The Hawaiian gazette., 1890-03-25

Japan, 10 OH OfAi, IL q HCOOoooty OhO,
aud ought to be avoided, if possible.
This admission suffices for our pres
ent purposes.
Why then, if European labor is in
of itself so much more desirable than
that which we have, why do we not
obtain it? Planters generally as
sumo that the thing is out of the
question perhaps on some or all of
the following grounds
1. 1t is an experiment and an IN
certain one,
2. The experiment has been tried
repeatedly and has failed. Euro
pean laborers either do not give sat
isfaction to employers, or are not
satisfied themselves, so that, in any
case, the attempt to obtain a stable
body of workmen is failure.
3. Sugar can only be raised by
cheap labor here because we have to
compete with cheap labor every
where else in the world.
Of these three objections, it may be
observed that only the last goes to
the root of the matter. We shall,
however, consider them all briefly in
their order.
First then comes the statement
that the importation of European
labor is an uncertain experiment.
True. But the emergency demands
experiment, and the time, when
prosperity is general, the tariff and
treaty still untouched, is exception
ably favorable.
q The failure of previous expert
ments.
Our answer is simple. Expert
ments have been numerous, it is
true, but by no means conclusive.
Neither have all proved failures.
That laborers have frequently
been dissatisfied, we concede,
and it may as well be frankly
admitted, that unless the planters
feel that they can offer bet
ter terms and more liberal induce
ments than they have ever done
hitherto, all talk about getting a
better class of labor here would bet
ter cease at once. Laborers who
come here from Europe do so to i'm
prove their condition, and unless we
can offer them a substantial pros
pect of success in the undertaking,
it is hopeless to lure them here.
They will never stay to do coolies
work for coolies pay when that
land of the freemap's opportunity
America-opens its doors wide and
invites them across the water. This
brings us to the third objection, on
which the whole question hinges,
the assumption, namely, that sugar
cannot be raised in this country in
competition with cheap labor, ex
cept by cheap labor.
This belief is the root of the whole
question, and if it is we'll grounded,
it makes any talk OF getting our
plantation work done by English, or
Scotch, or Americans, or Germans,
entirely idle But is it not an I'M
verified assumption? Has it ever
been proved? Is there any case of
failure in cultivating sugar which
can be traced to the employment of
high-priced Caucasian labor of a
superior grade, as its chief or sole
cause
As a matter of fact, high wages
are in competition with low all over
the world. The Dakota wheat
growers are successfully competing
with the coolie labor of India. Low
waged English farmers have
clamored for protection against
American wheat.
Wages are higher in England than
anywhere on the continent of Europe,
yet this does not prevent English
manufactures from finding their
way wherever there are roads to
carry them.
The superior efficiency of high
priced labor almost always counter.
balances or more than counterbal
ances its extra cost American labor
is the highest-priced, and yet pro
badly the cheapest, in the world
The best labor is generally the
cheapest. An American farm hand
in the harvest field probably does
three times as much as japanese In