The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-08-29
THE SCIENTIFIC MAN.

In his comments upon the labor
question, published in the San Fran
cisco Call, Judge Frear says:
"a scientific man should be employed
TO study the conditions in these Islands
and the sources of labor supply else
where and to make recommendations
as to the best labor system 10 be adopt
ed here and as to the best sources OF
labor supply to be drawn upon. A
scientific man is needed just as much
for the investigation of the labor prob
lem as for the investigation of prob
lens of cultivation and manufacture.
This man should not be merely So
called practical man. He should be a
thoroughly scientific man.
The practical man is disposed, of
course, TO sneer at such suggestion,
in spite of the fact that about all of
the progress in the world is secured
through theorists inventors and
scientific men.
The Advertiser, last week, called the
attention of it's readers TO the state
ment made by Lord Rosebery, who is
a leading practical statesman of the
very practical British nation, that the
extension of English imperialism is
mainly due to the wisdom, and study
and forethought of a scholar of the
University of Cambridge, Sir John
Seeley
The Creator has made UP this world
SO that, as a rule, men cannot make
progress in it, without hard, prolonged,
systematic, intelligent and thorough
work. And the more complicated the
problem the more exacting is the need
of work. There are cases, of course,
in which there is extraordinary good
luck, as it has been with Hawaii upon
whom cheap labor has been crowded
for many years But the day of good
luck, the day of having for the asking
is over, and, owing to the lack of back
country containing a labor supply,
Hawaii is on the eve of some trouble
in the labor supply, unless some work
is done which is not hap-hazard, but is
searching and laborious. We may as
well give up the idea that we can go
out into the market places of the world
Even the farmers of Pennsylvania and
other States, have been pushing their
educated daughters into the harvest
fields, this year, because labor is
scarce.
Judge Frear means by a scientific
man, one who has the habit and train
ing, and education for the investiga-
ton of facts, and will take the time to
collect them, and will not go off 'at
the half-cock'' in his conclusions.
The problem of manual labor in the
fields becomes more perpleXing every
year, because the price OF labor is
rising all over the world, and steam
transportation is equalizing the price
Of it.,
it is said that many of the best labor
ers of Northern Italy now refuse to
settle in either the United States or in
South America, because the price of
passage is so low, they can with profit,
purchase round trip tickets and after
working seven months of the year in
foreign lands, return home for the rest
of the year and reside with their
friends.
1t is the lack of intelligent, that is,
scientific work, that has made failure
of so much of the white immigration
to these Islands.
The labor needed for the plantations
can be obtained, but only brains and
money will get it. The Lodge bill
which came near to. being enacted into
a law forbids the Canadian laborers
from crossing the Federal border and
serving during the summer months on
the American farms. 1t is pending
still. But out Of the 100000 of peo-
pie that occupy the United States.
there can be obtained enough to supply
the small demand for labOrerS here,
provided enough brains and money is
invested in getting them. The sooner
the planters abandon the idea of a
.swalk-over," the sooner they will real
ize the need of some solid scientific
work in solving the labor problem.