The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1899-07-17

tnut the Cpnuluon OF ine average loDoielt
who is not SO fortunate. or so indus
trious, Is, In comparison, not worse but
better than that OF the laborer Of the
same class elsewhere
Take first comparison with Lou
isiana. The average wages Of the lab
orer I'm the cane fields there is IS cents
day or sec a month. During the grind
ing season, when pay is obtained for
over time, and which lasts sixty days, he
| gets 81 a day. Hon. John Dymond, the
sugar statistician of New Orleans says.
"The plantation laborers are furnished
with free house room; they steal their
fuel and require but little medical at
tention."
The average wages of the Hawaiian
laborer per day is 20 cents of SIS 20 per
month. He gets paid over time during
the grinding season, which lasts on an
| average not sixty days as in Louisiana,
| but $50 days. He has also free house
room, but he has not to steal his wood,
| it is given to him; water is brought
near his quarters, which he gets free,
and he has not to pay for medical at
!
but he receives his medical attendance
free. His condition is quite as good, if
not somewhat better than that of the
Louisiana laborer.
Take a look at the average wage in
| the six eastern provinces of Prussia.
According to COLI, who has devoted
great care to the subject, the unskilled
] lob 4 t,lxc q
day, or 29A cents a day, the highest be-
! ing in Pomerania where Las marks or
! 361A cents a day is the average and the
lowest in Silesia where 201h cents is the
magnificent return of labor from sun
rise to sunset. These people work on
the immense beet fields
Then it must be taken into consider
alton that in the Hawaiian Islands the
wages are for the entire year. In Ger
many they last during the spring, sum-
mer and autumn. Winter is a period of
starvation. Again in the matter of
clothes. Winter requires heavier
clothes, even if they be ragged. Here
the same clothes serve the year round.
These positions in Germany are Gag
erly filed by Galicians and Russians,
when the Germans manage to migrate,
so that the condition of the Galiclan
and Russian laborer is worse than that
of the German. In point of fact, the
Russian peasant, in several of the pro-
vinces, is actually starving. We have no
such conditions here. 81
The difficulty with the labor from Eu
/ hoe &c hof h.
immigrants are either misinformed, or
they expect too much. They are like
the pumpkins who used to go to Lon
don expecting to find the streets paved
with gold They leave poverty and
; wretchedness at home end expect to find
an easy, well paid life abroad. Against
transformation the government or the
planters can guard. Against self-de-
, ception they can never guard.
The charges of i'll treatment which
are made, are fabricated for sensational
purposes. 1t is pure invention to talk
about the laborers being driven to the
fields with whip. 1t is pure inVen-
! ton to call the labor system slavery
! Slavery is where a human being works
the chattel of another, to buy and sell
as one does a horse or a COW. The Ha.
, waiian laborer gets as good pay and
F treatment as the Louisiana laborer
, and better pay than the German labor.
er. Far from being a slave he is a free
man, in that, if he has been born in the
, country, he can vote and take part
AL, .,
proper time, if he is not an Asiatic, he
can be naturalized.
The penal clause in our contract laws
it may be granted, is a mistake, but il
must be borne in mind that the contract
system of the Islands had its origin n
9 the shipping of men for the whaling
7 voyages of the forties and fifties. Thai
the penal clause should be abolished
r and will be abolished when the United
= States Congress gives US the enabling
! act, goes without saying. But the
+ United States to this day support the
penal clause in contracts with sailors
| sailor must fulfill his contract, and
! as has been stated above, the like pen.
= atty applied to our plantation labor
ers, is our legacy from the whaling
times. The method of the sea was APP
piled to the work on land. AS a fact
nearly all our early managers on plant.
| ations were whaling captains who gave
: up the sea for agriculture.
: But is is hopeless to argue with mer
who wilfully make false statements as
| has been done by Mr.. Rosenberg of the
San Francisco Labor Council or any OF
similar character. 1t is well, however
7 to clearly and succinctly state the case
for the information of fair minded PEG.
pie who can listen to reason and are
5 not blinded by prejudice.