The morning call., 1893-04-16

ers would come TO the islands, where they
could find remunerative labor in their par
ticular vocation If they were allowed to
come unbound and only assisted in having
their travelling expenses betrayed.
In this connection 1t may be interesting to
note the experience of planters with the diff
ferent sorts of contract labor. as indicated
by the reports of tie Bureau of Immigra-
tion to the Hawaiian Legislature. The
Portuguese are preferred on many planta-
tions, particularly for teaming work. They
are desirable class OF laborers and make
good citizens, but are rather too expensive
for plantation work where 600 or 700 hands
are employed. and great many OF them
have lately left the Islands.
The Japanese work well enough on the
whole, but their tendency to desert often
causes trouble. In his report Hon. Paul
Neumann recommends that as few married
men as possible should be engaged. When
a man brings bis wife her passage musI be
paid and the women, for the most part, are
not able-boded. and there is rarely an In
stance where any Of them have been able to
complete twenty-Six working days. This
is discouraging state OF affairs for the
planters, who, although they pay the
women's passage money, cannot bind them
by contract The women leave the planta-
tions to which their husbands are assigned,
claiming they cannot work. Then the hus-
bands desert to go in search of their wives,
and 50 two laborers are lost.
The Chinese contract lab0rer comes un-
hampered by family ties, is strong and COM
paratively docile, makes good worker, but
with the expiration of his contract lis value
ceases. He seI1om re-enters the list of
laboreIs, but will not return home. He
becomes an independent worker, either cul-
tvatlng the land, entering service, or open
ing a store or setting up in some trade.
Whatever he does he becomes nuisance,
an element of discord and a wholly unde-
sirable citizen. Like California. the Islands
have bad quite enough OF John, and are
glad to get rid of him. The Portuguese are
the best laborers here, and are much sought
after for teaming and labor requiring supe-
riOr strength and intelligence, hnt they re-
Quire higher wages than the Orientals, and
Portuguese emigration is on the decrease.
There is really no reason why the planters
here should not be able to pay good wages
to free labor and yet make money. There
is not plantation on the Islands that since
Its start has not paid its owners Is per cent
above the original Investment. Last year
was bad one, the percentage of sugar IN
the cane was small. the season was un-
prnpiti0us for harvesting, labor was higher,
and the doing away with the duty on all
sugar in the United States caused a terrible
drop In profits, yet, despite all these draw
backs, the Hilo Plantation CompaDy's mill
at Hil0 paid dividend of 6 per cent
Such profits would be considered quite
legitimate, in the States, but the fact is.
forty, fifty, even in some cases, eighty per
cent profits have so long been the rule in
the Islands that the planters feel poor when
their gains begin to assume the aspect OF
mere legitimate profits. When they have
become accustomed to these, and have got
rid of the bhghting Influence of contract
labor. that has done SO much to retard
progress and keep civilization at low ebb,
it will be 4 happy day for all concerned.
The contract lab0rers are really lower
down ana worse off than the Southern
slaves ever were, for the owners of the lat
ter had at least property interest in them.
The contract laborers are housed like cattle,
paid scarcely enough to keep themselves
alive. and have no attention paid to their
moral welfare. They are miserable, sickly
lot. ignorant, low and dirty. and the fact
that they are better off in their own country
does not alter the other fact that they are a
detriment TO every community in which
they live, and hindranee, rather than a
help. TO the commercial prosperity of the
islands. ADELINE E. KNAPP.