The Hawaiian gazette., 1869-10-20
European Immigration.

European Immigration.
The question Of labor supply among our
planters and those interested in the welfare
Of the agricultural interests If the country.
land who is not 9, is assuming an unusual
importance, owing to the fast approaching
necessity for more lsborers to take the place
Of those On our plantations, whose engage
meuts viii expire within = year, many of
whom viii not Immediately re-engage TO
labor. Tie prosperity, if not the existence,
of the plantations, and the present welfare
Of the country, consequently, will greatly
/ depend upon there being ready other labor
ers to take the place of those who will 20
I out Of employment, as above stated. Those
more particularly interested in this question,
seem now alive 10 the necessities of their
own cases, although, as general thing. they
I have shown no great interest in the discus
sion Of the subject which has from time to
I time been carried on in the press. They have,
7 so TO say, SAT quietly by, and seen the system
by which they were being supplied with Ia
I Dor most violently attacked. and themselves,
/ by Implication, called some pretty hard names
I by those who have evidently taken very i'm
practicable instead Of moral grounds, as they
have supposed, in discussing the question.
According 10 the views Of some, the system
as at present organised required no defense,
at home particularly, because it has so far
supplied the demand for labor without en-
failing hardship upon the laborers, and the
OF repeated accusation, that they, as q class,
were wronged and oppressed by theiremplOy-
ers, or more properly by the system and laws,
has been known, by all those who have taken
the trouble 10 know anything at all about
the matter, TO be quite without foundation.
Amateur reformers, and political economists,
have found in the labor laws of this country
one Of the most fruitful, as well as sensation
al sources Of cheap capital They have done
an excellent business in their line, and il
they have not acquired imperisbable renown
SIS reformers il has not been their fault, but
rather, perhaps, because there has been moth
ing TO reform They have had all the zeal
and industry necessary, and it is almost
pity that they have been obliged to work in
so barren a field. II is unfortunate for
their arguments that the lsborers, who have
hitherto been brought here, have not been
kidnapped. brought in chains, and made 10
work under the literal, instead of the figura-
tive, lash Of the overseer. Then, although
they could not have made more noise than
they have already done, there would have
been more sense in it. shoRld not have
mentioned these reformers were it not from
the fact that, in the opinion Of many, much
of the difficulty which hangs about the labor
question, arises from the course pursued by
them The question should not be, "How
shall We procure laborers 10 take the place
Of those about to leave our employs" but
" How shall we supply the present demand
for labor in such 4 manner that the laborers
shall become part of the permanent popu-
laiiou Of the country, and part of the Ha-
waiian people ;" Any other result than this
should be deprecated, and whoever enters
the discussion with purely selfish motives,
should exercise no influence in the determin- |
alton of the question
The necessity Of sugmenting our perma-
nent population is as vital, and even more so, I
than that the actual present demand for labor /
shall be supplied. With this is coupled the /
necessity that such augmentation should /
come from such sources that the laborers may
readily ifnoi naturally, unite with this people /
tits the duty Of every individual in this King I
dom TO jealonsly guard the native rsee /
aginst the possibility Of being crowded out /
by other races, and in the discussion of the 4
labor supply this duty should always be kept I
in view.
The proposition to induce European immi- 1
grafton for the purpose Of supplying the /
present demand for labor, and TO increase the
population of the country, seems to me alto
getheT impraeiiezble, inasmuch as such labor
would not be available for the purposes re-
quired; and unw.se, because it is precisely
the immigration, of all others, which would
have the effect 10 put aside and in the end
entirely displsee the native race. There is
abundant proof Of this in the history Of the
past, particularly in the history Of the Scan
dinavian races, from which the supply is
proposed TO be drawn The native races have
disappeared before them in everT instance.
When We consider that this has been the
uniform result Of this colonization, We are
forced to look upon those who propose it
here as being entirely regardless Of the future
Of the Hawaiian race, or by reason Of their
ignorance Of the history Of the past, or
want Of appreciation Of the lessons ii teach
e, they are inezpacitated from giving any
valuable advice on the subject 1t can safely
be said that no planter in this Kingdom