The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1898-09-21
bly,, SO as to compel their division and


sale for the benefit Of small owners.
However, the bonnie bouche, after all,
is the planters memorial, and 1t has
fallen like a thunderbolt from the clear
sky upon the heads of those who Sus-
pected that the planters would en-
deavor to destroy popular government
by secret Vaccinations in Congress, but
would hardly dare come forth in an
open, Straightforward and manly way
and throw down the gauntlet in the
public prints, SO that there should be
no mistake as to their wishes to pro-
tect their millions wrung from the soil
and the sweat of their laborers' brows.
The memorial is so lengthy that only
its salient points can be given here.
They understand that only two forms
OF government are under consideration,
that of the District Of Columbia sys-
tenn and that of the territorial forms
of Arizona and New Mexico, with a
Governor appointed by the President
and subordinate offices filled locally
and a Territorial Legislature for local
legislation.
They strenuouSly oppose q govern
ment by commission, like that of the
District of Columbia, and cite urgent
reasons in support of their contention.
They understand that there are some
citizens who favor government by
commission for few years In order to
eliminate the bitterness of feeling
which has grown out of the transition
Of Hawaii from monarchy to a Ter
ritory of the United States, by prevent
ing elections and the consequent proba-
BILE continuity of present party differ
ences which have in the past and prob
ably will for some time to come divide
along race lines and embrace on the
one side those who have favored, and
on the other those who have opposed
monarchial form of government"
They oppose even temporary govern
ment by commission, as it would tend
to make the people less capable of
eventual Self-government.
The memorial asks, therefore, for a
territorial government which may in
volve as wide a degree of local control
as the safety of the general govern
ment and local interests will allow"
and while the chief executive shall be
appointed by the President. he must be
bona fide resident of the country,
holding property interests therein, and
all subordinate officers should possess
like qualifications. The planters quote
the platforms Of the Republican,
Democratic and Peoples party at their
national conventions of 1896 in support
of these views. In the same spirit they
ask that all Federal officers be bona
fide residents Of the Territory.
AS to the election franchise, they
mediately grant full and unrestricted
suffrage either in the interests Of the
general government or the local COM
munity, or Of republican government"
They give these reasons: That
large portion of those heretofore ell
gible to the electorate have been and
are hostile to a republican form of gov
there is every probability that the
guiding principle of their action will be
to hamper and obstruct the evolution Of
responsible representative government
rather than to assist therein; and
again: "A large proportion of those
heretofore eligible to the electorate are
unaccustomed, either by race instincts
or personal participation, to self-gov-
eminent, except in the most limited
degree" They conclude this branch of
the subject by asking for the retention
of the property qualification for Sena-
torial voters.
They support the retention of the
present judicial system and ask for
appointive Judges, believing that II
they are made elective 1t would be dis
astrous to the public interests. They
ask that Hawaiian and mixed juries
be abolished as tending to perpetuate
race differences, and that the system
of nine to three in civil and criminal
jury cases be retained, after a success
full experience of fifty years.
They contend that the labor supply
most vitality affects not only the con-
tinued prosperity of Hawaii, but the
very existence of it's leading industries.
The penal contract system was intro
duced as a matter Of necessity to Sc
cure laborers, and was derived from
the American shipping contracts In the
early whaling days. They show that
between 1878 and 1883 the Hawaiian
Government expended Sl,Ol9,0oo, and
the planters 81 100000, in the importa-
ton of labor from abroad. as it could
not be obtained in the country, and
that from the latter date from 5000 to
5000 laborers had been annually i'm
ported, principally at the expense OF
the employers of labor. To secure the
planters from loss the penal contract
system was adopted on the lines OF the
American shipping contract, and has
become incorporated into the Hawaiian
system, but 1t is falling into disuse, ex-
cept to secure advances made to newly
imported immigrants. Out of $4,000 Ia
borers there are only 10000 under con-
tract, and these contracts were almost
exclusively made abroad. They do not
ask that the system be perpetuated.
They say: Contrary to usual COM
ment and understanding in the United
States, the average cost Of labor In Ha-
wall does not vary much from the
average cost of similar labor in the
United States. The average cost of or
binary field labor in Hawaii, counting
in the lodgings, medical attendance,
wood, water and land for cultivation,
almost universally furnished to the la
borers, does not in any case fall be-
low SIG q month, In most cases comes
to as high as SIS month and ranges
upward to $40 and even more
month
They then claim that new plantations
will require at least 5000 more laborers
and the coffee industry many thou
sands more" and either these labor