The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-09-20
THE THING IN A NUTSHELL
MIR. PROGRESS WANTS CHINESE
LABORERS.
Says a Loophole in the Enabling Act
Was Made Specially to Admit Them
to the Hawaiian Islands.

EDITOR STAR: And no Chinese by
reason of anything herein contained
shall be allowed to go from the Hawa-
iian Islands to any part of the United
States
This clause of the treaty anneXing the
Hawaiian Islands to the United States
has been held by some attorneys to be
unconstitutional. We have seen that
any State can institute a quarantine
against any other States when necessi-
ty requires it, How much more so has
the Government of the United States
the right to prohibit the moving of an
undesirable class from one part of the
Union to any other part? Congress
wisely made this clause a part of the
organic law of the Territory of Hawaii
for reasons which will appear later The
American Government knows well that
| it is rarely that il can make a law
which will be beneficial to all parts OF
| the great country over which IT has
| Jurisdiction. 1t knew will that in at
| tempting to govern an empire part Of
which lies within the Attic zone, part
in the Temperate and part in the Tor
rid zone that the requirements of each
zone in some matters would necessarily
| be different
In putting this clause into the Ena-
! bling Act il did so wisely, that hereaf-
! ter provision might be made for the
| allowing of the desired labor to be
brought into the Territory of Hawaii.
| Congress did not annex the Hawaiian
! Islands with the purpose of eXtinguish-
ing its agricultural resources. Should 1t
appear that there is no possibility of re-
newng the labor now on the islands
there is no doubt but that the sugar
industry here will ultimately perish
Assisted labor cannot be brought to the
United States from any part of the
world. To obtain suitable labor for the
manufacture of sugar within the tro-
pics from the surplus labor of the Union
is an impossibility. With better pay
than it is earning in the United States
it will not be induced to come here and
il brought here, the class that would
unseat itself is an undesirable element.
Rake the United States with a fine
comb and we would not be able to OBJ
tain the class of labor which will take
the place of what we have had.
While this clause stands on the Sta
tutes of the United States, protecting
the labor of the mainland from the APP
pearance of contesting with mongols
for a livelihood, 1t is possible for Con-
gress to pass a law allowing limited
number of Chinese to be brought into
this country for a defined period.
Employers of labor are unanimous in
the opinion that Chinese make the best
laborers and at the same time are
more law-abiding than any other class
Employers have found through long
experience that labor must be renewed
every three years. If this cannot be
done sugar raising must cease. On the
other hand it is the experience of Chi
nese that three years of continuous
work is all that they can stand and
they yearn to return to their native
land at the end of that time
Suppose Congress is petitioned ia
pass law permitting say 10000 Chinese
to come to Hawaii every three years
and such law should be enacted, there
would not be the least trouble to insure
their departing at the end of their tern
and they could be thoroughly identified
not only by certificates of identification
but by the bonds of employers that
they would depart.
1t is rarely that a Chinese laborer
comes here with the intention of max
ing his home here. Occasionally one
may desire to remain in the country but
this is rare. Under a well conducted
system - is possible to arrange it that
every one should leave at the end of his
engagement. Why not try this course
PROGRESS