The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-09-24
Mr.. FITZGERALD AND HAWAII S
LAB0RERS.

When it comes to matters Ha-
waiian and Japanese, Labor
Commissioner Z. L. Fitzgerald of
California has an imaginative
noodle second only to that of
Joaquin Miller. Fitzgerald has not
entered the field of humorous writ
ers after the example Of his cohort
Joaquin, but about the only differ
ence between the two is that
Joaquin tries to be funny and Fitz-
gerald, as represented in the news
papers, is funny without being
aware Of it. One particularly
funny fact connected with the
Commissioners conclusions is that
Immediately he receives informa-
ton from a reliable source
writer for the San Francisco Call
is in the vicinity prepared to give
graphic description of how Ameri-
can workingmen are menaced by
cheap Japanese labor coming from
Hawaii, or how Hawaii is menaced
by "hordes of Japanese coolies"
that are becoming restless. Nor is
the trouble confined wholly to
Hawaii. The last effusion, headed
Hawaii in Great Danger. She
Fears the Victorious Ironclads of
the Japanese Navy" declares that
no less than four nations are 20 be
drawn into the embroglio brought
on by the Japanese. These are
some Of Mr.. Fitzgerald's discover
les:
Japan now demands re-enfranchise-
ment for her citizens in the Hawaiian
Republic, and will back her request
with her victorious ironclads. The
Provisional Government will appeal
to the United States for protection,
and the race question in the Islands
grows complicated. Japan, flushed
with her success in the Orient, will
not hesitate to defy Uncle Sam and
his yet untried new cruisers. The
Japanese, under three-year contracts,
have been fiocking there in great num-
bers, and the recent rivalry between
the steamship companies and the fell
ing of a steerage passage to 50 has
filled the Islands with coolies from
Japan. AS soon as they learn to speak
The English language, which is only
matter of a comparatively short time
to these shrewd fellows, they leave the
Islands and make their way to the
British Columbia, Oregon and Puget
Sound ports. They grow discontinued
and quarrelsome on the plantations,
and their room Is to be preferred to
their company, especially when their
room may be soon filled at 50 per
steamer fare with more ignorant and
more humble substitutes. This ac-
counts for the thousands who are
enterings the Pacific Coast States
every month. For all the large num-
bers who leave the Islands the influx
is much greater than the exodus, and
the Hawaiian Republic is powerless
TO stop the immigration.
As a matter of fact, advantage
has been taken of the SO fare by
laborers returning to Japan, and
the number that have left this
country for Puget Sound and Brit
ish Columbia could probably be
reckoned on Mr.. Fitzgerald's two
hands. The more the labor COM
missioner, his informant" and the
Call compare notes and build up
unfounded possibilities, the more
excited they become. Should they
continue at the present rate, they
will develope a disease with di-
agnosis similar to the bicycle
face" There is as much chance of
Uncle Sam being brought into col
lision with Japan through the Jap
anese labor of Hawaii as there is of
the Call publishing an unbiased
and truthful account Of the condi-
tions of Japanese labor in Hawaii.