places where it is most needed. We ought to nave better shipping facilities at Hono lulu. We have overtaxed ourselvea to sup ply them, and from now on the money should come from the national government. Wo have deepened tiie harbor from year to year, endeavoring to keep up with the great steamers which wi.ih to enter It. It now needs additional dredging to a depth of bout thirty-five feet, for the great ships Which have been recently built for the transpacific trade draw thirty-two feet of water. They would come to our Inland, but they have to anchor outside. We need also a breakwater at th port of Hilo, en the Island of Hawaii, and there are other places that should be Improved." "I doubt If the people here appreciate the commercial importance of the Hawaiian Islands," continued Governor Carter. "We already stand eleventh among our ports aa to the tonnage of our American shipping, and we are Increasing every year. We are at too cross roads of the Pacific; at the great station between Australia and New Zealand and this continent and between the United States and Asia, When the ' Panama canal Is completed our Islands will be more Important than ever, and we must have good harbors to accommodate the trade." "Just how far are you from Panama, Governor Carter?" I nsked. "We are 4, .40 miles from the western and of the big canal and a little mora than half way on the route between that canal and Yokohama, Japan. We are 8,800 miles from Auckland, New Zealand, 6,000 miles from Hong Kong and a little more than 1,000 ml log from San Francisco. We are the key to the PaclUo ocean and ship from all ports of It now call at our porta. "The steamers of the Pacific are steadily growing In number and else. The new . boats of Jim Hill's line are among the largest of the world, and the Korea and, Siberia of the Paclflo Mail company, which now call at Honolulu on their way ' from San Francisco, have each 13,900 tons, and are as fine as any passenger steam erf on the Atlantic This company will sooi) add two other steamers equally large. Tho Korea and Siberia have a speed or twenty two knots and the Korea has gone from Honolulu to San Francisco In less than five day a These ships bring the Sandwich Islands almost' as close to the United State In point of time as Porto Rico." "What is the condiUon of the Islands to 6ay, governor T" I asked. "Are your peo pie prospering In a business way?" We have, not been doing wall In tha last year or so," was the reply. "Our chief Industry la sugar. We have about 1100.000. C0e worth of plantations and last year our sugar product amounted to more than 400 tOO tons, valued at $25,000,000. Sugar hail bean very low, so low, indeed, that upon plantations capitalized at $9,000,000 the av erage earnings according to my own fig ures have not been more than three-tenth of 1 per cent This Is estimated on the actual expenses and earnings for one year. Sugar Is now going up and we look for much better times." "Are the sugar plantations well man aged. Mr. Carter?" "Yes," replied the governor of Hawaii. They are handled as carefully, as scien tifically and as economically as any plan tations of the world. They are equipped With the finest of modern machinery. Tha ana Is brought to the factory on rail roads, and sows of the estates have miles f 1 ' ' ii . i.... i ,IL , J, ,, V ! ' " j i V. i V i GEORGB R. CARTER, GOVERNOR OF HAWAII, Of railroad tracks. Steam plows are used and the Irrigation works are of vast ex tent. Connected with some such estab lishments are pumps which lift millions of gallons of water a day, often carrying It over the hills from one valley to an other. Reservoirs are built to hold the water, and on one plantation there are more than forty miles of flumes. The soil of the sugar lands Is analyzed from year to year, and Just the right fertilizer Is added to make them produce to their fullest capacity. The labor on the plan tations Is organized under overseers and foremen, and the cost of everything Is as carefully estimated us in one of your great American factoiies." 'How do you get along with your labor?" I asked. "We are doing very well," said the gov ernor. "But we should be fur better satis fied If the people here would not Insist upon the same labor laws for us as for the United States. The conditions are dif ferent, and what Is good for one place is not good for another. This will be found to be the, case sooner or later as to the moat of our outlying colonies. White men cannot do the every-day labor of the tropics, and our conditions are such that labor of certain classes is best performed by Chinese. We should like to have a limited number of Chinese. We want enough to develop the islands to their fullest capacity, and no more. The num ber should be limited, and when the sup ply falls off through death or immigra tion wo should have tha right to Import others to take their places. As It Is now we can Import Japanese, but not Chinese, and we have now about 60,000 Japanese lu the islands. They do not make as good laborers as" the Chinese. They are not so reliable, nor do they make as good citi zens." "Do you have labor unions among your celestials?" "Not in the sense that the word Is used In the United States," said Governor Carter.