1938: Hawaiian Islands

The Joint Congressional Committee, headed by Senator King of Utah, which was appointed to study conditions in the Territory of Hawaii, submitted a report on Feb. 15 rejecting statehood for Hawaii, on the ground that the 'present disturbed state of international affairs' did not warrant a change in status at this time. Its decision was not to be considered a permanent deterrent to the aspirations of Hawaii. In fact, the report suggested the possibility of a plebiscite at some future time. The Territory was to be assured of equality with the States in all Federal legislation and the same treatment as any other part of the nation for its products and industries. A desire for protection against discriminatory legislation at Washington lies back of the continuous request, over a period of thirty years, of the Hawaiian Legislature for statehood.

Questions of the allegiance and assimilation of the Hawaiian Japanese lie at the root of the refusal of statehood. The Army and Navy have disapproved of statehood status from fear of disloyalty of the Japanese portion of the population in ease of war with Japan. Japan's 'dual citizenship' laws, the foreign language schools in Hawaii, and bloc voting have been the central points of query with respect to the degree of Americanization of the Japanese element which, in 1937, constituted 38 per cent of the total population but whose proportion is declining, due both to migration and a falling birth rate. The truth of the charge of voting according to racial ties is highly questionable, and the other two factors, though tending to retard assimilation, are not so serious as the opponents of statehood have made them out to be.

But the fact remains that Hawaii is a powerful mid-Pacific naval base for the United States, and that important problems of national defense are associated with this question of statehood. Pearl Harbor is one of the greatest naval bases in the world, and the most strongly defended. Up to June 30, 1938, $127,479,557 had been spent on Pearl Harbor and the last Congress appropriated an additional $4,575,000. Hence, although the 'Big Five' sugar companies have recently declared themselves for statehood, in order to prevent anti-Hawaiian discrimination at Washington, the issue is likely to continue to be debated on the grounds of national defense.

The sugar quotas for Hawaii under the Sugar Control Act are: for raw sugar, 963,149 short tons; for refined, 29,616 tons. Like Puerto Rico, Hawaii would like to expand its refining operations and resents the application of the quota system to refined sugar. The growers receive about $90,000,000 annually in the form of benefit payments derived from the processing levy on raw sugar. The social welfare projects of the sugar planters for the 50,000 or so sugar workers in the Islands have been described as among the most advanced in the world.

In the calendar year 1937 there was a large increase in Federal tax collections, receipts from 11 sources totalling $14,863,500 as compared with $9,857,191 in 1936. The returns testify to a wide distribution of income in the Territory. See also NATIONAL PARKS AND MONUMENTS.