The record-union., 1897-10-25
SERVANTS, OBEY YOUR MAS
TIERS.
From the Placer Repr

From the Placer Republican,
The Call" quotes Section 1419 Of the
Code OF Hawaii as if it must be en-
forced after Hawaii becomes a part Of
the United States. That section reads:
Section 1419. If any person, lawfully
bound to service, shall willfully absent
himself from such service, without the
| leave OF his master; any District or Foilce
justice OF the Republic, upon complaint
made. under cath, by the master, or by
| any one in his behalf, may issue a war
J rant to apprehend such person and bring
him before said Justice; and If the COM
plaint shall be maintained, the justice
! shall order such offender to be restored TO
his master, and he shall be compeiled 70
serve the remainder of the time for which
/ he contra cted.
This section is followed by others
nearly if not wholly Identical with our
old fugitive slave law, which, if they
could be continued in force would be
peonage; but we think we can show
from the Calls" own article they must
cease to be operative upon annexation.
They would not then be lawfully
bound to service, because of the Thir-
teenth Amendment TO our Constitution
and this particular form of slavery IS
specifically decided to be so by that part
of the Supreme Courts decision not
quoted in the Judge Myrick letter IT
printed in support Of its contention that
this system of slavery would have to be
permitted in Hawaii, and to be intro
duced here 1t now gives us short
account of what that decision was
about. 1t says
This was q case in which seamen were
chiefly concerned; but it bears upon the
matter now under discussion by virtue OF
| hl Low agTEF
ing labor on land. In the Arago case
four seamen of that vessel We're arrested
for desertlon, viz, quitting work
An appeal was taken to the Supreme
Court In deciding against the seamen
the court declared that service under a
contract was not involuntary serv1tude so
tered into: that the Thirteenth Amend
ment was not intended to introduce any
novel doctrine with respect TO certain de-
| scriptions of service which nave always
! been treated as exceptional that the sea-
mans business was exceptional.
Now this quotation should show that
the seaman's business being exception
al, the court did not intend its decision
! should ever be construed to apply to
| other kinds of labor contract, and the
addition of the following words shows
this:
And that there might be possibly some
others against whom the exclusion would
operate.
That is the Significant allusion" to
which the Cali points in proof that
slavery under the old flag will result
from annexatio The possible cases
where man could not legally quit
work" any sensible person will readily
understand to be such as where lives
and the public welfare are at stake
An army officer may resign, but his
resignation must be accepted before he
illustrate the courts meaning. 1t
makes it clear that peonage could not
be established here thus:
Thus. if one should agree, for yearly
wage to serve another in a particular ca
pacity during his life and never to leave
| his estate without his consent. the con-
| tract might not be enforced for the want
| of legal remedy, or might be void upon
| grounds of public policy, but the servitude
could not be termed involuntary.
In other words, the contract for life
laborer might say: But what are you
going to do about it?"
But the following paragraph in the
Supreme Courts decision, which the
Calf probably copied inadvertently
estops all claim that the Arago decision
was applicable to the continuance OF
the contract labor laws of Hawaii after
| annexation:
The court declared further that the
| Thirteenth Amendment was we'll under
| stood at the time of its adoption to apply
only to the negro Of the South, the Mexi-
| can peon, and the Chinese coolie.
The decision thus declares specifically
and particularly that the system OF
peonage and coolie labor are contrary
to the Thirteenth Amendment to our
Constitution. 1t therefore must cease
in Hawaii forthwith upon annexation;
for in Article III. of the treaty it is
! specified that:
The municipal legislation of the Ha-
waiian Islands not inconsistent
with this treaty nor contrary to the Con
! main in force until the Congress of the
United States shall otherwise determine
Perhaps that is what is the matter
with some antf-annexationfsts. Coole
labor must cease. The Call" also
claims that:
Involuntary servitude has been abolish
ed only IN particular cases; in other words,
contract labor may be enforced provided
! legal remedy exists.
But We see from this Arago decision
that coolie labor is one of the very
Amendment abolishes, and "in other
words" a legal remedy does not exist
and will not be provided, as the contract
itself is illegal.
But there are other provisions in the
treaty Of annexation which refute the
claim that the Chinese in Hawaii will
come to other parts of the United
States, initiating constant stream OF
coolies and lepers by the way Of Homo
lulu until all Americans die of leprosy
Article Y. of the treaty says:
There shall be no further immigration
| of Chinese into the Hawaiian Islands ex-
cept upon such conditions as are now or
may hereafter be allowed by the laws OF
! the United States and no Chinese by rea-
son of anything herein contained shall be
/ allowed to enter the United States from
! the Hawaiian Islands.
The entrance Of Japanese into the
Hawaiian Islands will also be under
our control; for Article III. of the
treaty says:
The existing treaties of the Hawaiian
Islands with foreign nations shall forth
with cease and determine.
Tt will thus be seen that every pre-
caution has been taken by our Govern
ment to prevent the occurrence or con-
tinuance of ali these objectiona BILE feat
ures that really exist. All entrance
either of Chinese or Japanese may east
| ly be disposed of if necessary by a
| quarantine against the leprosy sc
feared
OF Course She Would Suffer.