The Hawaiian gazette., 1899-06-23
INK ASiATIC AND THE NEGRO.

0ads. ~ well as 20 the thinking men
Il the Southern States OF America,
tho problem of dealing with the dark
e. races will be the one absorbing
problem Of the future. That problem
10 longer in either section involves
Fovolution by arms. but It does in
vulve social revolution. In the South
laad the problem Is in the hands OF
The whites. who are numerically SUI
perior to the resident darker race.
baf in these Islands, 1t is to be
solved by a small minority Of
the dominant class. But we are
In q transition state. Although
the Aslatic population vastly outnum-
bers the whites, II has not become a
settled population. II comes and goes.
The hborers. as a rule, have no
homes, and 1t is not in the interests of
The sugar industry, as the men who
control that industry seem to believe,
that its laborers should have wives
and children. Homes and wives and
children are expensive luxuries, and
II the laborers are permitted to have
them, there is at once blow at divi-
dends.
But economic laws care nothing for
business views, and may dispose Of all
of these laborers in some unexpected
way.
In another column is reprinted from
the Southern Workman an article on
the history of the negro race in Vir-
ginia, by a negro, Professor Il. ID. Du
Bots. of the Atlanta University. 1t
treats briefly Of the slave trade, and
the introduction OF slaves into the
United States. in such an impartial
manner that 1t almost creates a his
tOrlcal event. Instead OF exhibiting
anger at the treatment Of the slaves.
he presents the features of slavery
which benefited the negro as well as
those that did not.
But he presents the question clear
": What shall be the political and So
cial relation Of the freedmen to the
land Of their residence?
This Is the very question that mus.
be asked here: What shall be the re-
latiou OF those laborers to the land Of
their adoption?
In contrasting the problem OF the
negro In America and the Asiatic
sSeSShlnnN hn nrnh-
lem In these Islands, the races in
VOWED In the problem on both sides
show at once how much more compli-
cated the problem Is here than 1t Is
over there. Excluding n percentage
Of able. industrious negroes, capable
OF taking rank with the foremost men
of other races, the remainder are at
the mercy of the organizing power OF
the whites. But, in these Islands, the
organizing power OF the Asiatics has
not been tested. That 1t Is efficient
arc certain. That 1t can overmatch
the organizing power OF the Anglo
6axons In commercial enterprises has
not been determined. 1t is admitted
that the China Merchants Steam
chip Company. with an ownership OF
seventy vessels, has developed high
order Of power. Those who know the
Japanese declare that they have great
gifts In the way Of combinations.
Al the power to organize and exc
cute IL the strongest gift possessed by
man. It appears that in dealing with
the problem here is a much more Sc
rious affair than in dealing with the
problem on the Mainland.
The ancestors OF the present genera
ton In the South simply ignored the
problem. They wanted money, and
luxury, and comfortable religion.
and they took it as it came, and asked
NO questions about the future. They
found "unanswerable" reasons for any
commercial transactions whether IN
human beings or in rice that gave a
profit. Quite sufficient unto the day
was the evil thereof.
The generation living here is dairy
and hourly dealing with races supe-
rior In numbers and much superior to
the present generation OF negroes. IN
fact, 1t is dealing with races which are
regarded as dangerous 20 the labor
ing man In the States.
Vast as the domain OF the United
States is. no more intensely interest
ing problem exists in any part OF It,,
than the social evolution quietly de-
veloping here.
II the Italians become a part OF our
population viii the composite race In
these Islands. one hundred years
hence, be a mixture OF Anglo-Saxon,
Chinese. japanese, Portuguese and
itaiiansY These are perplexlng ques-
lions. Shall we not better take things
easy and let the Creator look after