Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1883-04-21
A SERMON AND ITS APPLICATION

Mr.. Cruzan' evening sermon last Sunday was
an admirable union of eloquence and common
sense-no gush, no platitude, no deep. drawn
subtlcties, no cheap sensation. The sermon was
lessa sermon thana stirring talk, face to face man
to man. And just such talk is needed here
now. The pulpit and the press may do some.
thing. But employers and employed must do
more. There are those here who believe, or
profess to believe, that mere muscle is what we
need to make Hawaii-nei blossom as the cane
tassel and multiply in riches as the mullet pond
in progeny. Just enough intelligence to handle
hoes and fill sugar bags is all these purblind
garnered harvests. The rats from far beyond
Hamlin are at their wharves.
II is the few selfish over-reachers who have
made more than half the trouble Because
they could, they gave minimum Of wage and
demanded maximum Of hard work. So 10
norant Of historical ethnology were they that It
seemed they might treat the grandchildren
of Morse and Angle as they might treat Mon.
gos. Bats, and enamored of their own blind.
ness, they thought they could cuff these free
men into line again. One wonders il their
eyes are opened yet.
Who else is to blame that the contract sys.
TEN Of these islands staggers under the reproach
of failure1 You, gentlemen of former admin.
istrations, and you gentlemen in power to-day
What was the unmistakable need of these Is.
lands when plantation development first climbed
to firm footing, when the eloquent economic
logic Of Newton Booth gave these islands reci-
procityf Clearly, it was cheap labor. But il
was not merely cheap labor; but labor that
might lay more firmly the foundations Of a pros.
penty which should be something better than
financial only. These islands needed workers
who might rear children to fill the places of
race unhappily dwindling. China, Scandana.
via, Portugal, and the Southern Seas were the
chief objective points Of the labor inquiry. The
planters clamored for and the government in
vited immigration. Our agents went into the
lanes and by-ways Of the work. a.day world and
all was fish that came to their thrifty nets
From Norwegian ports came the riffraff Of sail
ors' boarding houses. Some brought wives
who were not wives; kinsfolk who were only
kinsmen in crime. They brought habits Of
idleness and skill in knavery. They were
bad lot. And those who were not so bad as
they might have been were at least bad enough
to awaken the interest Of the San Francisco
Chypnieie.
We. there are no better living worker, than
the Norway farmers and the Norway farm.
wives. There are no more frugal and capable
housewives. There are no better neighbors
and citizens and friends. We did not want
the riffraf we wanted the overplus Of Norway S
best. Yet our experience, our ignorance and
our infatuated trust in luck sen, lot Of incapa.
bles to Our shores, left plantations idle and
made for our enemies a wealth OF political
capital
And were we half so careful in our selection
OF the Portuguese who came, as we should have
been il we had been purchasing live stock or
machinery Did We do any better when we
brought an army Of Chinese to work out their
brief terms OF contract and then become bri.
gands and freebooters Of small trader Last
week we had sample Of what wrong manage.
ment has done for the planters. To put Il
mildly-oh, so mildly-the Germans who
might, to-day, be planting cane in Kauai arc
out Of work, out Of joint with island affairs,
out Of harmony with the needs Of the hour.
Their time has b~sn lost TO themselves and to
the yearly sugar product; and ali tina, has been
gained has been gained by the San Francisco
Chronicle, which has found new text for an
essay in perversion.
This reads like concordance Of queries.
Yet these are questions that every one ought to
ask, and which only patient investigation and
unselhsh harmony OF interests satisfactorily may
answer. Cheap labor we must have. But not
the labor OF cheap Chinese, nor Of the dissolute,
the idle OF the malcontent Of any nation.
We trust the intelligent, fair and gener.
minded planter will realize that this preach.
men, is not for him. We hope the faith.
ful, industrious, honest.purposed laborer-of
whatever raee--will understand that fos him
we have only sympathy and respect.
FAIR PLAY.
An exchange says that the total solar eclipse
on the 9th Of May will he coincident with the
hight Of the sun-siosm activity, and on that &C
count the astronomers arc particularly anxious
to observe Il. thing only 10 be done At con.
siderable expense and difficulty. Tie path Of