The Hawaiian gazette., 1889-10-15
Reply to Teaser.

Reply to Teaser.
Nh. EDITOR: VIII you please al
low me a few words in reply to a
communication in your issue of Fri
day last signed "Teaser."
Some believe that such sentiments
as ~Teaser" expressed are but the
erratic views of some irresponsible
person and not the general opinion
Of those interested in cheap labor;
while others believe that such views,
If not already shared by the major
ity OF the cheap labor men, must
shortly in the natural course of
events come to De their creed.
The belief expressed in the com
munication in question, that the isl
ands would be Just as well off with
out white mechanics, excepting such
as might be needed to handle heavy
machinery and shipwork is the
natural outgrowth aud result of con
ditions created by the presence of
unbr1dled servile labor of all alien
civilization among US. In a money
sense. which is generally the ruling
sense. 1t Is literally true that the
country. I mean the plantation in
terests, have little or no need of
white mechanics, for the work these
whites now do, can be done by coolies
at from one-half to one-third the
price. In precisely the same
sense and to the same extent
there Is no need for a single
white clerk now here, nor for one
half of the salaried whites on
plantations, for their places can all
be filed IN a very few years with in
telligent young Cinnamon who will
gladly do the work, and practically
as well, for one half to one-third the
price now paid to whites, and as
Mrs. A" says, without asking for
holidays and other Objectionable ap
purtenances Of Christian civilization.
The city Of Hongkong is living
witness to these facts, a city where
not only the clerks but also the heads
OF departments in European and
English wholesale houses are Chin
csc. and where even ship work in all
Its branches, which "Teaser" thinks
he may still need a white man to do,
Is done by Chinese at remarkably
cheap rates and in very acceptable
manner.
How completely almost all of us
become mere parasites as soon as the
country" comes to mean its sugar
interests" Is more apparent when
one considers that sixty men (some
non-residents and the majority of
them not American own an over
whelming majority of the sugar
stock in this country, and that the
sum total of all the stockholders, big
and little, will not exceed six hun
bred.
Sentiment and association may re-
tain many whites in such a system
as ours is coming to be, long
after their services could have
proftably been dispensed with,
but to expect capital in the long run
to restrain itself from taking every
advantage made possible by the
presence of servile labor, is to run a
tilt against human nature and every
precedent furnished by history, and
II capital receives any check at all in
Its present course at the Islands, it
will be caused only by collision
with hostile interests.
The conclusion one must draw
from the communication in question
is that the whites should attempt to
secure a condition of things here by
which they will no longer be ex-
posed to the reproach of being use
less members of the body polite or
else should prepare themselves to
pull up stakes when the play is
played out. w. A KINNEY.