The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1897-08-07
Negroes For Hawaii.

q
TfIe Hawaiian annexationists have got
hold of a new idea They are talking
about stocking the islands with negro la
borers from the south. The plan seems
! to have met with the approval of the ISL
| and government. 4 dispatch received at
MassilIon, o. from Honolulu a few days
/ ago says that on July IS the government
/ decided 10 issue no more six months resi-
! dence permits to Chinese. w. II. Wat
| son Of Honolulu says this means the OK
clusion of Chinese, as part of a plan to
| have negroes from the United States
gradually take their places as laborers.
il strikes us that this scheme will never
amount to more than a plan on paper.
| Indeed. the promise of It may be moth
ing more than sop to the southern
states, which are opposed to the annexa-
| ton scheme. The annexationists know
that there is more colored population in
the southern states chan there is any need
for and that the southern people would
be glad of a way to get rid of some OF
the surplus black population, hence pos
sibly to win southern favor for annexa-
ton it is proposed that the blacks shall
be taken to Hawaii
There are however two good reasons
why the emigration of southern negroes
to Hawaii will never amount TO anything.
The first is that they will not go volun-
tarily, and they cannot be forced to go
against their will, and the second is that
if they were to go in such numbers that
! there would be one negro for each Asiatic
in the islands, the hole made in the sur
plus of black population in the southern
| states would be inappreclable.
The annexationists in Hawaii-the sugar
barons and the carpetbag land owners
from New England-do not desire United
States negroes as laborers, for the rea-
son that United States negroes are high
er-priced and more exacting than Asiatic
coolies, and at the same time do not
labor with the logged and docile persist
ence of the coolies, The real needs of the
average black of the southern states are
few, but it takes lots of inducements to
get him to do any work. The average
black IS the reverse of methodical and
| reliable He will work and do good work,
when absolutely obliged to, but no longer.
He likes fun, and frolic, and gambling.
and the banjo and base ball, and will
leave the best kind of a job at the most
inopportune time for the employer. to in
dulge his fanc!es. He is also fond of
the siesta in the shade while the sun
beams down upon the place where he
ought to be at work. What sort of a
canehed hand would the average southern
darkey be in tropical Hawaii, with the
ocean breezes soughing through the palms
in sleepy adences, inviting to somno-
lence! 1t may be depended upon that
the Hawaiian sugar barons will retain
the cheapest and most efficient labor they
can get, the coolies.
The negroes of the United States are
better situated than probably any com
mon labor class in any part of the world.
Being endowed with reasoning powers,
they would not exchange their present
situation for any other unless it held out
to them the assurances of an improve
ment in their circumstances. The induce
ment which led several hundred of them
to so to Liberia from this port was the
prospect that they would at once become
land owners and independent farmers
through the bounty of the Liberian gov
eminent. When it was learned that the
great majority of them would have to
remain common laborers in Africa. the
emigration movement collapsed, and those
who were able to get back from Africa
to this country did so at the earliest pos
sible moment. There is certainly less to
be gained by United States negro emil
grants in Hawaii than there is in Liberia,
hence they would not go if invited to do
so. The single state of Georgia could
spare from its black population num-
Der equal TO the total Asiatic population
of the Hawaiian islands. hence IL the
emigration scheme were to meet with the
most gratifying success, it would have no
appreciable effect upon the race question
in the southern states.