The Hawaiian gazette., 1868-06-24
.sapanese H.abore..-.

small interest IN tue minds OF the foreign
element in Yokohama We believe the
Japanese viii find their own condition bet
tered by coming here to labor, and we hope
that our employers will find them satisfacto-
~ lahorers, SO that the immigration so aus
pieiously commenced. may be further eneour-
aged, If necessary.
To show how this frst shipment Is viewed
in Yokohama, we select passages from their
local papers. The Japan Castle says:
The Hawaiian Consul, E NJ Van Reed,
Esq, has, aftermuch negotiation and trouble,
succeeded in engaging goodly number of
men, consisting of agriculturalists, mechan-
les, and servants all of whom 90 with the
consent of their Daimios, as free men, and
not as mere government ehattels- They 20
honestly 10 better their condition, receiving
free passage thither and free passage back
at the end of three years. Their wage is to
be four dollars a month, payable in such a
way as while providing literally for their
necessities in the islands, will leave good
sum to return home with at the term OF their
engagement
They are assured Of equal privileges with
foreign residents in the islands, and the Ha-
waiian government has earned for itself so
excellent 4 character, that we cannot for a
moment doubt its acting with them in all
good faith.
They thus go from an overpeopled land
where six boos month would be consider
ed large pay, to the receipt of twelve boos
q month and their food, and have the gov
ernment's directly fostering care And not
the least interesting view that may be taken
of this enterprise is, that although here they
are to a great extent declared from hearing
the tidiRgs of salvation, there they may
and most probably will become the care of
the missionaries, who have already wrought
such wonders in the islands themselves, not
only leading them from darkness TO light, in
the most important matters that concern
mortals, but teaching them those arts of civ
ilization and good government that has so
quickly raised them from savages, TO king
dom to which all the old nations are extend
ing the hand OF fellowship and protection.
The Japan Times says;
A few days ago, in the sunny spring after
noon, boat-loads of healthy, happy-looking
laborers were to be seen leaving for the first
time the shore of their native land for ship
ment to another, where their labor is more
urgently required, and where it will be bet
ter rewarded, shouting and laughing as glad
ly at the prospect before them as children
setting forth upon holiday trip. And we
honestly believe, thoroughly acquainted as
We are with the condition of their contract,
and thoroughly confident that it will be fair
ly carried out by their employers, that these
emigrants were joyful with good reason.
They were Japanese agricultural laborers
starting for a three years term of service in
the rice and sugar fields of the Hawaiian
Islands.
For their transit to and from the Islands,
the Hawaiian Government have bound them
selves to the Government here, and they will
receive each four dollars per month, with
food, lodging, and medical attendance, us
aforesaid. Ten dollars has been paid to each
man in advance. Ovelseers will have five
dollars per month. A Japanese official ao-
companies the party to Hawaii at the gov
ernment expense and full and iacile means
of communication with his own superiors
here will be allowed him. The Hawaiian
Consul General has personally superintendent
the whole, and when an engagement so sat
isfaetory TO both sides is entered into in such
good faith, there is every chance of its result
ing in success, and such a result We most
cordially wish may attend it.
1t is not to Hawaii alone that this expert
ment is likely TO be of benefit. The letter
which We printed short time ago from an
intelligent Japanese of the SaDlurai class,
long resident in America, showed quickness
of observation and business of conclusion,
and the comments We made upon his letter
and the probable good results to be obtained
by bringing the writer back to his own coun-
try, and people, apply with equal force to
these emigrants of a lower rank in life. They
will return full of useful information and
new ideas, they will learn that Japan is not
all the world, that the barbarian" is i'm
mensely their superior in nearly every useful
art of life. They have every chance of hap
piness during their term of exile in a land
whose climate is more equable and probably
healthier than their own, and amongst peo-
pie who in habits, color and even language,
are cognate to themselves, and they will GER
tainly, on their return, disseminate good and
enlarged ideas among their conntrymen.
Their rulers too, can hardly fail to acquire,
should this experiment succeed, some ink
ling of the science Of political economy, of
which at present they are utterly ignorant,
for when they see that foreign country can
afford to pay a high price for Japanese labor,
and by means of IT grow an Indispensable
article of food, of better quality than can be
grown here, and which vet can be sold at
price to compete successfully with the infe-
rior native produce, then surely they will be-
gin to understand how hurtful to their coun-
try has been its long isolation, how nations, |
like men, were not created to live alone, and
how the happiness of all is best secured by
the exchange of commodities. The Japan
ese are very remarkable people, siDgularly |
apt TO receive Instruction and to turn il to /
their own profit; but there is a strength of
in the race too, which is not gener-
ally associated with this quality of adaptable |
ity and we can see nothing but unmixcd |
good TO them to result from this contract, if |
and honestly carried out. That it |
will be so fulfilled, we have no reason what /
ever to doubt, but those who have its man
agement must not forget how grave is the /
resting upon them. In many !
other parts Of the world where labor and en-
have been similarly brought togeth-
er, avarice and falsehood and bad faith have /
made the name of more nations than one a |
bye-word and a reproaeh, and the sacrifice of |
human life to the lust of gold has been hor-
rible to contemplate. There is no ground /
for suspecting the existence of such abuses
here, the character of those inaugurating it /
stands too high to admit the suspicion, but
the managers of the scheme must not forget
that INSCRIPTIONS underl:Dgs, unless care
fully watched, will do many things that their
superiOrs abhor, and vet public opinion will
always hold in such case, the principal 1
for his agents acts. These petty
inIquities viii require the most severe and
careful check, for the amount Of harm they
would cause is simply the failure of the whole
system.
This first shipment is an experiment, cru
cisl test of the scheme, and its progress and
elaboration will be anxiOusly watched; solic-
tous as we are for its success, it is beet TO
anticipate as far as possible all the impedi-
meRfs TO its success which may arise.
Conyulsed as japan is at present BY civil
war, the progress of which has hitherto been
disastrous 10 the provinces in
our immediate ueighborhood, from which
these coolies are drawn, the foreign demand
for labor at present without employment at
home is opportune. There has lately been
much distress among the lower classes of
Japanese, and the eagerness manifested by
Them to accept the offers of the Hawaiian
seems to indicate that they
have at present small hope of better times in
their native land.
The Toua1a,cF rive. the following table