The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1897-04-06
THE NEW HAGEY BUILDING HIS MISSION IN HAWAII
AN INSIGHT INTO COMMISSIONER
FITZGERALD'S WORK.
He Making a Thorough Scientific
Study of the Relations Existing Be-
tween Employers and Employees.

Labor Commissioner Fitzgerald did
not go to Hawaii this morning as he
had planned. He has found so much
to occupy his attention right here in
Honolulu that he was obliged to post
pone his trip until the 18th, and then
he must get back by the Goth, in order
to finish up here in time to return to
the coast on. the next Australia, which
sails on May 5th. In order to secure
the statistics that would enable him
to draw positive conclusions, Mr.. Fitz-
in the islands at least three months,
and that without holidays; but it is
absolutely necessary that the commits
sioner should return to San Francisco,
to look after the work that is pling up
during his absence.
The full importance of Mr.. Fitz-
gerald's mission here can only be
understood by those who have been
close observers of the eastward flow
of the Asiatic cheap labor tide. He is
here. not only to forecast the future
of labor in Hawaii, but to study the
situation thoroughly, in order that he
may know how to stem the tide when
it reaches the coast. Mr.. Fitzgerald
is very thorough in his methods of in
vestigation, positive in his conclusions
and decisive in action. He has been
face to face with the labor problem in
California for many years and has
successfully brought about many re-
forms that he is everywhere hailed rs
the laboring mans friend, and has the
army of workers almost at his com
mand.
"What l am after now is statistics
facts and figures" said the Commits
sioner last evening. 81 find here no
such statistics as we have in Califor-
ring to be of value to me in my work.
have had blanks printed and Mr..
Greene and | are working daily among
the Japanese to find out where they
i've, upou Nllut lHty SiDslSt' uleH
cost of living, their methods of free
masonry, etc. This is no small task,
and we shall have to work like nailers
during the brief time we are here, in
order to accomplish anything at all
that will prove of practical benefit.
"Of what we have already seen on
the plantations on this island, | care
to say nothing now. We have not
seen enough of plantation work to
enable me to express a fair opinion.
We have only seen the men in the
fields under the most favorable condi-
tions--while the weather was excep-
tionally cool, and everything was run
ming smoothly. Wait until we have
seen the big Plantations on the other
islands and have had time and oppor-
tunity to study the workers.
81 have had a talk with the Japan
ese Consul General, Mr.. Shimamura,
and find him very courteous and will.
ing to assist me in every way in my
Investigations. While here | shall only
find time to take rough notes. / eX-
pect that it will require fully fort
night of hard work to get up my re-
port, on my return to San Francisco"
Commissioner Fitzgerald finds but
little time to enjoy the social pleasures
that have been thrust upon him since
his arrival in Honolulu. He has had
endless invitations to lunches, dinners
and evenings at the various hospitable
homes of the city, but the majority of
them he has been obliged to decline,
much to his personal regret. He has
come to the Paradise of the Pacific,
not to enjoy its far famed hospitality,
he says, but TO work out its salvation,
if such it needs, by determining the
relations that ought to exist between
the employers and the employed. 1t
is the one great question of the day
and age, in the old world as well as
the new, and it can only be solved on
scientific lines. Such is Commissioner
Fitzgerald's mission in Hawaii