The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1870-06-18

pendent on the existing law of master and servant.
Several instances have been brought to the notice of
the Legislature now in session, by different members,
of gross injustice on the part of managers of planta-
tons and district judges, in obliging men to continue
at labor long after the stipulated term of their con-
tract had expired. The inference adduced was. that
the present law in relation to master and servant is
Infamous and ought at once to be abrogated. Tins,
however, is not a fair deduction. What good law Is
there, [ ask, but can be prostituted to base purposes
and made, by following its letter and not its spirit,
to do great injustice. As well might 1t be argued
that, because ship-master and consul unite in de-
~frauding poor Jack of his just dues, therefore Uncle
Sans laws, in relation to the shipping of seamen,
ought to be abrogated. If we come to the real facts
of the case, we will find that more deeds of infamy
have been done to the poor sailor on the decks of
Massachusetts vessels, under the cloak OF Massachu-
sets laws than were ever dreamed of on the planta-
tions of Hawaii nei. Does this however necessarily
damn Massachusetts laws? Not a bit of it. The
laws are good but susceptible of abuse. And so it is
with our law in relation to master and servant. The
two must stand or fall together. If the one does not
ALLEVIATE the liberty of the party contracting, neither
does the other. Nor can it be argued that the i'm
perative nature of the duties of seaInen on ~shipboard
render it necessary that they should be bound to a
specific performance Of certain articles OF agreement,
while the entering into of such an agreement would
not be necessary on land.
o lI Is j very easy DldIltIs VIZ. %lihOi VI tNC hSO
heads of your metropolis to speculate on new and
novel methods of managing plantations, but all those
who are, or have been engaged IN tins business,
know that if the changes contemplated in the Master
and Servant Law are actually effected, our sugar in
terests here at the islands are doomed.
If il be necessary that a master Of ship, in time of storm,
that a manager Of a plantation on these islands have the power
OF enforcing Spec,nc contracts IRA IL, Oh ,G W i0w Of de u aS5 snn
ply, planters may extricate themselves from the difficulties
that arise on the score of labor. Our pos tion here at the ISL
andS Is a pecufIGT one, ana any paraHel Hsllute W
these islands and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, or any
other old country, on the score OF labor, viii not hold true In
older and larger countries, there is a superGbundance of labor
over and above what is actually in demand:
Here at the islands, in many localities, all the available labor
is already employed. should this be diverted, no amount of
demand would bring the requisite supply.
rfaoE Of The climate and the habits Of the pe.pIr. the Iaboring
man must work in order TO live. The laboring man. who is
the father of a family in Old or New England, is obliged by
Here in the tropics. the Hawaiian can exist,-not live in the
true sense OF me e. "Grd,6ahe year round u ana spend y nc n nhe S.n
In addition 10 the stimulus TO labor which exists in the older
more industrious than the natives of these islands. Hence,
the folly of drawing a parallel between these Islands and Old
and New England. Suppose, Mr.. Editor, that the cane crop
of one of our Maui plantations was fully ripe and beginning to
manager to enforce the specific performance of contracts. all
the plantation hands should strike for higher wages. What
countries goes TO prove that 1t is simply a question Of who can
A few months delay would ruin the planters crop, while it
would neither inconrmode or injure the native laborer. Such
Many . f,reigner has found 10 his sorrow thai thonol, the ia
portunity of enforcing an exor6itant demand, he will not hest
tate TO do it. This is often the result of ignorance. For i'll
stance. the petition from Waikiki before the present Legislature
praying that laborers in that district BE- paid one dollar per day.
Should any radical change, favorable to the employee, be made
in our labor laws, L see 10 prospect but utter ruin to our plan
tations.
But it may be argued-and that with justice too-that a
necessity does not create a right that if the existing laws are
alive, then let tn plantations, one and all, go by the board.
insfi,fa. Tatat cnIu,a." But are the existing laws in relation
to Master and Servant unjust and injurious! l do not propose
to enter into any abstract discussion to show that our contract
system is per See Just or unjust. This question has been dis
cussed in the paper - ad naHsecm." Let us rather look at the
does not JUSTLY the means" but fl { can be shown that the re-
soIds TO 90 a tHf Sy shst The s means ansu nsed ae lust % III .B ByoI their Glhs
We shall know them a good tree bringeth forth good fruit'
Now, as far as Maui plantations are concerned. it is patent
off than those living independent of them. They are better off
not merely physically, but intellectually and morally. They
better clothed, have better schools and religious opportunities,
plantations. He who takes a trip around East Maui cannot
help but be struck with the poor and SquGLid appearance ofthe
of plantations. The majority of natives living in these districts
are literally a poor, miserable, seabty set Incidence, hunger
and filth are working their speedy ruin. The amount of NOR
tally of from the plantations has of late been fearful:
ously intringed upon l emphatically affirm that. as far as
my experience goes, it is not. | question much whether there
a country on the face OF the globe where The laborer has more
liberty and facilities of redress for injuries received than here
contract, for the slightest maltreatment on the part of his en-
ployer, he can summons such an employer, though he be the
for his acts. 1t S a tile saying here on Aaui, that you cannot
touch a kanaka but what he Will hOopii on you.
There are men Of reflection in this country -disinterestei
parties too,-who are coming TO the conclusion that, if any
thing, this people have too much liberty, and if any change is
TO be made in the law of Master and Servant, it had better be
made in f'vor Of the Master. The transition of this people
a state of feudalism TO that Of constitutional liberty was
f ibet sTq he. deg rney TsIf N p PREPARED l TOR IT. civ Tn of result i mat "a
as other localities on these Islands, now swarm with a lazy,
worthless class of Migrants, who are becoming a posi-
tive nuisance. Under the old feudal regime, men We're obliged
10 labor. were Injured to il, as the physique and habits Of old
natives now testify and though many acts of cruelty and in
Justice were perpetrated. the people, on the whole, were tar
industrious than they now are.
l am no believer in feudalism and despotsm, but l doubt
much whether any people are fit for constitutional rights for
which they never asked, for which they care but little, and
which without a struggle, they would yield up again.
i think there is much more occasion for some of the young
and ardent members of the Legislature To open a crusade
against the sloth and Incidence which is fast undermining this
nation, than TO wage war against the agricultural interests Of /
Islands. SAMUEL T. ALEXANDER. - i
WAIHEE, June eth, 1870.
Communicated