The Daily bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Hawaii]) 1882-1895, 1891-10-26
THE LABOR QUESTION.
EDITOR BULLETIN:


Prospects in louisiana" contains
among other things the following.
which is of interest in view of the
meeting of the Planters Labor and
Supply Company. 1t says:
cit is becoming a recognized fact
that small farmers and good tenants
till more land and can produce bet
ter Yields of cane and corn than when
the crops are cultivated by gang
labor on large plantations. An in
stance is cited where three men and
four mules cultivated 100 acres of
land and produced $50 tons of cane,
935 bushels of corn, 25O bushels OF
sweet potatoes and 80 barrels of rice
paddy"
What changed condition socially
and financially would ours be in
these islands to-day had our planters
inaugurated a similar course to the
above few years ago.
Writing on the labor question the
editor of the Advertiser in last Satur-
days issue says: at is useless to
deny that the situation is a very criti-
cal one. 1t may be pleasant to cover
up a threatening danger with fine
words and deceive ourselves with
baseless hopes, but it is terribly
foolish, and the part of courage and
prudence both is to see things and
state things just as they are" and
then asks, "What are the factS?'
From a workingman's stand point
the facts are as follows: During the
past, three years-thouSa1j's ct Japan.
csc have been allowed to come into
the country as plantation laborers.
They are not only used as such but
have largely displaced whites and
Hawaiians in the mechanical work
incidental to running plantations, and
when contracts are out these men
will come into the towns and hamletS
of this Kingdom to compete with the
wage Gamers and business men of
the community. In fact | am reli-
ably informed that there are already
between 500 and 600 idle ia. anese
in Honolulu to-day. This means at
least 1000 idlers throughout the
group with the thousands whose con-
tracts have not yet expired to rapidly
augment their ranks. Is it right or
just to allow such peril to the com
munity at large for the sake of q
single industry? | say no.
For the past eight years the plan
tiers have been coming forward with
pleas for cheaper labor. Conces-
sions were made in the friendliest
spirit by the working classes of the
country and they simply asked for
protection from the unequal competi-
ton which unrestricted coolie imni-
grafton might subject them to. In
the face of decided vote by the
people in favor of such restrictions,
they were declared unconstitutional
by our Supreme Court, and now with
large number of japanese under
contract no adequate protection is
vouchsafed us, but regardless OF con-
sequences these are to be supple
mented by still cheaper labor. Mr..
Editor, this is as good time as any
to call a halt and weigh the conse-
quences of further importations of
this cheap labor.
There has been a constant drain of
our surplus wealth through this cheap
labor propensity. On the one hand
the laborer himself has sent all his
net earnings away, while on the other
hand many planters and shareholders
have made large investments in other
countries. On the small farm plan
every dollar of this money would be
in the country to-day, the burden of
hard times would be more equally dis
tributed among those who should
share it, and the consequences not
near so disastrous as we can expect
them, to be under present conditions.
Free sugar is not the cause of our
business depression. 1t has simply
fastened a condition toward which
we were inevitably drifting, and pos
sibly saved us from total bankruptcy.
| would rather see this dull spell
protracted until we can pull through
with civilized appliances and civil
lied men to use them than to risk
any further importation of Asiatics
of any kind, and firmly believe, as
shown in the article first quoted
above, that intelligent cultivation by
men stimulated to best efforts
through sharing proceeds will bring
the mill owner ample returns for his
investment, while it would add i'm
mensely to the stability of our whole
social fabric by bringing a desirable
class of farmers and planters into the
community.
Having all that is worth living for
at stake in these islands and wishing
to see insured to the rising genera
ton an opportunity for using the
talents they are developing under our
school system, | consider it my duty
to voice my sentiments.
God speed the day for closing our
| DOrtS to Asiatic Immigration.