The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-09-04
wRAY TAYLOR'S REPORT TO THE
GOVERNMENT.
Men at Moanalua are Satisfed-The
Lie Given to Stories of Cruelty-An
Official Document

When the stories of cruelty to Italians
reached this country from Rome, Wray
Taylor was detailed by the government
to look thoroughly into the matter He
did SO, and submitted the following re-
port which will go to the italian gov
ernment:
Department of Interior. Bureau of I'm
mipratiOn.
Honolulu August s, 1899
Hon +. A. Mott-Smith, Minister of
Foreign Affairs.
Sr:-Under date of August 9TH | re-
ceived a communication from the Min
ister of the Interior by Mr. j. A. Has
singer, chief clerk, directing me to fur
nish to you a report upon the number,
location, conditions and treatment of
Italian laborers in this country under
contract
The only Italian laborers in the Islands
under contract are those working on
the estate of Hon. S. NJ. Damon. Moana-
lua, near Honolulu, to the number of
sixteen, viz:
Montrasor Francesca, Morocchi Tit
tonic. Euneante Giuseppe, Serpelloni
Fortunate, De Togin Umberto Cordioli
Pedressi Saute, Signorini Carlo, Soucivi
Frencesco, FaccioH Luigi Barattieri
Gaetano, Mentili Dante Fratton Gae-
tanO, Gigliali Virginio.
The luna in charge of the above men
is Oriole Ettore Giosue. Early this
morning l visited Moanalua, taking an
Italian interpreter with me Joseph A
Lucas. At the present time the men
are occupied in building roads on the
estate. l went among them while al
their work and questioned them very
! thoroughly as to their condition and
| treatment during their eight months
residence at Moanalua. Their answers
were with one exception that they had
nothing whatever to complain of; their
quarters We're very comfortable; they
had never been i'll treated and they
were quite contented. The exception
was one Montraso Francesca who
| thought three years contract was too
| long a time; that he was anxious to
buy his contract If Mr.. Damon would
| agree to it. The other men evidently
| did not agree with him. Francesca ap-
peared to me to be slightly stupid, and
| this was more noticeable as / put fur
| ther questions to him He admitted he
| had been well treated but would ra-
| ther work as a free man. In the short
| time he has been at Moanalua he has
| deposited $40 in the Savings bank of
| Bishop & Company.
| The contract which these men signed
calls for eight hours work each day.
They are working however, ten hours
| each day, but this is at their own vol
untary request. They are paid for the
extra two hours in proportion and are
quite satisfied. Their quarters are
| roomy and are situated where there is
plenty of the freshest kind of air; they
| have excellent water and all the fuel
they require; and if they so desire, there
| i lay
den products.
! 1t seems to me from the investigation
made, that ii is impossible for these
men to have any complaints, for every
| thing possible is done for their comfort,
and there is no sign whatever of harsh
| treatment. The men all look healthy.
| The luna appears to be a very intelli-
gent man and before leaving he re-
quested to call my attention to an arti-
| Gle which he had clipped from an Ital-
ian paper, stating that the Italians in
| Hawaii were nothing more than slaves.
He has already prepared letter to this
| Italian paper denying in toto such a
statement, for as he says, there is not
the least foundation for it.
| These sixteen men under contract are
we'll paid, well fed, we'll housed and 1t
might be as well to use the expression
of one of them who speaking a little
| English, said to me, Mr.. Damon he
good man, too much good"
Before leaving Moanalua | visited the
dairy, where found two brothers, Clio
wanna and Giuseppe, who live there
with their mother and two sisters. They
all work and have been there a year,
but not under contract. You could not
drive them from the place they are so
contented. Giovanni has $242 As in the
savings bank and has sent for his wife.
The total amount in the saving bank to
the credit of these Italian laborers is
| $742.45
In conclusion 1 would say that no
complaints have ever reached the Ital-
ian Consul from these contract men at
Moanalua. In the month of April the
Italian cruiser Piedmonte visited Ho-
nolulu on her way from Callao to Yo-
kohama. These laborers were visited
in their quarters by the captain and
officers, they also went on board the
cruiser, but not one word of complaint
has been heard from them
| have the honor to he, yours very re
spectfully,
CSigned WRAY TALYOR.