The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1897-12-11
FARM LABOR
IN LITTLE HAWAII.

In the work on the Hawaiian planta.
tions nothing is too big or too danger
Gus for the Japanese laborers to under
take. In clearing the coffee plantations
their indifference To human life gives
the owners much anxiety. Where the
great trees are to be felled IL is almost
impossible To make them take ordinary
precautions. At the same time they
clear land which others will not at
tempt. The only thing they have not
been able TO do is To oust the native
longshoremen. At Hilo a Japanese hui
wanted TO get the contract for unload
ing schooner which had just arrived
from San Francisco with lumber. The
men agreed To do the work for half OF
what the native Hawaiians were re-
ceiVing There is no harbor and no
wharf at Hilo. The lumber has to be
unloaded i'm the breakers and towed
ashore by longshoremen. The members
of the Japanese hui tried, but were
forced to give up the job. 1t was the
one thing they could not do Another
thing which the Japanese have not
learned is to saddle the horse. They
ride badly when they ride at all, while
the natives take TO the horse as natu-
rally as western cowboy
Nevertheless, the Japanese will not
hesitate for a moment about saddling
the animal, and the result is certain to
be disaster to the rider Their conf
dence in their own ability to do any
thing is in some instances laughable.
A visitor at mountain settlement re-
marked that his watch was out OF or
der. His host asked If he cared TO have
Ii repaired by a blacksmith, and took
him To the wayside shop. where field
hand was shoeing horse. When the
host told the blacksmith that the watch
needed mending, the workman took ii
up without the least hesitation, pried
open the case, and perhaps would have
placed il on the anvil had the visitor
not interfered. 1t never occurred to
him that If he could shoe a horse he
could not mend a watch.
The Japanese fieldhands almost with
out exception read and write their own
tongue. Many of them pore over Eng
lish books in their camps at night. IT
is not an unusual sight to find them
with a grammar. a dictionary and an
English newspaper. plowing their way
into our language. Notwithstanding
the intensity OF their national senti-
ment. they feel that America is the
country that will dominate the island,
ing language. In the district OF Kona,
where the combined English speaking,
Portuguese, native Hawaiian, Japa-
nese and Chinese population is not
equal TO the burden OF maintaining
printing press. a newspaper is got out
weekly 1t is called the Kona Echo.
The copies are written and then mimeo-
graphed Half the paper is English and
half Japanese. The American editor is
strong annexationist and one week
published an article that committed the
journal to the stars and stripes.
The following week the Japanese half
of the paper had leader explaining
that The Echo was devoted to the in
tercsts of the entire community. regard
less of politics. and that II was not
committed to annexation. This satis-
fled the Japanese readers. and the
American editor has since then refrain
ed from advocating annexation in his
half of the paper.
Many OF the Japanese fiedhands, aft
err their contracts expire. remain and
cultivate sugar cane or coffee. This Is
done by means of their "huis." or CO.
operative companies In some Instances
they have been quite successful. A
member of a hui told the writer he
had gone to the island ten years be-
fore under contract. had staid and had
Joined others of his countrymen in rails
ing sugar. He had recently sold out
his interest for $1,000 and was going
to Japan for a years visit. Some OF
: the fieldhands have their earnings in
vested i'm "huis." which are developing
, coffee lands. Among themselves they
are great gamblers, even more so than
the Chinese. ON the sugar planta-
tions a sharp watch is kept for the pro-
fessionals who go from camp to camp.
something like the wheel OF fortune
man at county fairs. Usually when
Japanese fieldhand disappears II Is
found that he owes his fellow laborers