The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-12-27
CAYPLESS TALE
His Views Regarding
Field Labor.
He Accuses the Dole Administration
of Trying to Defeat Ameri-
can Labor.

General \. 5. Hartwell Of Honolulu
is now IN Washington, D. c.. as a spe-
cial agent of the present regime Of the
Dole administration. He is commits
stoned, ostensibly, as the representa-
tive Of the Hawaiian Government, but.
in view Of the fact that no such body
exists, he represents only the gentle
men who formerly composed such an
organization with Mr. Dole at their
head, and are, at present, subordinate
attaches OF the United States Govern
ment BY them he was elected. COM
mlssloned, and is to be compensated
from the public funds Of the Hawaiian
branch Of the United States Treasury:
for these purposes, the Cabinet" at
Honolulu has made available a special
fund in the Treasury, known as the ap-
preparation for Consular and Diplo-
matte Service which shows a balance
of 81 900
In recent press dispatch Mr. Hart
we'll Is quoted as having said: las a
matter of fact there has been no effort
to rush importatiOns of contract labor
into Hawaii prior to the enactment of
a code under which the contract labor
laws of the United States probably
would be extended to the Islands. It
was this feature of the Hawaiian stu
alton which was exaggerated into a
bugaboo during the closing days of the
last session Of Congress.
II Mr.. Hartwell as accredited agent
of the Hawaiian oligarchy deemed this
statement Of sufficient Importance to be
made to the people of the United States
he has certainly facilities for obtaining
the exact figures of these importations
of Japanese, and could best serve his
principals and please the Americans
by thus easily disposing of the '*exag-
gerated bugaboo."
These figures may even yet be useful
to Mr. Hartwell and such other gentle
men as may be sent here to pacify the
people and direct Congress and we will
supply them. On December 31st, 1898.
there were on the Hawaiian Islands IT,
7S6 japanese laborers. Of these 1O,527
were male contract laborers, 5,2OS male
day laborers and 1,O51 women.
Since Decembr 31st, 1898, 26.721
Japanse laborers have been rushed
into the Hawaiian Islands
There has been a large importation
OF japanese, says Mr.. Hartwell, but
none have been brought in who were
not actually required in the develop
ment of the new plantations, etc. In
that Mr.. HartWell is eminently correct;
the labor has been required and still is
in demand upon the Islands; but why
has the American laborer been so stu
diously excluded from the field? Why
have the agents Of these plantations
passed through America to scour for
eign marts for labor: to Italy, Portu-
gal and even to Spain? Simply because
the sugar companies. with their enor-
nous profits, which free sugar in the
United States will greatly increase. are
unwilling to pay fair wages; because
they realize that with the coming of
the American the conditions of the
plantations must change: the lash must
go and the brutal luna (oyerseer) must
learn humanity or perish, as in history
he has before.
With these hOrdes of japanese under
contract for three and five years, the
sugar planters of Hawaii expect to
thwart any protection that it may OK
tend to the American laborer, unless
Congress shall repudiate every con-
tract made for foreign labor since an
nexation.
That the country is now American
and this contract labor from foreign
fields in violation of American laws,
makes no difference to the Hawaiian
producer; with him, avarice and greed,
the Jap and the Spaniard are first; con-
science, fair wages and American labor
last
Are White Men Unfit ?"
white men, according to Mr.. Hart
we'll, ARE unfit for work in the cane
field, and it is absolutely necessary to
get foreigners for this work"
Let us see. Here are some scenes
on Hawaiian sugar plantations, show
ing the labor required in the field, from
planting the cane to its gathering and
shipment to the mill, where it is
dumped upon trans and carried, me-
chanically, through the different treat
ments until it becomes sugar in the
bag, and refuse cane on the furnace
dump. I challenge Mr.. Hartwell, and
any man on earth, to point out where,
from planting the cane to marking a
bag of sugar, there is labor for which
the American is unfit" I challenge
them to demonstrate a single physical
reason for the exclusion of the Ameri-
can from this field.
On December 81. 1898, there were
1912 women and 221 minors working
in the cane fields OF Hawaii; these are
the official statistics Of the gentlemen
| who sent Mr.. Hartwell to the United
States to tell Congress and the people
that the American is unfit for labor
| in the cane fields of Hawaii.
In the rice fields it is different, and
| though correct in the statement that
| the American could not long endure
there, Mr.. Hartwell falls into error
when he says that in the rice fields the
japanese is preferable to the Chinese.
The fact is so conspicuously the reverse
that I prefer to believe that Mr.. Hart
we'll is misquoted. No person familiar
with the two races, as they exist in
Hawaii, can be serious in chasing the
Japanese laborer equally with the Chi
naman, either in intelligence or relia-
hility. The Chinaman possesses char