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.