Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1882-05-06
SATURDAY PRESS.
NAY 6, 1882.
NEGRO LABOR.

In the trying Of laborers from various lands,
to SEQ if the planter will find any profit in them,
IL ia pity that the Negro has not had his
turn. It must be granted that in many respects
the Negro, as plantation hand, has the ad-
vantage of the Portuguese or any other class
of labor tried on these Islands. He has had
experience, and is laborcr born. He is
light-hsarted, and better naturcd than tho
Portuguese, If we accept tho testimony Of
those planters who have made a study Of the
latter in tho fold and in tile quarters; surely,
this testimony is sufficient lie is injured
to labor, and is in his glory when in climate
like ours. He is easily managed if deoently
treated, is quiet and law abiding. Ono half
Of the trouble with plantation hands is the re-
suit Of their inability to understand what is
wanted Of them, but with the Negro this diff
Guilty would be obviated He speaks our Ian
guage, ho was brought up under laws similar
to our own, aud our customs are his customs.
Tho day he enters field, he enters it as Ia
borer and not as an apprentice. lie has a
strong local attachment, which is All advantage
where tho same duties arc continued for years
in an endless round. II source of population
is DESIRED q more suitable ..class could not he
obtained If he does not belong to a race cx-
actly cognate with the Hawaiian, he comes as
near it as the New Hebrides Islanders, and
nearer than the Portuguese, the Chinese, the
Japanese or the Norwegians. The expense Of
bringing him here would not be great, and
certainly out of the millions of Negroes in
| tho Southern States it would not be difficult
to get 5000, number more than sufficient to
supply all demands for plantation laborers in
| these Islands at the present time. In some OF
the States, the wages OF the Negroes are less
than is paid for labor here, and lie is worth
more for general plantation work than any
labor except white, and by some is preferred
above all others. They would not have to be
taken back at the expiration of their terms o
service, and no trouble could result to this
Government for inducing them to immigratt
here. They are at liberty to 20 where ant
when they like.
The great exodus, the fight Of the Negroes
from the South, proves that they are not un.
unwilling to leave land when there is hops
of bettering their condition by so doing. Th,
consequences of the exodus were disastrous
masses of people, unprovisioned, unhoused anc
poorly clad, found themselves like sheep with
out shepherd. The conditions which causet
this notable -hegi ira. do not now exist in tina
particular locality, but in other parts Of tn
South the state in which the Negro lahore
lives is not better than that which caused thi
notable movement, and he would probably b
not less willing than his brothers to make
change of base. Many have left the States 70
Liberia, Africa, during the last three or fou
years; and it surely would not bo more Difficult
to turn the stream Of emigration westward.
The Negro as laborcr on Hawaiian planta
ton ought to be quite in his element; the SUI
roundings, field work and natural products, a
are suited to him. He is proverbially happy
capable of warm attachments; finds spiritua
consolation in chanting his jubilee songs;
is not likely to become dissatisfied with rca
sonable contract and seek to break it in order
set himself up in business His chief weapo
is the razor; the market is not flooded wit
these instruments, and even when there al
"razors flyin' in de air" they are less danger
GUS than the revolver Of the aggressive cooli'
A judicious expenditure Of but small poi
tion of the prospective ten millions" ougl
TO introduce Negroes enough into our can
fields to test an experiment which has not "
been tried, but wears look Of promise; an
we live in the hope that the Negro quarter
may yet ring with old plantation melodies
and rebound to tho clang of tho uncompromis
ing but ever active heel.