Hawaii — page 68: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

J os . 7" 2 _—s @ tie, oem. | _~ — . A ee ee el. oe ee ‘ ’ < ° * ; “a . é 1 . - a = dle . | INDUSTRIES AND COMMERCE. 59 raging, and the price of sugar in kegs went up ten cents. This was what gave the industry its first incentive, and from the output of two thousand six hundred tons in 1863 exported, it had increased to thirteen thousand tons in 1876. The price, however, did not continue so high. When the reciprocity treaty with the United States took effect and allowed sugar to go to the United States iree, this industry flourished and increased rapidly. Farmers and business men went from America, and put new life and fresh ideas into the industry. More powerful mills were built, and new plantations started. The latest machinery was introduced, and now the imills compare favorably-with any in the United States, but room is always open for improvement. There are ‘forty-seven plantations now in operation, but none as large as some of the Cuban plantations. Mr. H. P. Baldwin states that “the McKinley bill repealing the duty on sugar was a heavy blow to the industry, as “under the treaty with the United States Hawaiian sugars were imported into the United States duty free. The action of Congress in 1894 imposing a duty of forty per cent. ad valorem is only a partial relief, especially as the price of sugar in the world’s market is so very low. ~While the more favored plantations can clear a small margin in the business, a great many are running at a loss. They hold on, however, in hopes of better times, and a rise in the price of sugar. A few sugar estates have _been closed up entirely and the sugar works dismantled. =— * = —s <2 In 1882 there were fifty-seven plantations on the islands. Last year the number was only forty-seven. In one or ‘" t os | comicbooks co