3§5 
RECLAMATION  AND  HAWAII. 
By  W.  C.  Mendenhall,  U.  S.  Geological  Survey. 
A paper  read  before  the  Social  Science  Association,  Honolulu , 
Oct.  4 , i pop. 
Extensive  reclamation  has  already  been  accomplished  in  Hawaii 
through  the  enterprise  of  private  capitalists.  Important  work  of 
? his  type  was  begun  and  some  of  it  carried  to  completion  in  the 
days  of  the  Kingdom,  while  other  valuable  projects,  that  add  much 
to  the  productiveness  of  the  Territory,  have  but  lately  been  com- 
pleted, and  still  others  are  in  course  of  construction  now.  In  gen- 
eral, so  far  as  I have  had  opportunity  to  see  it  and  to  judge  it. 
the  work  done,  whether  in  the  development  of  surface  or  of  under- 
ground waters  is  of  a high  order,  and  reflects  great  credit  upon 
the  engineers  who  are  responsible  for  its  character,  and  upon  the 
capitalists  who  have  financed  the  work  generously  and  have  made 
it  possible  to  carry  the  engineers’  plans  to  completion.  It  seem? 
also  to  be  true,  generally  speaking,  that  the  later  work  is  an  im- 
provement upon  the  earlier,  that  in  short,  there  has  been  a pro- 
gressive advance  in  quality  as  time  has  passed. 
But  now,  public  opinion,  encouraged  and  guided  by  the  fore- 
sight of  your  leading  citizens  and  your  broad-minded  officials  and 
stimulated  by  the  examples  set  in  this  Territory  by  private  enter- 
prise and  by  the  greater  example  of  Federal  reclamation  on  the 
mainland  seems  to  demand  that  at  least  that  part  of  future  work 
of  this  type  that  involves  large  areas  of  public  land  be  undertaken 
here  as  a public  enterprise.  Demands  for  State  or  National  ir- 
rigation, I believe,  usually  originate  in  this  way.  Private  capital 
takes  the  lead.  It  develops  projects;  it  proves  the  practicability 
and  the  value  of  the  work  and  the  profit  to  be  derived  from  it,  and 
at  the  same  time,  indicates  the  limitations  under  which  private 
capital  labors  in  this  respect ; then,  there  arises  a demand  that  the 
State  enter  the  field.  This  demand  is  based  in  part  upon  a recog- 
nition of  the  fact  that  the  poor  man  cannot  carry  large  projects 
to  completion,  and  that  it  does  not  make  for  the  best  interests  of 
the  people  as  a whole  to  concentrate  into  the  hands  of  a relatively 
small  number  of  citizens  the  extended  control  over  primary  re- 
sources like  land  and  water,  nor  the  large  profits  to  be  won  by  the 
exploitation  of  these  resources  that  usually  result  from  the  suc- 
cessful completion  of  large  projects  by  private  enterprise.  There 
are,  of  course,  other  reasons  for  the  growth  of  the  feeling  that 
work  of  this  kind  is  a legitimate  public  function.  Among  them 
is  the  knowledge  that  the  necessity  under  which  the  private 
capitalist  labors  of  making  interest  upon  his  investment,  will  limit 
him  to  developments  of  the  type  that  will  yield  the  largest  returns 
on  the  least  outlay.  This  will  result  in  many  cases,  in  making 
available  for  cultivation,  a much  smaller  acreage  than  the  max- 
