The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-04-08
HAWAII 5 FUTURE LABOR
COMMISSIONER FITZGERALD DIS
CUSSES OBJECT OF HIS MISSION.
His Position Made Clear on the Labor
Question-His Report Will Be Based
on Facts and Figures.

In the light of the recent develop
ments at Washington over the Hawaii
an treaty and sugar tariff, Labor Com
missioner tltzgerau consented this
morning to discuss the object of his
mission to this islands, and to make
clear his position on the labor ques-
ton. In an interview with reporter
for The Star, he said:
There seems to be a great diversity
of opinion among those interested in
sugar growing on these islands re-
garding the future of this industry,
and many hail the introduction of
white labor as IA menace tt the welfare
and profits of this and other indus
tries.
This may be true in n measure. as
the cheaper the labor the greater the
dividend. However, there are others
TO be considered who have rights in
this matter, as well as the stockhold-
ers in the sugar plantations of the Ha
waiian Islands, and it may not be
amss at this time to inform those who
look at it in this light exactly how it
is viewed from an American stand
point, as affecting American labor.
"To begin with the L. S. Federal
laws exclude contract laborers from
entering our ports for no other rea-
son thtrn that they may not compete
,,.,t l,lN H.,
realize that the article produced by
the pauper, contract, or Asiatic labor
er, works as great a hardship to the
American laborer or the industry
with which it comes in competition as
if he were in our midst. This being
fact. the labor of America, and par
ticularly of California, and their rep
resentatives in the Has of Congress
will undoubtedly be very much inter
ested in knowing whether this is a
white mars country and whether the
white man can perform the work now
done by the Oriental hordes comprs-
ing the majority of its population.
"The impression has gone abroad
that they cannot do this work, owing
to climatic and other conditions,
which impression undoubtedly ema-
mates from the sugar planter himself.
| am here trying to determine to the
best of my ability whether this is a
fact or not If it is fact and the bone
and sinew of these islands must, for
all time to come, be the Pagan and
Asatic laborer, the heritage of which
can never go to the children of the
/ American or European, then it is time
/ that the American people, with this
/ knowledge at their command, should
! take decisive action.
/ Let us reflect moment and see
where we, as Californians, stand under
such conditions: To begin with, the
slogan of the masses and the laws of
/ Asiatic labor shall not come in con
flict with free American labor. No
better evidence is needed to show how
far the hand of protection is extended
to the wage Garner in the States than
to cite few facts as they exist in
California. The State of California
has within the confines of her prison
about 1900 able bodied convicts, main
tanned practically in idleness at the eX,
pense of the taxpayer, at an annual
cost of nearly quarter of million
of dollars, because they will not allow
their product to compete with free
labor.
''ls it reasonable to suppose that
the people of California, to say moth
ing of the United States, will support
convicts in idleness at their own eX.
pense and still allow the product OF
equally as dangerous competition tC
enter our ports free of all restriction
Further than this, the last Legislature
passed laws that no alien should be
employed upon public works and thai
the minimum price paid on publ,
work should be two dollars per diem
The Citizens Relief Committees o.
San Francisco and Los Angeles ar,
now engaged in raising a und to give
employment with a view to relieving
the distressed condition of the vas
army of unemployed of those cities.
whose deplorable condition is not du,
) to their unworthiness, but to the eX
listing economic conditions; the over
production, the Introduction of labo
saving machinery, and, in some in
stances, a proper restriction upon for
eign products, while the vote at th
last election voices a sentiment tina
the present conditions were brough
about by unwise tariff legislation
Further than this, there is probably n
industry in the entire country, AM
certainly no one industry in Calfor
Continued on Page Five.)