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THE MAUI NEWS, SATURDAY, JANUARY 23, 1915.
THE MAUI NEWS
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Entered at the Tost Ofliee at AVailuku, Maul, Hawaii, as second-class matter.
A Republican Paper Published in ihe Interest of the People
Issued Every Saturday.
MAUI PUBLISHING COMPANY, LIMITED,
Proprietors and Publishers
Sur.scKirTioN Katks, $2.50 run Year in Advance.
Rahokil Railroad GOo's
WILL J. COOPER,
EDITOR AND MANAGER
SATURDAY,
JANUARY 23, 1915.
KEEP THE CONVICTS.
A scheme is on foot to make the employment of territorial prisoners
on county work, an issue of the coming local campaign. It is to be
hoped the scheme will die a-borning. Ilut if it doesn't it should lie set
tled once and for all ly the voters at the polls.
In the first place the convicts have a right to work it is the best
thing possible for them. In the second place, whether or not they work
they must be fed, and it costs just as much to feed them in idleness as
it does when they earn what they eat. Maui's taxes help to maintain
these unfortunates. It is cheaper to feed them here on Maui and get
the benefit of their labor, than it is to pay for keeping them in the
Oahu prison and get nothing to show for it. Besides the 52" cents per
working day which the county pays per man for the twenty-eight con
victs now working in the Haiku district, goes into circulation here on
Maui, and not on some other island which is an item worth consider-
The argument will be made that the work the prisoners are doing
should be done by free labor. This is not sound argument. The sav
ing which the county effects through use of these convicts will leave
more money for other work to be done, and which cannot be done by
convict labor.
The example of the County of Hawaii is the strongest argument in
favor of the convict system. .For more than seven years Hawaii has
had a large force of this labor constantly at work building roads. The
prisoners built the splendid seven miles of road from the Volcano
House into the crater of Kilauea a road that has brought thou . ..i Is
of dollars to the county in stimulated tourist traffic. No one in H.m uii
today advocates the withdrawal of this help, because everyone there
knows that instead of hurting the island, it has helped everybody.
What the convicts have done for Hawaii, they can do for Maui The
Haiku job is but a short one, and besides it is not the kind of w ork tbe
could be best employed on mules would be cheaper at Haiku. But
these men should be put to work among the a-a on Haleakala, lvn'!
ing an automobile road to Maui's greatest asset the summit o: the
mountain. Maui can't afford not to do this. What the volcano road
has been to Hilo, the Haleakala road will be to Maui, and the convict
method is the only logical method at present of getting it done.
No. The man that goes about in this campaign saying that convict
labor is hurting Maui, is either dishonest or has something wrong w ith
his head".
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PROPOSED LAWS TO HELP THE FARMER.
A co-operative association law, government financial assistance in
starting co-operative canneries, creameries, or other manufacturing
plants, and the establishment of a territorial land bank, are three meas
ures which the Haiku Farmers' Association is fathering, and which will
be urged upon the coming legislature. None of these things are new,
and all are worthy of serious consideration. The first suggestion needs
simply an amendment to the present coqroration laws, by which asso
ciations employing capital may be organized in such manner that divi
dends are payable upon the basis of the business done with the indi
vidual members, and not upon the amount of capital invested; and also
that the association may control the personnel of its members absolutely.
vStrong argument has recently been made by the federal agent in
charge of the Glenwood branch of the Experiment Station, for a gov
ernment subsidized creamery for the new Glenw ood dairy district. The
fact that the dairy business in that district has been demonstrated as an
almost certain success, makes a creamery imperative if the community
is to develop. Yet there is not enough inducement to private capital to
build the modest plant required, and probably will not be for some years
to come. The homesteaders in the district have not the money them
selves. Yet this authority apparently proves that the plant once estab
lished, would be able to take care of itself.
The land bank idea was considered in considerable detail by former
governor Frear, before he went out of office, and the matter has also
had the attention of the present administration. During the past sum
mer, at the meeting of the Governors, of the states at Madison, Wis
consin, the land bank proposition was seriously considered. The idea
is that the states should make it possible for farmers to secure loans
on their lands for planting or moving crops, or for permanent improve
ments, at low rates of interest, and on valuations scientifically determ
ined. tt tt n n
BLIND TO OCR OPPORTCNITIES
The splendid new steamer Great Northern, of the Northern Pacific
Railroad, will arrive from San Francisco on February 21, with 550 ex
cursionists After a few days at the Carnival, the steamer will proceed
to Ililo and the tourists make a trip to the volcano. They are not com
ing to Maui. Only a few years ago Hilo was getting only a few strag
gling tourists the same as Maui gets now. Those were the days of a
three-hour stage ride and a three-mile mule back trip to the volcano.
Automobiles and seven miles of road have now made it possible for
Hilo to entertain half-a-lhousand persons at a time.
Maui has an attraction in Haleakala that is one of the chief adver
tised features to induce tourists to visit the Islands, and which in truth
is no less an attraction than is Kilauea. Yet it is a hardship for indi
viduals to see this wonder of nature, and an impossibility for a crowd.
Even our own people are content to appreciate our marvel from a dis
tance. Yet a road would do for Haleakala what it did for Kilauea, and
even more, for it would make accessable one of the most delightful
climates in the world.
Hawaii County got her volcano road built by convict labor at a
minimum of cost, and the experiment was so satisfactory that she has
kept the prisoners busy ever since, and has just succeeded in getting the
number increased to about seventy. Maui was recently given the use of
a few of the convicts. But they have not been used to advantage, and
there is a strong political move on foot to have them removed. With
reports of bad treatment to boot, this effort is likely to succeed. Why
is it that Maui people are so blind to their own interests?
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DELA Y MA Y BE FA TAL, GENTLEMEN.
Maui's legislative delegation at its meeting with the board of super
visors over two weeks ago, recommended that the board appoint a spe
cial committee on legislation which should throuirhlv thrash out the
various matters of legislation which affect Maui. The idea was that
this committee should be the clearing house for suggestions on proposed
laws, and should whip these into form in shape, of properly drafted bills.
But up to the present time no such committee has been appointed.
let the opening ot the next legislative session is less than a month off
Work of this kind is important, but it can't be done in a day. It needs
plenty of time, careful thought, and mature deliberation. And in many
instances the failure ot a bill m the legislature is due solely to delay in
getting it introduced. Hawaii County lias had a committee of this
kind working for several months past and it has already a mass of
dratted bills ready fur presentation. Maui lias some matters that need
attention too. It is high time she got busy.
I
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istributors
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Kahului, Maui, T. H.
