New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1898-10-05
CONTRACT LABOR IN HAWAII.

Tho question of contract labor In Hawai- Is
| going TO make difficulty. According 10 reports
the Commission will submit 4 bill providing II"
| tbe continuance Of contract labor Ten years. Oh
tbc n,ca that tho sugar and rice industries can
rot be prohtably carried on without H. p"'
when tho Commission reports such DILL IL II
cvcr does the question will be raised whether II
| e worth while TO compel tho beet-sugar growers
NJ tho Pacific States, Nebraska and the North'
md tbc cancs,,car growers Of Louisiana ana
tho rice growers of South Carolina to compete
with contract labor. Also, If the system Is ever
| tn no Terminated. can there be better time Tor
doing II than the present!
II NAV as well he said at the outset mat the
nrobibjtlon of contract labor has probably Deen
nj no service whatever TO the working people OF
the United States 1t may be doubted whe'her
tbev have not actually lost materially by the At
tompt TO exclude kind Of labor which would,
nj the most. furnish only the foundation for In
dustrial works that would necessarily require IN
higher stages more intelligent and more inde'
pendent labor This country has never been
able TO establish. and there is no good reason
why II should establish, n monopoly price FOR
thc most Ignorant labor, and the workers or
carnations If capable OF wisely guarding their
-
every hand Of that sort employed there must
necessarily he others of higher intelligence and
efficiency and receiving better wages. Any sys-
TEN which prevents the development OF indus.
tries that cannot survive without the cheapest
and r,Idest labor necessarily lessons the demand
for labor Of the higher and better class.
But II has been the deliberately adopted pol
,cv OF the United States, whether wisely or I'M
wisely, 10 shut out the cheap labor which can be
secured only by contract While that policy IS
maintained in the States it is extremely doubt
full whether II should be abandoned in Terri
tory like Hawaii, whose producers can find
market only by competing with the producers OF
the United States and will have a material adj
vantage against them If permitted to hire labor
on the contract system. 1t will not he easy to
convince the grower Of sugar beets in California
that he should be driven ont Of business by COM
petition with contractors who handle japanese
labor in Hawaii, and the same question will be
lused by beet and cane sugar growers and rice
growers in other States.
That Is not all. Porto Rico Is to become part
Of the United States, Cuba will be for time at
least unidentified States control. Whether we
take only n coaling station with necessary sur
rounding territory, in the Philippines or all the
islands, there will be plantations in that region
which will grow sugar for American consump-
ton In all these possessions the policy that may
be established for the Hawaiian Islands will
probably prevail. for II will be found extremely
difficult to make an exception in favor Of one
part of the Nations domain. If we hold, as the
soundest thinkers are al present inclined to hold
that all island property all territory not actually
contiguous to the States. should be subject to
colonial government and to separate laws, there
will be found no good reason for permitting any
labor system in the Hawaiian Islands which is
not permitted In others. The problem Is from
any point of view a difficult one, and will open
the question whether laws prohibiting the en-
ployment Of contract labor can be Of any benefit
to wage-earners anywhere within the United