- "The Japanese always go together. They may be suid to have one great union of their own. The Chinese have their or- gunizations, but these are more like social clubs than our trades unions. There are now and then strikes among the people of both races, but we have, on the whole, fewer labor troubles than you." "Id there any chance for the poor white man in Hawaii?" "Not much for the common laborer," replied Governor Carter. "The Japanese and Chinese will work more cheaply than he and almost equally well. Indeed, the white man can't work as well In the tropics as either the Chinman or Japa nese. We use white men for our super- -lntnndents and clerks. We do not want them to do the hard work." "What are the chances for young Ameri cans in the Hawaiian islands, governor?" "There are opportunities for young Amer icans everywhere," was the reply, "and there will always be places for the right men in our Islands. Nevertheless, It must be remembered that the country there 1 about as well taken up as In any part of the United Statea The Island hare bet - settled for many years and the opportune ties of a new and rapidly developing coun try are lacking. We prefer to have a few high-priced good men rather than many; poor men to do our work, and the wages) are, I think, higher than In the United States. Overseers and foremen are now receiving $100 and upward per month. Sugar boilers and engineers $100 and upward, while the plantation carpenters and black smiths are paid from $50 to $100. All tha high-priced men on the sugar plantation have their houses and firewood furnished. There is good demand for mechanics in Honolulu, but even there the Japanese and Chinese compete. As to clerks and book keepers they are easily gotten, and tho wages are not much higher than In tha United Statea" "How about men with money? Are thera many opportunities for good Investments? "Yes, but the conditions are not far dif ferent from those, of other parts of tha United States. It takes large capital to opetate a sugar plantation and the best of the sugar lands are taken up and in culti vation. There are some opportunities In coffee growing and in raising pineapple and other fruits for shipment to the United States. The available lands are compara tively few. The Islands all told have an area about one-fourth as large as the stato of West Virginia and a very large propor tion Is mountainous and uncultlvable. Such of the soil as can be used is, in many places, exceedingly rich; but, as I have said, the best lands are already owned and have been so for many years." . "Are there not some government lands?" "Tea, there are altogether about 2,ono,000 acres, but muc'i of It Is sterile or Inacces . Bible or covered with lava. There are per haps 600,000 acres that have some value, and half of that amount is good land. The government is anxious that its lands should be taken up by small planters, but, at 100 acres to the man, they could accommodate comparatively few people." "What are you doing with your leper colony governor?" . "We have our lepers on the Island of Mo lokal, situated north of Lanal Island, on the other side of the Pailolo channel. Mo . lokal . Is a narrow strip of land about seven miles wide and thirty-nine miles long. It Is of volcanic origin, the eastern part of It rising more than half a mile above the sea. The leper settlement Is on a low peninsula, on the south side of the Island. It ha some fertile lands connected with It. Includ ing a few thousand acres upon which sugar might be grown. The lepers are supported and cared for by the people of the islands. We think that they should be In charge of the United States government and directly under the marine hospital service. Our leper colony should be made an experi mental station for the study of leprosy and Its cure. There Is a government leper colony on an island off the coast of Porto Rico, and other lepers are supported by tho government in the Philippine Islands. The disease is a terrible one and congress could not do better than make an appropriation for a leper hospital on Molokal, and for a laboratory here at Washington where tho disease might be studied. It is, you know, a bacterial disease and a cure might pos plhjy be discovered. It would not need a large appropriation. I should think $3,000 a yenr might be sufficient to carry on the investigations; they might result In vast good not only to Hawaii, but to the whol world. You have lepers in almost every city of the United States and there Is a leper colony not far from New Orleans. W do not absolutely know that leprosy 1 hereditary. Indeed, the doctors now say (Continued on Page TbirteaiQ : iE- I - .. n.: . . v : .... :i HARBOR AT HONOLULU.
