1 - American Memory
1 - American Memory
1 - American Memory
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in Los Angeles. Chicken had risen to 74 cents a pound in Honohilu<br />
and went up only 1 cent to 41 cents a pound in Los Angeles, an un-<br />
believable difference of 33 cents a pound. Lettuce had made a dramatic<br />
leap to 69 cents a head in Honolulu, 22 cents more, and to 38 cents in<br />
Los Angeles, only 11 cents more. Round steak rose to $1.48 a pound<br />
in Honolulu, an 18-cent rise, and $1.29 in Los Angeles, only a 3-cent<br />
rise.<br />
We are accustomed to paying up to a dollar for a basket of straw-<br />
berries air-freighted from the west coast, but we can choose not to<br />
buy them. But when just about every item in the market rises in price,<br />
we have a sense of helplessness—that we are pawns in other peoples'<br />
battles. Should we have to live with this?<br />
This legislation will not only spare us the inevitable rise in costs<br />
that accompany a west coast strike, it will also help lower our normal<br />
costs. Businesses are forced to keep large inventories as security against<br />
shipping tieups and the costs of warehousing and labor are passed on<br />
to the consumer. Hawaii will probably always remain an expensive<br />
place to live, but must we also have needless expenses ?<br />
The pushbutton panic, the shortages, the higher prices affect all of<br />
us in Hawaii cutting through all sectors of the State because we are<br />
all consumers.<br />
The effect of these frequent strikes on our pocketbooks is very<br />
tangible. But there is also a psychological effect on the morale of the<br />
people of Hawaii. There is a kind of Berlin blockade mentality, a<br />
sense of unease and anxiety, a subtle fear that the goods might not<br />
come in. We aren't living in wartime, Mr. Chairman, and these<br />
anxieties and fears are unhealthy and needless.<br />
Mr. Chairman, the people of Hawaii ask that this committee<br />
stmnsrlv recommend the pnssajre of this bill.<br />
Mr. DiNGELL. Mrs. Griffin, you have given the committee a most<br />
helpful and impressive statement as to how citizens of Hawaii are<br />
affected by this situation. The Chair certainly thanks you for your as-<br />
sistance to the committee.<br />
Mrs. Mink.<br />
Mrs. MINK. Mr. Chairman, if I may interject, I think Mrs. Griffin<br />
has reallv spoken from the heart the message that other citizens, had<br />
they had an opportunity to come here, would have wanted to say<br />
directly themselves.<br />
I think the businessmen can certainly speak for themselves. The<br />
Governor of Hawaii had an eloquent spokesman here. But the in-<br />
dividuals who are seldom heard from, represented by both Mrs.<br />
Kahihikolo and Mrs. Griffin, are the ordinary citizens. T can recall the<br />
davs when the strike was going on in the fall of 1971 and the com-<br />
modities that Mrs. Griffin described were short.<br />
Time after time people said to me when I was trying to push the<br />
legislation that eventually got to the Education and Labor Commit-<br />
tee, "What is the problem ? You have an airlift. You can get the things<br />
you really need by air, medical supplies and so forth, and therefore<br />
you don't have a real emergency."<br />
But these individuals were totally unaware of what was happening<br />
actually in the stores and marketplaces and supermarkets of Hawaii.<br />
Sure, we were able to get fresh fruits and vegetables air-freighted in