How King Sugar Rules in Hawaii by Ray Stannard Baker
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HE AlVIERICAN _-\.GAZINE ~\ o'vember 1911 LXXIII 1 ~ A~[ERIC:\~ MAGAZINE I 1'1'11111'111 ,,11/11' IlJillh 111'ly ,,1111;111111'111'1111"1' l'l'IlIUl'y; (he IIri~(ocrat is a financier rather Iii 111111111111111111111 iliid itll ill"lIlV of ,~,200 thall a farmer. '11 1 '1" 11'1111 wil II Illl'il' f:lIl1ilil:s li\'e ill We thus have over fifty corporations con , "I \ 1"111 lillll' l·il'I;II·,"~' IIr camps dolled lrolling the sugar land of the Territory; but 1'1111 11\""1 IIIl' J~rl'a' I'slatl', Thirty-live these corporations themselves are grouped I" 11111 'illll,' 1'1111 "Il the hills abo\'L: the together, so that in all essential matters they WONDERFUL HAWAII 1IIIIIIIIi'''I. iliid 111:;1 yl'lIr the tolal sugar pro act as a unit. • 1'1'''11 II'II:'~~,() 0 Illll~. vVhilc this is the In the first place they are organized in the A World Experiment Station I i \ I' .I "I I Ill' . powerful Sugar Plant plpI" d I '''Il,'; , 1l;~jjj~~jj~~~~i~~~~=~=~=~~ • 11'11 a 1'(' • ers' Associa BY RAY STANNARD BAKER III I II \ ,,j 1\('l's tion, which, i A1/liJor of " The Spiri/lut! Unrol," "Follo'Wing the Color Line, " elr, II,,' ,Iii lIds while it. is Ii III pril nominally a 1 r II III voluntary ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOGRAPHS l II organization, I til" " , I" II S exercises the 1. How King Sligar Rules in Hawaiz I _1l1;;11' 1111- profou n des t 11,\,1111' ;111 d control over lid, " l'ITy industry in AWAII has been"called, and justly "The· past tive years have witnessed an "I I he the islands. called, the Paradise of the Pacific. increasing centralization of this (the sugar) ,,,,,duce Through 'han the Planters' o But it is a paradise not only of industry; large plantations have been com H natural beauties and wonders; it bined into still larger plantations; sugar , .1" ,II I () 11 S Association is also a paradise of modern industrial com factor firms, which represent the center of I Ii Ii II :, II y. the central bination. In no part of the United States is flllancial control, are fewer but stronger than I I h I' a \\' ized money a single industry so predominant as the sugar in 1905; local .transportation, both by land II ;,,'Iling interests in industry is in Hawaii, and nowhere else, per and by water, is more centralized and in 1"1111 $70 the islands haps, has the centrahzed control of property more direct relations with the sugar-produc II H" :lton, act as a unit reached a state of greater perfection. Hawaii ing interests; and steamship lines to the 11\1 id,'a of upon the la, furnishes a vivid illustration of the way in mainland are more closely allied than ever I I. 11 1I1:lglli- bar question, which private business organization in its with sugar factors and planters." I ,01, "I' l h e they present final stages of development permeates, in . The sugar industry, thus being dominant '" III I ill n s a soli<l front fluences, and controls the life of a country. in Hawaii, it becomes a question of how, by lit" II y I) e in every po Sugar is King in Hawaii to a far greater whom, and for whose benefit it is controlled.. Il""l1'd, Ii ti cal con extent than cotton was in the old South. The Hawaiian Islands, of which four are I Idll,(' lhe test, and they Says the United States" Commissioner of considerably i~habited,are merely the sum 'II .. " u t h, conduct large Labor in his 1905 report: mits of vast volcanic mountains which in 111'1" I h e cooperati ve "Directly or indirectly all industries in ages past have thrust their heads out of the dII ," 1,1:111- enterprises, the Territory of Hawaii are ultimately de depths of the mid-Pacific. Disintegrated II III, liTre like the high II ",I I) v lyefficient pendent upon the sugar industry-the social, lava has for centuries been washing down JOSEPH }>, COOKE the economic, and the political structure of from the heights and has formed rich land h"l \' i ,Ilia (s Planters' Ex I, \ la Illi Five powerful agencies, called the" Big Five," dominate the finances periment Sta theislandsis built upon a foundation of sugar." areas along the seacoasts. These rich, warm and industries of the Islands and to a great degree its !ife, Of these II I", III"Cel The fact that out of $46,000,000 of ex lands in all the islands are devoted almost Iii five Alexander & Baldwin has the most extensive resources and the tion, for the ports last year from Hawaii over $42,000,000 