The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1900-12-26
THE PORTO RICANS.


by systematic and persistent misrepre-
sentation thrown large number of
Porto Ricans destitute and homeless
upon the charity of the people of Cali
fornia, is now seeking to create the ith-
preston that the Planters Association
is responsible for the present plight of
these unfortunates, and to bully ana
coerce the planters into providing for
them. The Examiner has abandoned
the claims it made during the transit
of the Porto Ricans through the main
land that the planters OF their agents
had induced the Porto Ricans to leave
their homes through misrepresentation,
and is insisting that the planters We're
at fault for not sending some one down
to Indio or some other place along the
route to reassure the Porto Ricans af-
ter the Examiner had stated that they
We're beginning to fear that misrepre-
sensations had been made to them. II
it We're not so serious a matter this
would be intensely rich as joke.
The cold facts in the whole matter
are that the Hawaiian planters through
their agents offered to these Porto Ri
cans steady employment on Hawaiian
plantations at $40 a month, living quar-
ters, fuel, water and medical attendance
free, agreeing to furnish this employ
ment at this compensation for three
years. Anybody who knows anything
about the condition of agricultural la
Dor in the states, knows that so far as
wages ((steadiness of employment being
cOnsidered), and living is concerned, at
least, this is better than agricultural la
borers in the states get. If common re-
port, and what is generally known of
| Spanish American tropical countries, is
/ any guide, it is a great deal better in all
respects than the Porto Ricans could
get in their own Island. Transportation
/ hither was also included in the offer.
/ The Porto Ricans accepted the offer and
started. Immigrant travel in no part
of the world is luxurious. 1t is better
! in America than anywhere else. There
| is nothing to show that the care and ac-
/ comodatiOns provided for the Porto
! Ricans was not the average at least of
general immigrant travelling accommo-
dations in the states. There is a great
/ deal to show that it was fully up to the
| average. But scarcely had the Porto
Ricans left New Orleans before busy
/ bodies or malicious persons began per-
sistent attempts to arouse their fears
| and suspicious. That they should sue
coed is not to be wondered at. consider
ing the fact that the Porto Ricans were
ignorant, at4east in the way that ali
untraVeled and little reading people are
| ignortant; that they were in a strange
| land, and among people who did not
I speak their tongue. The wonder is that
those efforts to instil fear and distrust
We're not more successful. The result
was that about eighty out of 1874 were
| induced to abandon their undertaking.
and the opportunity for steady employ
ment at good wages and under favor
able conditions and to cast themselves
upon the charity of a strange people
thousands of miles from their own
homes and with no means either to re-
turn or to continue their Journey, BY
what juggle of argument this can be
made to appear kindness or even JUS
| tice to the Porto Ricans, it is impos-
sible to imagine. To the candid mind
1t looks like the height of unkindness.
to the Porto Ricans and injustice to the
planters.
Some unfavorable comment has been
made because the Porto Ricans were
not given personally conducted" tour
through the states, with stops at points
of interest on the way, including Homo
iuIu' The planters were hiring these
men to work. They were paying for
their transportation and spending a
great deal of money before they could
expect any returns. There was no moral
or legal duty on their part, to do any
thlng more than treat them humanely,
bringing them as eXpeditiously as pos
slble to their destination, and to enable
them to get to work as speedily as pos
sible. This they seem to have done.
The injury that has been done has not
been by the planters, but by those who
ofiiciously meddled with a matter which
did not concern them from any point of
view, humanitarian or any other. The
injury has been to those Porto Ricans
who were led to break their engage
ments to the planters, and to the plant
ers themselves
There seems TO be a strange misap-
prehension In the minds of many in re-
gard to contracts of labor. They are as
legitimate and as morally binding as
any other. There is no law against
them in the United States except when
made with aliens, WHICH the Porto Ri
cans now are not. Many contracts of
| service are enforcible other than by
way of money damages, in courts of
equity. Contracts of service are by no
means uncommon. Every school teacher
many clergymen actors, singers, and
many other professional people secure
employment regularly by formal con-
tract lit is only against the penal en-
forcement of contracts that our laws
protest. But even in this America is
90 a.,