New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-06-19
INDUSTRY IN HA WAu.

TAgION LABORERs NOT LL-TREATED-NE"sfA-
PER SCANDALS CONTRADICrED
rROM An OCCASIONAL CORRESPONDENT OF THE TRiBUSE'i
HONOLULU, May S.-The present prosperous
condition of affairs in the awaiian Islands Is dou L
less owing to the establishment of the reciprocity
treaty. Never before in this kingdom was such
commercial activity known. Even III the old days
when the whaling fleet was wont 10 winter
here business was confined almost exclusively
to two or three ports and though the streets
of Honolulu were for a time enliVened Dy
the FRANKS of Jack" ashore, one needed
only TO 90 over the hill to see the grassy lana
lying idle and the scattered native population
seated at the doors of their grass houses enjoying
life OF ideal incidence. During the lew past years
the changes have been remarkable. These can only
be attributed to the opportunity for development
afforded by the treaty with the United States.
Without it life would he as dull as formerly, planta-
tons as few, and only portion of them profitable
speculatons Lately while soiourning on a neigh
boring island evidences of the new life of the
nation. l went thither by one Of the several
steamers which now ply constantly between the
chief ports Of the group. l saw thriving planta-
tions where none had existed tefore; heard the
whistle of the locomotive that rushes alongshore,
almost within reach of the breakers, conveying the
nroducts Of fruitful acres that were desert when
last crossed the country; saw whole village,
with shops lodging houses music hall, etc, where
not house stood half dozen years ago. The tele-
phone is sending its voice over hill and dale; other
railroads course of constructions there Is talk
of connecting the several islands of the group by
marine telegraphc cables; line of HaN allan
steamers TO run between Honolulu and San Fran
cisco, is projected; the population constantly in
crcascs, and the builders are busily employed in
throwing up houses to shelter the new arrivals.
Can anything be moro cheerful than this prospect
the consequence Of the much abused treaty.
Formerly the imports were few, and necessarily
few. The exports greatly exceeded them. The
exports still exceed the imports but the latter have
largely increased and the difference between IT,
imports and the exports is much less than it was
before the treaty and the difference in favor of
the United States. There still is and must be Tor
some time to come an excess of exports; the conn
try is not yet built up; but reciprocity Is helping to
build it. and through the treaty the people are
cnabled to import in proportion to the Increasing
demands Of the market. When some American
papers assert and relterate the assertion that the
Hawaiian Islands the only gamers by the treaty,
they sta;o IN mtruth. In the abrogaton OF the
treaty everything here comes to standstlll; the
smaller plantations must collar 1t will not pay
TO run railroads for the exclusive use OF two or three
planters and the shadow Of adversely will dc ubt-
papers referred to are working in the interest of
Eastern sugar rcGners, and therefore attempt
ing to oyerturn a so-calcd California monopoly.
cannot sec what the Pacific coast is to gain by
throwing its custom into the hands of Eastern
munopolists. These papers are wagng an unholy
and unwholesOme war; IL was begun by attacking
the contract system, and there wcrc published the
malicious statements of two or three OutcaSts from
this kingdom, men who had been incarcerated here
for one crime or another, and having left the king
dom in disgrace, revenged themselves by filling the
ears OF the reporters with tales which were duly
worked up in tho columns of tho press. One of the
interviews purpOrting to he the heartrending con-
fession of escaped Portuguese peon " from a
plantation Hawaii, was a deliberate falsehood.
invented in the Office Of the paper that printed it,
as publicly proven by the victim himself i'll the
presence of his counsel and other witnesses He
had not been the plantation in Hawaii dcsig
mated in the interview" The plantation did not
belong to Claus Spreckels. stated. He. the
"peon," was not il-treated or starved On the con
trary, be was an invalid, who not permitted
to work and his passage was paid TO San Francisco,
whittier he went in search of medical treatment,
and paid by the man who held his contract and who
voluntarily cancelled it at considerable pecuniary
sacrifice.
CONDITION OF IMMIGRANT LABoRERs.
This is a fair specimen of innumerablc
revelations" which have been made during
the last few months. l have the "pen
into which the ncwly-arrived emigrants are
"driven." There ale no hotels at their service in
this country. | have seen the quarters where they
are ultimately lodged. These are certainly no
worse than Castle Garden and the tenement houses
that swarm with immigrants III New-York. Nor
are the Portuguese peasants who arrive here more
accustomed to the Injuries of life than the aboring
classes that are constantly floating into New-YOrk
Harbor Cheap labor aud the contract system are
absolutely necessary TO the successful running Of q
Hawaiian plantation. Without cheap labor the
plantation cannot survive one year. Isolated
they are, with labor exchange or surplus labor
ing class TO fall back upon, with demand for field
and mechanical labor much in excess of the supply,
especially in the OF field labor, the planters
,nnst be assured OF their resources The contract
svstem is lust, reasonable and comparatively safe.
No one is forced or deluded into service under it.
With gerry rare exceptions. all those who arc thus
employed are perfectly satisfied. The exceptions
are those trout lesOmc and cantankerous fellows
who have never been conteuted and never will be
IN any snbere of life One such evil spirit on
nlantation will make more trouble in a minute than
can be settled in a month"; and one of these macon-
tents is godsend to some American newspapers.
for there he may relate his grievances alphabetic-
ally, from A to lizard, and he is certain to have
them put into dramatic form and carefully eiaDo-
rated. A strike among plantation hands at certain
seasons when strikes arc most likely TO come might
result in the destruction of a whole crop of sugar
and the loss to the planter would be almost meal
culabie Laboring under contract, II strike Is
i. .tgftt