exclusively now to the production of sugar IjllllI 11""1 ill largest business. Joseph P. Cooke is the dominating figure of Alex good of the represented sugar will give some idea of the cane. They are divided up and held mostly 1111 ,01 i~n ander & Baldwin. He may be called the leading financial force of industry of relative importance of the industry to the in large plantations the number of which in Ilid )',ral1 the Islands the islands. islands. the islands is about fifty. Some of them are I II, II\('se They raise The dominance of King Sugar is also be veritable principalities, stretching for nllles ,"11 "1:'.:11' estates of Hawaii are without and dispense large sums of money every coming more pervasive. Five years ago along the coast, the broad green fields reach "1'1'''" III1'ned by corporations. In a few year. The Planters' Association is more there were forces at work which suggested ing from the sea level to a height of 2,000 'I II" miginal or controlling owners of powerful far than the territorial govern limitations upon the power of sugar, but few feet in the mountains. Seen from the ocean, II I "01I",rations continue to live upon ment; it" has . well been called the Ha of them have been in the least effectual. with their scattered villages and the great 1111 10'"'1.,.::" the land, but in a majority of waiian House of Lords. The last (19II) report on Hawaii by the mill at the center, they are often impress ,11,,1 the tendency is constantly grow Behind the Planters' Association, and United States Commission of Labor, re ively beautiful to look upon. The largest of ,I" IIIl"Il who really control the planta really directing its operations, are the trus cently issued, although describing the situ the ownerships is that of the Hawaiian Com 11\, III Honolulu and employ salaried tees, all of whom are representatives of ation in the usual guarded language of a mercial and Sugar Company in the island of I II" ,. III operate the land. Modern the great sugar agencies' or factors of government document, makes these rather Maui with 35,000 acres, ofwhich over 20,000 I l'" I", \ is urban and absentee, not agri the islands. There are nine sueh factors, startling assertions: is cultivated in cane. It has an enormous ,lIlldllloi local, as was that of the last but the great bulk of the sugar business 28 or II I': II. M Ii I{ 1 ( • 1\ N 1\1 1\ t.: /\ ZIN 1': \1 I) N I> 1< I{ I' II I. II 1\ IV /\ 1 1 : BY HAY STANNARD .BAKER 3 I is done by fIve of them - the so-calkd for a cumpar~ttivcly small group of stod Big Five: holders inside the agencies to dominate th,' have dealt minutely with the methods of ship Alexander & Baldwin, Brewer & Co., Cas plantation corporations, and it tends to b ping and seJIing. When they found that the tle & Cooke, Hockfeld & Co., and Theodore tablish a public opinion favorable to the sugar trust was robbing them, they got to H. Davies & Co. existing system of control. gether and formed a corporation called the These five powerful financial agencies Now, I am setting down the facts regarding Sugar Factors' Company and bought a re represent as factors nearly all of the planta this solidarity of cooperative or corporate finery in California in which they began to I tions on the control as a refine some of their own sugar and thus com- islands. They plain condi pete with the finance the tion to be trust. It was plan tations, honestly ex- only a small they buy the .amined refinery, but supplies, they What is thl' it was enough attend to the result of this to force a fa shipping and con t r.o I ? vorable agree the sale of What are the ment with the product. advantages the trust, Not only and disad which has not are these vantages? An only served agencies the answer to to strengthen business rep these ques the power of resentatives tions will not the "trust" of the planta only explain but has made tions, but Hawaiian the Hawaiian more and condi tions, planters more they are but wiJI illu sharers in the actually com minate the profits which ing into the great problem arise from stock owner of industrial that monopo ship or con combination listic combi trol of the which con nation. plantations. I fronts the na In the same presume that tion on every way the from six to hand. planters ten men con I think no studied trans nected with one can visil portation and the agencies the island, we r e instru practically without beill;~ mental in dic tate the impressed having the American policies of the.