The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1896-04-03
A Kauai Planter Relates Some
Facts.
SOME PORTUGUESE SALARIES.
Geo. II. Fairchild Tells His Experience.
Portuguese Draw Good Pay-work
for More of Thsm-No Complaints
From Employees at Kealia, Kauai.

Mr.. EDITOR:-The Portuguese dem
onstration in your city upon Wednes
day seemed to elicit considerable con-
Germ to many, and the petition to the
President and Legislature would indi-
cate that the Portuguese element con-
slider themselves as special object for
discrimination and unfair dealing.
All people have a right to make COM
plants publicly, but before making
them it would seem wiser to study the
situation first. In their petition they
have failed to present any individual
instances of persecution, and to one not
conversant with the Portuguese as a
race it looks as though they might have
serious grounds for complaint and per-
the writer included, who would like to
hear facts and not mere statements
and when these are presented there are
grounds for action.
In every community and race there
are persons who live from the labor of
disconnected man will stir UP many
others, and it often happens that one
discontented man will stir up many
contented people to imagine that they
are prosecuted beyond endurance, and
Honolulu is not free from the disease
Some times the object of these agi-
tators is to pose as patriots, and they
are sincere in their beliefs, but more Of
ten the object is selfish one to adj
vance themselves politically, financial
ly, or to gain notoriety, and by their
words and actions they cause many,
otherwise contented and happy people,
tions with chimeras of their own brain.
Let us first take up the object of the
introduction of Portuguese into this
country. The primary object, as the
writer understands it, was to bring the
peasantry from Portugal to work the
canefelds of Hawaii, as the native Ha-
waiian was in too small numbers to be
relied upon, and it was deemed wiser to
have a mixed nationality upon the
plantations as the liability to
strikes would be less. Furthermore,
it was thought by many that the Por
tuguese would make a desirable acqui
sitiOn to population.
They gladly came here under the So
called ''pernicious contract system and
Immediately given work (Which many
had not in their own country, house
rent, fuel, drugs, medical attendance,
a place of worship, free schools, etc,
and a small monthly wage and prOvis-
ions free.
Their children were sent to school
land in most cases forced to take an ed
ucation), so that they might grow up
from their progenitOrs, and
by having a common school education,
be able to take better position in life,
should their natural gifts fit them for
such. For I am sorry to state that
many deserving man with natural ca
liabilities has lost the chance of his life
being unable to read and write,
and many Of the younger generation of
Portuguese in Hawaii today can thank
God that they came to Hawaii and were
to go to school and fit them
selves for the positions they hold.
In this country their political pres
tige was improved, and many have
been given Government positions and
work. Those who improved their adj
vantages have been given positions
commensurate with their ability, and
wages twice as large as they would re-
ceive for similar work in Portugal.
AS regards the price of labor upon the
it was not so much the i'm
portation of Asiatic labor as the price
of sugar that regulates the pay of the
common laborer upon the plantations. |
The Portuguese have always been paid |
more than either the Japs or Chinese
for doing exactly the same work.
An experience of seven years, dur |
ing which time the writer has been |
constantly conversant with the cost of
a ton of sugar, from clearing
the groud to landing it in San Fran !
cisco, proves that sugar cannot be
raised at high prices (as a rule) for
common labor and the sugar industry
kept upon a basis that will support the
stores, fOundries, commits