The San Francisco call., 1899-08-20

Z Il do not favor penal contracts and dc
not see why the general laws that gov
ern contracts cannot be applied to these.
Joseph NJ. Poepoe. Hawaiian, attorney
and editor of the Hawaiian newspaper
KuOkOa, says:
ITO repeal the penal contract-lab laws
means ruin to very many of our new
plantations. Labor laws now in force In
Hawaii can be. modified by local legsla-
ton so as to give them a better working
force upon the laborerS without reSorung
to penal servitude. Cheap labor has been
the mainstay of our plantations. If our
plantations can obtain cheap labor from
the United States or Europe get it or else
they cannot escape from obtaining it from
places other than the United States or
Europe"
S. c. Allen of the great lumber firm OF
Allen &s Robinson writes:
81 am of the opinion that as the Ameri-
can Government has possession of these
months to arrange the form of govern
ment. it will be utterly futile for us here
TO make any suggestions or give an opin-
ion on the NATTER
Dr. n. 3. Emerson, whose name Is wide
ly known beyond the confines of Hawaii,
writes
in our contract laws had better be abol-
ished. l believe that the observance on
the part of the employer of strict justice
and Kindness toward the empleye, the
and not permitting the employe to go into
debt. will be of service in defending the
interests of the employer l believe that
the system of profit sharing has in it
elements of equity which make it desr-
able that it should be used as an induce
ment to the coming in of a better class
of laborers. Every effort should be made
TO adapt our methods to the employment
of a class of intelligent laborers and
protlt-Sharers on our plantations. 1t
would be a great gain on the part Of the
employer If all those interested in the en-
ployment OF labor in this country were
agrppmpnt
share-laborers who broke contracts or
otherwise sCUght to defraud their employ
ers were denied employment on other
plantations until such time as they had
satisfied all just claims against them
j. c. Quinn, president of the United Car
riage Company and Livery Stables and
one of the most prominent of local .prac-
ttcal politicians in the good old days"
writes:
1T does not matter whether we are In
favor or not of retaining the penal con-
in the United States years ago. and now
that we are part and parcel of the United
States 1t is impossible for slavery to ex-
ist here. The labor problem is a very
grave one, but | think 1t will turn out
all right. The people will have to rely
upon themselves and not, as a great many
have been doing in the day gone by When
they wanted to be appointed to some fat
office they were Hawaiians, but when
they got into trouble they were Amerl-
cans. Some of the sugar plantations pay
from 90 to so per cent. They will have to
pay more wages and get less dividends.
Plantations can afford TO pay treble what
they are paying al present, and then net
a handsome income. Every industry on
the islands depends upon sugar. Lawyers,
doctors, merchants and mechanics are d.
rently or indirectly dependent on sugar,
but | think we will, like the widow, prove
equal to the occasion.
c. H. Parker, a master mechanic of
many years residence, writes:
The penal contract-labor laws should
not be retained. | think the system of
cultivating on shares good one If prop
erly applied and fairly carried out. There
would be no trouble in the quality and
quantity of labor if the share system
were properly introduced and carried
out"
Hon. Paul r. Isenberg, who modestly
terms himself a rancher, writes:
81 am not in favor of retaining the
wages are paid | think we can get all the
labor we want.
Robert Hall, manager of Multi Planta-
ton. writes:
cred the contract system as a necessary
evil. | desire to see a moderate and steady
inflow of labor, free or assisted, to main
tain an equilibrium between demand and
supply. l consider it necessary that the
United States Government should permit
assisted passages and allow the privilege
of getting in desirable and necessary la
Dor from several sources. l think it is not
disputed that the labor problem is a vital
one in this country, with but little resi-
dent labor and that irregular. The Jap
anese come to make Nancy and to return
TO their homes and there is steady out
go"
DR.. Nicholas Russell. NJ. D, one of the
most prominent of the coffee planters,
writes:
'I am positively against the penal
clause which is a survival of servitude
altogether contrary to the spirit of the
age and perfectly unnecessary. The in
terests of the employers and condition of