1 - American Memory

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