How King Sugar Rules in Hawaii by Ray Stannard Baker

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 soliTerritory 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. rh%graph by R. K. Conint with the [(' island sugar markable in P!toto/!'YapJ: Iry R. K. Couine Hawaiian industry. EDWARD D, TENNEY telligence and WILLIAM PFOTENHA UER ship -line es­ Manager of Castle & Cooke, one of the" Big Five." Mr. Tenney is Of the" Big Five," three are so-called American firms' one Theodore tablished, One of the the .high effi. If. Davies & Co., represents British interests, and one' H. Hackfeld & first things a leading factor in the control of the industries of the Islands. Three ciency wi t 11 Co., represents German interests. Mr. William Pfbtenhaueris at which carries with which of the agencies in the" Big Five" are more or less dominated by the which t h (, I he head of the German house,. Besides controlling many plantations, the bulk of the investiga­ old missionary families and missionary interests sugar indwl II. llackfcld & Co. also dominates a large portion of the wholesale their sugar on tor is im­ try is diml and retail mercantile trade of the Islands favorable terms across pressed in the islands-and it is the famil­ ed. It has been in a high degree farm i 1111 Lilt' rnanagers and planters, iar argument of all big business corpora­ with brains. The planters have adapl"d 4,000 miles of sea to Central America, all Il1ay profit by the latest thence by land across the Isthmus of Te­ tions-is that the stock in many of the themselves with wonderful flexibility :11111 huantepec, thence again by sea to New plantations is widely held. And this, in ingenuity to all manner of difficult ('1I11 the case of several of the large plantations, is ditions. Marvelous irrigation SYSl<'III~1 York-a rather tremendous enterprise. They true: the stock is scattered among business ditcbes, and flumes from mountain stn';II1I' have also helped in the development of ship­ men, professional men, ministers and teach­ and great pumping plants have been ,III ping facilities to the Pacific Coast. ers, and even to some extent among the veloped. Conditions of soil and r<~IIJi:dl In other big ways-the handling of their credits, the purchasing of supplies in great Chinese. have been studied and the last perfecllllil \I quantities, their participation in the control' But this in Hawaii, as elsewhere, does not modern farm machinery and modern mel 111111 of Ihe company which makes most of their at all change the essential feature of central­ of fertilizing have been introduced. ] 1J:1 \' i7.cc\ control. . Indeed, it makes it the easier seen great fields being plo\-vecl IH'arl y 11111 I)\VII sll,l:;ar nlill ma,'hinny in all of these " I, ,

Photograph by Ford A TYPICAL HAWAIIAN LANDSCAPE Ill' "'.. t of lava and coral, a broadband of sugar-cane plantation, and above that the volcanic hills

