The increase in laborers is due to the starting of a large estate and the increased acreage of old estates. Inclosed you will find an article on coffee raising, which you may find useful. The endeavor of the Hawaiian Government to induce the immigration of small farmers from your country is fraught with nis-* chief to the farmer, as you will see by reading the inclosure. This article was written by a man I can vouch for. A man with money can make money anywhere if he has the proper mental and physical equipment. The planting of coffee in these islands is largely experimental at this time. These figures show that the Hawaiian sugar planters are two-thirds foreigners and one-third Americans, and that the benefits derived from annexation by this remission of duty will be conferred two-thirds of it upon foreigners and onethird of it upon a few sons of missionaries whose fathers went to the islands to confer upon the inhabitants the blessings of Christianity and whose sons first confiscated their lands and now have stolen their government. They are not subjects of charity. The people of the United States ought not to be taxed to confer this benefit of one-third of $7,500,000 a year upon these sons of missionaries and two-thirds of $7,500,000* a year upon foreigners. I read from Blount's report with regard to American interests, on page 455, part 1, Report of Commissioner to the Hawaiian Islands: To cover their numerical weakness, the annexationists' faction have tried to awaken American sympathies by alluding to the necessity of protecting American capital, which they claim to be so largely invested in these islands. To give plausibility to this assertion, tables have been prepared, purporting (on estimations, not on any positive documents) to show that the total capital engaged in sugar (in corporations and nonincorporated plantations) amounted to $33,420,990 out of which $24,735,610 was claimed to be American, or about fourfifths; $6,038,130 British, $2,008,600 German, $226,280 native, and $299,000 of other nationalities. This fantastic array is contradicted by the mere fact that out of a total of $537.757 for internal taxes Americans paid only $139,998— official figures-or one-fourth, while according to the above statement American plantation stock alone, outside of commercial firms and other American taxable property, ought to have paid over $247,000. But even allowing that a large portion of the sugar interests may be apparently in American hands, it is far from correct to call it American capital. It is an undeniable fact that outside of Mr. Claus Spreckels, of California, no American has ever brought into this country any capital. worth mentioning, but many have sent away fortunes made here. Most of our present American capitalists, outside of sons of missionaries, came here as sailors or school-teachers, some few as clerks, others as mechanics, so that, even if now they do own or manage, or have their names in some way connected with property or corporations, this does not make their wealth of American origin. And so every investigation that can be made shows the commercial interests of these islands are in the hands of foreigners, and that whatever benefit we confer we confer upon an alien race as laborers and foreigners as capitalists. MR. CAFFERY: What is the total number of acres in the island? MR. PETTIGREW: Four and one-half million acres form the total area of the whole island, and at least 1,000,000 acres of this area is lava and unproductive. The whole area is lava, but one and a half million acres, I should say, is recent lava, and therefore produces nothing. It is of high elevation. The great island of Hawaii has an elevation at two points of nearly 14,000 feet above the sea. One of these points, Mauna Loa, is an active volcano, and down its sides up to 1881 there flowed great streams of lava. In 1881 an eruption occurred at a point 8,000 feet above the sea, and an immense river of lava hundreds of feet in width rolled through the forest down its slopes into the village of Hilo and stopped. MR. CAFFERY: And about one-half of the arable acreage is held by the sons of missionaries? MR. PETTIGREW: By them and the other foreigners. MR. CAFFERY: How much does that leave the natives? MR. PETTIGREW: The natives have 250,000 acres upon which they pay taxes, and the half-castes 500,000 acres; but it leaves the natives also a vast area of comparatively valueless land-the pasture lands. There are great areas that are pasture lands, and they are owned almost entirely by the natives. Hawaii is no exception to the rule. Wherever the Eng lish foot has stepped upon the globe personal property pays little or no tax; the burden is upon the land; the revenue to support the Government is upon consumption, and the individual has to pay it; the accumulated wealth escapes. And so it is in Hawaii. The first thing to be considered is the real estate. The total value of this in 1895 was $22,183,443. It was divided as follows: This statement is taken from the tax books of 1895. At the close of the biennial period of 1897 a fresh table will be made out. These figures are from Thrum's annual book, issued by the annexationists for the purpose of making out the best case they can in favor of annexation, issued solely and exclusively in the interest of the missionary sugar planters. But I am informed by the assessor in chief that the increase is not very large. There must be some increase, however, as much land which formerly was waste forest land has gone into the cultivation of coffee. The personal property was valued at $17,491,068, but the division shows up somewhat differently, the bulk being held by the Americans, British, and Germans. The figures are as follows: PERSONAL PROPERTY Hawaiians and half-castes.... Americans, British, and Germans. Americans, British, and German corporations. American, British, and German firms.... Total..... $1,144,104 2,161,795 9,333,551 2,247,856 $13,743,202 Making a total of $13,743,000 as the value of the personal property of the island owned by foreigners out of $17,000,000 in all. Chinese. Other nationalities.. $2,205,339 177,307 221,116 As taxable value by no means represents intrinsic value, this estimate of the property, real and personal, may be regarded as under the marketable value of the property; but it serves to show in a measure the wealth of the entire nation and its distribution, and shows where the preponderance of property interests lies. The Hawaiians and part Hawaiians number together 39,504 individuals, while the Americans, British, and Germans count 6,768 individuals. The property interests of the former aggregate $8,101,701, while those of the latter amount to $26,701,908. To put it in another form, the percentage of the total real estate of the whole community held by Hawaiians and part Hawaiians is 0.31; the percentage of the total personal estate held by Hawaiians and part Hawaiians is 0.06. The main industries which Americans and Europeans are gaged in on the islands are sugar and coffee. The latter is a comparatively young industry, and can hardly be considered far out of the experimental stage; moreover, as the value of the crop is not assessed, it is difficult to arrive at a fair estimate of the worth of the plantations, but a rough estimate is given. en M CHAPTER V THE "REVOLUTION" OF 1893 R. PRESIDENT,1 I shall prove to the Senate that the Government which now exists in Hawaii, with which we are treating for a title to that country, is a Government existing without the consent of the people of those islands, set up by the armed forces of the United States, maintained by the presence of our battleships from the day of its existence to the present time. I shall show that this Government was brought into being because of the passage of the McKinley law, which repealed the duty on sugar; that the effort to annex the islands resulted from the fact that we repealed the duty upon sugar and placed a bounty upon domestic sugar. Therefore the Hawaiian planters desired to be admitted into the Union in order to secure the bounty; that our minister, Stevens, going to a friendly Government, began conniving, plotting, and planning to overthrow and destroy the Government to which he was sent on the very day of his arrival; that through his efforts, without any armed force on the part of those people, without a gun or an armed man on their part, backed by the cannon and the armed marines of this Government, thirteen men were made the rulers of that country, and even then, when our marines returned to their vessel, President Dole, as he called himself and as the thirteen called him, sent a letter to our minister, saying, "We can not maintain this Government which you have set up; we have not the power to perpetuate its existence," and asking to have the flag of the United States raised over their building; and it was raised, and remained there for two months, 1. Speech in the Senate July 6, 1898. |