Saturday press. [volume] (Honolulu, H.I.) 1880-1885, 1885-07-18

By "labor in Hawaii" is meant labor
in the Hawaiian Kingdom, and, more
particularly plantation labor
So many problems, social and poll.
teal, are pressing for solution in this
little country that those who think at
all on public questions are very apt to
magnify the importance OF each topic
as it becomes uppcrmost But We do
not think any thoughtful reader will
question the supreme Importance ofthe
labor problem, to both the moral and
the material well being Of these islands.
The writer said so much TO a citizen
recently who replied " Very true
and there can I've only one right solu-
ton OF that problem obedb ho6or'
When the writer questioned the
soundncss OF the citizens conclusion
the latter rejoined Have you for
gotten what the Press said last October
The writer had not forgotten. Last
October he attended the sessions Of
the Planters Labor and Supply Com.
pany That body met under the most
depressing circumstances Sugar had
fallen to an unprccedently low price.
Large crops were waiting to be taken
off Labor was (or was believed to bel
scarce. And the excessive cost Of
what labor was obtainablc threatened
to swamp the sugar industry Of the
islands" We submit it to the candid
consideration of all our readers. Was
not the situation from the standpoint
of the planters as we have described
it Did not majority of those in.
terested in Hawaiian sugars assert, las;
October, that cheaper and more plenti-
ful labor was vital to their needs We
believed then and we believe now that
those who so asserted were honest in
their assertions that they believed
what they said and all they said. So
believing we echoed their alarm, and
urged the necessity Of admitting cheap
labor from China.
We were all wrong The planters
and agents and sugar-stock-holders were
wrong with the palliation Of direct self
interest The newspapers who favored
the introduction of Chinese were wrong
without such paliation. The writer Of
this regrets nothing that he has written
during his Hawaiian residence SO much
as his advocacy of "cheap" labor during
the crisis OF last October.
We do not believe in "cheap' labor
for any country or any industry. We
believe that no permanent prosperity
can be built upon it. And we believe
that the sooner Hawaii comes to realize
this fact the better it will be for Hawaii
II this be treason we have small doubt
that our enemies will make the most Of it.
But We deny the treason. We have
the same right to our belief and to the
expression OF it that any citizen or
denizcn or sojourner in this kingdom
has-no more, no less "Cheap" labor
is injurious the contract system is
wrong and there can never be a happy;
hopeful, progressive Hawaii until labor
here is as free in fact as it is in form,
and until labor reaps its fair proportion
OF the common harvest OF wealth aid
all the other good things that make up
tha, misused word prosperity"
The writer said as much to his
friend the citizen, who smiled sagely
and rejoincd "Thats an old story,
Toe Carter harped on that string until
he broke it.
Broken y That is the one string in
the harp of human song that has never
snapped. Listen and you will hear
it wailing in the depths of Siberan
mines, and echoing from the Carpathian
to the Ural. Brokenl1 You may
listen to it now in German universities,
in Austrian farm fields, in Belgian fac
tories, in English slums. For his fair
share of the wealth and privilege he
helps to create, the laborer is harping
on that deafness chord every land
where labor rises to comprehension
Of its true dignity, of that perennial
noblcness and even sacrcdness" to
which Carlyle and Tom Hood paid
tribute, for which Wilberforce and Gar
rison ana Phillips were eloquent, in de
Tense of which Hampden .and Vir
gniaud and John Brown and rouS
saint FOuverture gave up their lives
The longer men who have brains
and hearts will study ]. o. Carter''
position on the labor question of these
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