The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1879-04-19
VIZ rur.r Island. were fret visited BY

industrious people agriculture was quite e2-
tensively and Systematically carried on. as may
be seen oil over the Islands to-day in the numer-
/ GUS traces remaining Of carefully and laboriously
prepared water courses, and taro, potato and
gam patches. the work OF the Hawaiians of the
past, but which are now deserted and grass
grown. True, the common people were in those
DAYS the serfs Of the chiefs, and were compelled
to work ia the fields or fish in the sea for the
lord OF toe manor but the labor customs OF
ages had made this a thoroughly industrious
people, and even now the elder men who remain
continue to plod and toll in the taro patches as a
matter Of habit. But with the gift Of Constitu-
tional liberty under the third Ka~mehameha and
the grant Of free titles to land, the habits of the
people have undergone a radical change. A
third OF a century has passed since the system OF
serf1om gave place to law and liberty, and q new
generation of Hawniians has come upon the
stage. While better educated-so far as reading
and writing-better clothed and generally better
fed than their ancestors, the men OF to-day are
greatly inferior in the valuable qualities OF in
dustry, steadiness and reliability. We do not pro-
pose 10 enter into the question as TO whether the
change for the worse in the people has been the
direct result Of what might be termed the politi-
cal dollhouse treatment TO which they were sub
iected, in the gift of liberties and rights which
they quite naturally failed to appreciate. 1t is
W ia BlCoShL pun tO-C ~ oohO e"S
indisputable fact that this generation of Hawai-
ians, (speaking of course in general terms) arc
sadly lacking in those qualities OF industry and
thrift which are such important requisites OF
national character in order that a people shall
increase and prosper-in these respects having
vastly deteriorated from the generation that pre-
ceded them.
According to the census taken in December
last, the native males between the ages of fifteen
end G2Esy .u ag% hos eddo1 R5thhaann one-f6 Thu of these
are employed as laborers on plantations, or in
other Industrial pursuits, and to a very large ex-
tent it will be found that the remaining two
thirds, say ten thousand able-bodied men, are to
all intents non-producers. A stranger to our
Islands and people may ask-How do these men
manage to live without employment ? To this
the answer will be, our climate is a mild one, and
in the matter of clothing and shelter a little goes
a great way and as 10 food, those who have any
at all are always ready generously to share it
with those who have none, or who happen along
at meal-time. On such occasions the almost in-
variable remark by the head OF a family to a
newcomer, whether he be an acquaintance or a
stranger, is-Ke al nei makOu-We are eating
and this is equivalent to an invitation to sit down
and dine. There is nothing that a true Hawaiian
would be more ashamed of than an imputatIon
that he was mean or stingy in regard to his food,
and rather than be accused of such a disposition
he will often prefer to go half fed himself. Thus
it will be understood in some degree how it is
that so many able-bodied young men whom we
~ ohh oOOtI Ndu toDlI
any visible means of support. In this city they
can be seen by scores in the numerous Chinese
tea and coffee shops, or in billiard saloons, or
lolling on the mats in native houses, passing the
time in card-playing and gossip. In the remote
districts, this class find their recreation in at
tending drinking bouts of ii root beer or Sour
potatoes, and in riding horses about the country.
Now, could these ten thousand (more or less)
able-bodied men be induced to work on sugar
plantations at from Sl2 to SIS each per month,
] the aQOrpOate of their wnpp6 wOuld Annually
amount to from Sl40, 900 to $3.50 900 and
allowing that one good hand will plant and Guilt
vate in cane two and a half acres of plowed land,
the product Of which at four tons to the acre
would be worth $1,000, then these ten thousand
men, who now instead of being producers are
leeches, living upon the labor of others, would
be adding about a million of dollars per annum
to the wealth of the country. But with rare
exceptions they refuse to work on a plantation,
and laugh at tue idea. A few are tempted by
the high wages paid in Honolulu-from g to
$3.50 per day-to labor about the docks, (for
which a few years ago but so cents per day was
paid,) and they are now demanding higher rates.
Were it not for the moro pressing demand for
imported labor on plantations, there is no doubt
but long ere this cur merchants would have en-
ployed gangs of Chinese to do the work of dis
charging and loading ships and it may yet be
done, whereby the natives viii ind when too late
that by refusing to work except at exorbitant
rates they have killed the goose that laid the
golden egg.
1t Is but simple justice to state, however, that
while the picture we have heie presented is by 10
means oyerdrawn in regard to the majority of
able-bodied natives between the ages of fifteen
and forty, yet there are many marked exceptions
to the general rule. In some districts on all the
principal islands there are to be found native
landowners who have planted patches of cane
more or less extensively, to be manufactured on
shares at neighboring mills, and othere as team
sters and plowmen are Industrious and thrifty.
Bot the exceptions prove the rule.
Z 1t has been suggested that ifa certain law, that
has for many years been a dead letter on our
statute book, were vigorously and thoroughly
executed, the number of systematic idlers in the
country might be considerably lessened, especial
ly about the towns, and the nation at large be
Vagrant Law, to be found at pages IS and sc of
the Penal Code. We quote the first section, as
most applicable
Any idle person who is able to work, who habi-
tually goes about begging for his own support and
profit. or Tor the support of his family. or who.
without visible means of support, lives in idleness
eating the food OF others, and any person wander
ing abroad. and not giving a good account of him
self, may be arrested aud carried before any police
or district justice, who shall have the power of
committing any such person to the district work
house, or to the cutting Of stone, or such other
Government work as may be u u9l in he district
in which such person is arrested. Tar any period
not exceeding six months or TO bind out such
idler to labor for q term not exceeding one year
at any one time, with any agriculturist. planter or
farmer in any OF the Islands, or with any mechanic
or artizan. The hire paid for the services of such
idler. if any, shall go two-thirds TO the person
thus apprenticed and one-third 10 the exchequer
and in case the ider thus apprenticed shall neg
lect or refuse to do the reasonable labor required
OF him, the person to whom be is bound is author
lied TO use such reasonable coercive measures as
the police or district Justice Of the district in
which be resides may from time to time indicate.