1 - American Memory

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every protection that the U.S. Congress can provide as the people in
New York, Miami, or New Orleans. The U.S. Congress would not
stand by and watch the populations of major cities in the continental
United States suffer when and if their transportation lifelines are cut
off.
Hawaii has suffered many crippling strikes since October of 1946.
That strike lasted 53 days. Other strikes have lasted 96 days and 177
days. Think of the devastation to our economy and to our people dur-
ing a strike that lasts 177 days. Would the members of this committee
allow their constituents back home to suffer this kind of blow and still
expect to keep their confidence ?
My husband makes his living from the sweat of his brow and there-
fore we understand the many good things that have been brought
about by labor unions. But when 300 members of a Pacific coast union
can cut life off for 850,000 people in Hawaii by staging a shipping
stoppage, then something is wrong. There is a definite imbalance that
must be corrected. We are not against the rights of the labor unions
involved, but our welfare must be taken into account and protected by
law.
It is said that when shipping is tied up, then we can go to air freight
as an alternative means of getting goods to Hawaii. I say this is a
totally unacceptable alternative especially for those of us of moderate
means, because the cost of air freight is up to 10 times that of surface
shipping. After the goods are air-freighted in, guess who pays the
total tab ? You guessed it, not the businessman, and certainly not the
union. The tab is paid by the people like me who have to have the mer-
chandise or starve.
We don't have our own rice paddies or taro patches in Hawaii any
more. Under modem zoning laws the majority of us, because we are
in residential districts, can't even have poultry or small livestock that
we can feed our families on during an emergency. We are at the com-
plete mercy of the conveniences of the modem supermarket. And if
that supermarket cannot receive the goods because of a shipping tieup,
we simply don't eat.
The State of Hawaii presently depends on an average of 18 sched-
uled cargo vessels and five barges a month for almost every necessity
of modem living. And, in turn, these ships and barges take our local
produce to mainland markets. What I am saying is that we not only
don't eat normally because of shipping tieups, but after a short while
of not being able to ship to the mainland our local producers begin
laying people off their jobs.
A noted Hawaiian economist has said that long strikes also have a
slowing down effect on the construction industry, which increases
unemployment and underemployment, decreases total personal income,
retail trade and toiirist arrivals. In addition, he said, there are price
increases and numerous small business failures.
Hawaii already is in bad shape. Eight percent of her people are
unemployed and something like 1 out of every 10 persons receives
welfare assistance. A crippling strike at this point in time would send
Hawaii into a serious depression unlike anyone has seen in the United
States since the 1930's. All it takes is a shipping stoppage of 2
months—and many of them have been longer than that.