Under it a good deal of money has been made, but not by the planters.

Nor is this essentially unjust.

In the majority of cases, planters began rashly with small means, and had to borrow largely to complete their enterprises and get to work.

The capitalist of course took a part of the profits as interest.

But the capitalist was in many cases also the agent and store-keeper in Honolulu; and he shaved off percentages--all in the way of business--until the planter was really no more than the foreman of his agent and creditor.