The San Francisco call., 1898-12-11

Congress than that bearing
 upon Hawaii, the new mid Pacific possession of the republic, and of this legislation none will attract more serious attention than that relat- ing to the employment of contract la- Dor there.
 The contract labor problem, indeed. has been one of the greatest stumbling blocks in the way of Hawaiian annexa- tion for years. The employment of contract, or coolie labor, which is in ef- feet limited" slave labor, is not only contrary to the spirit of American in- stitutions. but is specifically forbidden by the constitution and written laws of the republic. Yet the major part of Hawaii's material prosperity has been built up on this system and it has been assumed by many in considering tht annexation of the islands that its con tinuance would be urged by the Ha. waiian planters. This fact has aroused the bitterest opposition to annexation in several quarters, especially among trade unionists, and the discussion of the anticipated Hawaiian fight against compliance with the law will take up a considerable part of the time of the Federation of Labor Convention to be- gin at Kansas City on Monday next.
 As long ago as 1892, when annexation under the Harrison administration was thought to be as good as accomplished, the planters foreSaW that the end of the system there must come as soon as the islands were made part of the repub- lie. Ever since then they have been studying the problem of it's abolition in all it's bearings, and last summer when ant fn Ia hot tion might come at last, as a war meas ure, they renewed their diligence. To- day their preparations to substitute free for contract labor are we'll under way, according to Robert w. Shingle, Hawaiian Commissioner to the recent Omaha Exposition.
 MT. Shingle is native of the United States, but his relations with the au- thorities and the planters of Hawaii are of the most confidential nature, as is abundantly shown by his official po- sition.
 Tt is not only true to-day that all the planters are preparing to obey the contract labor laws of the United States" said MT Shingle in a talk with the correspondent, but it is also a fact that the majority would prefer free labor and would have put 1t in the place of contract labor long ago had such course been thought feasible. At the same time, it is only right to say that there are planters who fear the great est 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 it might be a good thing to introduce free labor at once. These hold that while free white laborerS demand and must be paid at least One-third more Nl,,, -s,.N,, change would in the long run be profit able. 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 substitution. Be- sides 1000 Anglo SaxonS would be pre- ferable as residents to 2000 OrientalS in any part of the islands.
 "One of the greatest objections to free labor in the past has been the dan ger of strikes. Sugar is not like coal. Coal can be dug out 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 considered of great weight in considering the substi- tuition of free labor for contract la bor on the Hawaiian sugar plantations. Naturally efforts will be made to pro- vide against danger of enforced stop page of work in displacing contract la borerS with free men, and it is believed that this will be possible under the United States Government, though it would have been impracticable under the Dole administration and still more so under the monarchy"
 As matter of fact, there are now thousands of free laborers in Hawaii. Rice, taro, coffee, pineapples and bananas are all among Hawaii's staple crops and few contract laborers are employed in cultivating them. The great majority of these are to be found on the sugar plantations, though thou sands of free laborers (beth natives and white-Germans, Scandinavians and Portuguese chiefiy) work in the cane also The contract laborers are all Japs and Chinamen. I cannot make an accurate statement as to their num- Der, but 1 should say that there are about 10000 Japanese and as many Chinamen, or 10000 in all.'
 "They get S15 month gold, the la borers finding themselves in food and clothes and their employers furnishing living quarters and fuel. Every month $1 50 is deducted from the pay of each man and deposited in the Government Postal Savings Bank, where it is al- lowed to accumulate for the three years (thirty-siX months) comprising the term of the contract. The s54 thus placed to each mans credit is used to pay his passage back to his native NNNN N ~ n N N n > <> ~ c r z.