"" 11111\ o! her whites, and 396 Chinese able to live in that tropical country on a .. !lljlllncse. 'Of the 234 registered small allowance of fish and poi, he is rather '.Jllli""'I', I II highest number who ever more independent economically than men of 1111 1111 I·!t'd ion is thirteen. the working class in northern climates. 1I1I1t! imagine from their predomi- But it has been possible to "reach" him in 1IIIIIIiJ'r of voters that the native a hundred ways by playing upon his weak­ Phvlog-prrjJJt by R. g. b'onin/! III HOME OF EDWARD D. TENNEY IN HONOLULU I II \\'lIlIld dominate the islands. They nesses. He has been flattered with banquets II II If t hcy voted together, but as a or luaus, he has been coa.,xed and cajoled by Nowhere in the world, perhaps, can wealth so easily command heauty and luxury as it does in Honoluhl. It pmdil:e they are no match for the whites who spoke his language, and he has This is but one of the many beautiful homes I. 1I1l~1I :y-cont~olling, land-owning, been won over by appointment or election to I I III I(IVlI1g whIte man. Indeed, in inconsequential political offices. And re­ machinery, and not only acquire more slaves ~I combined planters of Hawaii have shown un­ IJllI' day~ of the old native govern- cently, as he has learned the rules of the . usual ability in overcoming the disadvan­ but by the domination of the government 11 Ill'forc they had large property game,large sums of money have been used protect the institution' of slavery. Power i ~ tages of distance and the rigors of a world h II' lIIell controlled the doings of the in the elections. Hundreds of the leading . competition. In other ways, also character­ never stationary; it either expands or COil 1111 lIu'cns; and when that control natives are hire~ at high wages as "runners," istic of the modern game of business as it is tracts; and in the South it expanded-unti III Ill. tantial and another arranae- and before electIOn they go among their own played at its best (or worst), the planters have the explosion. I Itl III promise better business c~n- people and by the usc of oratory and" pia Now the power of the corporation arislol shown remarkable facility-I mean in the way I. 1111'1 ll;([ out the old royal family and gin," win their support. Moreove; in which they have secured and retained the racy of Hawaii, of course, rests upon exactI III l,tI IL republic: and then, when through the division of the natives betwee~ advantages of a high protective tariff, and the same fundamental advantages. Land 1l'lIly, and for business reasons the Republican, Democratic and Home Rule their adroitness in handling their labor prob­ machinery, labor! Control these and yOI I IIII' admission of the islands as ~ parties their influence is neutralized. lem. Of these two latter activities, I shall control the world! II IIII' AI lcrican Union, The Anglo-Saxon is not particular about speak more fully later. Control is made easier in Hawaii, as it wa 1111 IIII' rarly times of the old having the name of power: what he looks in the old South, by the presence of aver' It may be asked how it is possible for a 11 11111 illg New England mission~ !or, ~I:vays, are the actualities of power. He large population of non-voting worknll'1l . comparatively few white men and their fam­ t I. 1111111 has been the teacher and IS wJ1lJl1g to have the Hawaiians hold many O ilies, out of a population of· nearly 200,000, This not only inc! udes that half of the P I)II III IIII' natives, and for genera- of the offices, even though he regards them lation which is made up of Chinese and .lap thus to control so vast an industry. II 10 I' 1111(1 guidance have been as ineffi~ient administrators; for it flatters II In the old South domination rested 'upon anese, but of thousands of ignorant POll hll I hI' strong position of the the vaDity of the native, preserves political three essential advantages or privileges. guese, Spanish, Russians, and others, \\hl II ,'!t'l j,; n-'customed to lead. peace, and does no particular harm--':"'-so lona First, upon the ownership of the best and are not yet naturalized. Fully three-qua, II hlllill t he native, all along, has as nothing is done to disturb him-the dom~ most fertile cotton lands; second, upon the ters of the population of Hawaii haVl' III Ih,tI,Ie'al ()f independence. He inating white man-in his control of the control of the indispensable machinery-the more to say about the government Ullllt' III, lit! dlll'd a Home Rule party land, the machinery, and the labor supply of cotton gin; and third, upon the absolute which they are living than the old 51;11'1' 111,"' \\,:lS almost in control of the islands. Thus the mayor of Honolulu The total registered voters in the island,.;, iii domination of the labor supply-the negro II 1111111"111. The native loves many o~ the territorial legislators, and many deed, is only 14,442 (in 1910). Of 1111'11 slaves. All these advantages gave the great 1"11,11, 1III'dillgS and has taken to officers III all the islands are Hawaiians-and nearly 10,000 are native Hawaiians, and 0111 planters wealth and political power, and by 11111. II "lit husiasm, and being the road-work and much other public work the use of wealth and power they were able 1,763 are American horn. The remaind"J to buy still more Jand, control still more made up of naturalized Portuguese, Brit illh 33 .12 pi, I, j,; :to Ill:t 11 0 r II "II " Ill'I,' :\ :,hiliLy ill somc lillc~. rom I tl I I" II j I 1:11))(' He h:\s good humor II" 1""1>1,,," of ~nd tact, he is ali ~ 'Il I. :.,1' the ex cell e n t speaker "I Il:lwaii and a man wh() "Ii" ,"i"d re­ makes a fine appear­ IIH' Oricn­ ance on ornamentaI 1111 :tll1ong o c casion s , As a I' I ,., Il'lU C h native making a '""

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