The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-12-12
HAWAIIAN LABOR PROBLEM.
MOST IMPORTANT QUESTION IN
LEGIsLATING For THE ISLANDS.

ing Every EaorN 10 NohiohHi -
United States LawS-DetniIs OF
Their Plan Which Have Not Be
fore Been PubIished-WOrI< men
Going From the United states-Can
FiIipinOs BE Made Useful in H"-
Xvnii-Amerfcans Working on CO.
Operative Plan.
Washington. Dec l0.-For more than
score Of years the sugar plantations of
Hawaii have been cultivated by the con-
tract labor system, virtually a system oil
mad slavery. entirely at variance win
American deals and institutions. Now
that the islands have been annexed this
system must so to the wall, fact Whch
is fully recognized by the planters them
selves.
MANY in America have believed that the
wealthy planters in the Islands would
fight against a change, but, on the con-
trarv. they are getting ready to comply
with the law at the earliest possible mo-
rnent. and the details as to their prepara-
tions are here told for the first time,
No more important or more interesting
LEGISLATION viii come before the present
Congress than that bearing upon Hawaii
the new mid-Pacifc possession of the re-
public. and of this legislation none viii
attract more serious attention than that
relating to the employment of contract
labor there.
The contract labor problem, indeed, has
been one of the greatest stumbling blocks
sn the way of Hawaiian annexation Tor
wears. The employment of contract or
cooIie labor, which is in effect limited
slave labor, is not only contrary to the
spirit of American institutions, but IS spe-
officially forbidden in the constitution ana
the written laws of the republic. Yet the
major part of Hawaii's material prosper
itv has been built up on this system, and
At has been assumed by many in consider
ing the annexation of the islands that its
continuance would be urged by the Ha-
waiian planters This fact aroused the
bitterest opposition to annexation IN sew
eraI quarters, especially among trade I'M
ionists and discussion of the anticipated
Hawaiian fight against compliance with
the law will taHe up a considerable part OF
the time of the Federation of Labor con-
vention, TO begin at Kansas city on Mon
day next
The truth of the matter however, lies In
nrenaring to fight the contract labor law
of the United States the Hawaiian plant
ers are getting ready to obey II. AS long
ago as 1892, when annexation. under the
Harrison administration, was thought 10
be as good as accomplished, the planters
foresaw that the end of the system there
must come as soon as the Islands were
made a part of the republic. Ever since
then they have been studying the problem
of its abolition in all its bearings, and
last summer when word was sent TO Ha-
wall that annexation might come at iast'
as a war measure, they renewed their dil-
fgence To-day their preparations to sub
ssftute free for contract labor are well
under way, and according to Robert W.
Single Hawaiian commissioner to the
recent Omaha exposition, these prepara-
tons are of the most thorough and prac-
teal nature.
Contract Labor in Hawaii.
MIR. Single is a native of the United
States but his relations with the author
tiles and the planters of Hawaii are of the
most confidential nature, as Is abundantly
shown by his official position; he has been
in constant communication with Hawan
throughout his stay here and much of the
Information which follows Is taken from
letters recently received from there by
him.
1T Is not only true to-day that all the
planters are preparing to obey the con-
tract labor laws of the United States"
said Mr.. Shingle, in a talk with the CORE
spondent yesterday, but il is also fact
that the majority would prefer free labor
and would have put il in the place of con-
tract labor long ago had such a course
been thought feasible. Al the same time
It is only right to say that there are plant
ers who fear the greatest trouble from the
free labor system. They are in a small
minority. however, and are naturally the
most conservative men on the Islands.
There is a much larger party of those who
believe that il might be a good thing to
introduce free labor at once. These hold
that while white free laborers demand and
must be paid at least one-third more than
virtually enslaved orientals, the change
would in the long run be profitable. One
white man, they say, will ordinarily do
as much work as two Asiatics, and If this
should prove true in Hawaii there would
be an actual money gain in the substitu-
ton. Besides 1000 Anglo-SaXons would be
preferable as residents to 1900 Orientals in
any part of the Islands.
"One of the greatest objections to free
labor in the past has been the danger of
strikes. Sugar is not like coal. Coal can
be dug at one time as well as another but
when sugar cane is ripe it must be cut. A
delay of two or three days might cause
total loss. This fact has always been con-
sidered of great weight in considering the
substitution of free labor for contract
labor the Hawaiian sugar plantations.
Naturally efforts win be made to provide
against danger of enforced stoppage of
work in dsplacing contract laborers with
free men, and 1t is believed that this will
be possible under the United States gov
eminent. though it would have been i'm
practicable under the Dole administration
and sim more so under the monarchy"
Mostly Sugar Plantations.
"As a matter of fact. there are now
thousands of free laborers in Hawaii Rice,
taro, coffee, pineapples and bananas are
all among Hawaiis staple crops, and few
contract laborers are employed in cult
waiting them. The great majority of these
are 10 be found on the sugar plantations
though thousands of free laborers (both
natives and whtes-Germans Scandina-