88 
In plain English, this is an attempt at deception and is in- 
variably detected. It is impossible to deceive expert buyers 
as to the quality of goods furnished, and since no firm will re- 
mit the agreed price upon a product which does not come up 
to the sample in quality, it is obviously necessary to be strictly 
honest in this regard. 
It is a lamentable fact that so many farmers have disre- 
garded this point and have believed that it was possible tq 
allow the quality of their product to deteriorate without fear 
of detection on the part of the buyer. This practice works 
only to the harm of the farmer. A product must meet the 
standard of the sample submitted and must be uniform in 
quality, otherwise a loss is experienced. The cracked grains 
and screenings, if removed as completely as possible, would 
still be salable, although at a lower price. The remainder of 
the milled rice, in first-class condition, would then bring the 
prevailing market price for a high grade product. 
The commission man in question assured me that a loss of 
fifty cents per hundred pounds is experienced by the rice 
growers in shipping the rice to the mainland, on account of a 
lack of organization and carelessness in grading the rice. In 
some instances, this sunn of fifty cents would mean all the 
difference between a profit and a loss to the grower. The 
matter has been submitted to the rice growers and some of 
them understand the importance of i't and have attempted to 
meet the demands of the trade. Unfortunately, however, 
others have neglected to do so, and this brings about a lack of 
uniformity in the total milled rice product. Continually ob- 
jections are, therefore, made by the trade on the mainland and 
the price offered is sufficiently low to make good the loss 
which the dealer would experience in handling an ununiform 
product. 
I have been assured that if the rice growers of the Islands 
Avould form an organization and make a determined effort to 
furnish certain uniform qualities of rice, that the comnnission 
men would be willing to advance at once 75 per cent, of the 
value of the rice. So long as the quality of the rice, however, 
is ununiform it is unsafe for a commission man to make such 
an advance. 
This condition in the rice industry is mentioned chiefly for 
the purpose of calling attention to the fact that the troubles 
in developing a diversified farming industry in Hawaii are 
not due solely to unsympathetic commission men and trans- 
portation companies, but are partly due to the carelessness 
and lack of business methods among the producers themselves. 
