Indian chieftain. [volume] (Vinita, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1882-1902, 1900-11-29
l.sOuIn .RANsAsArExA
WHERE ALL ARE RICH.
some of the Disadvantages of W
ing In n Land where Nobody
Needs Money.

The great difficulty hers is The lad
ot laborers, writes a Guam correspon
dent 10 the New York Times. Every
native is a landowner and farmer a
man may know how TO bake bread,
make shoes or build mouse, yet sucl
a thing as a regular baker, shoemakerl
or carpenter Is unknown in Guam
You may be kept waiting weeks for q
pair Of shoes or a chest or n pair OF
trousers, because the man engaged to
work for you has 20 harvest his corn,
or build a hut on his ranch, or plant
rice.
Did you ever imagine what the con.
ditions would be II every one were
rich2 These are the condition. In
Guam. II you had a farm producing
corn, sweet potatoes, yams, taro,
chickens, pigs, coffee, chocolate sap,
vinegar, cider, sugar, beans, pumpkins,
etc, would you go TO work on the road
for 80 cents n day, or hire yourself as
a farmland for six dollats a month,
Mexican, and food2 The people q
Guam will not do this, and they a.
therefore called by some lazy a'u
worthless. have seen them on tleh
plantations planting cocoanut trees
which, when once bearing, will give
them a sure and steady income, be-
sides cultivating their sweet potatoes,
tobacco, corn, etc. am sure ] should
do as they do.
do not say 1t is for the good Of the
island that such conditions exist. The
roads and bridges are bad, and nobody
wants TO mend them. Formerly uD
such work was done by conyicts sent
here from Spain and the Philippines.
We need laborers, and need them bad
ly. II would be an excellent thing. to
import 200 or 800 Chinese. have seen
them work in Hawaii, and know how
industrious and frugal they are, and
what good husbands they make when
married TO natives. The descendants
Of Chinese on the island have proved
themselves 20 ~ excellent citizens.
They amalgamate well with the ma
tives. The Chinese are good rice
planters, and we have much land here
which could be cultivated in rice and
sugar.
Rice and sugar cannot be grown by
Individuals. Even the cultivation Of
coffee on n large scale is an impossi-
bility without laborers. l never saw a
country in which coffee grows better,
even down tu the very level Of the sea.
Yet nobody makes business Of coffee
planting. Each has his little patch,
and none is exported.
Many young men have come here
and gone away discouraged, simply
from the fact that II they do acquire
land they can get nobody TO work for
jhem, and II Is a serious thing for a
ian with only his two hands TO get q
living out Of the earth. Workmen do
not come here, because they can get
better wages at home. We literally
have no market-not a single store
where you can go and buy a bushel
OF sweet potatoes or dozen OF
oranges or n fowl or turkey. You have
TO beg people TO sell you things. They
don't want money. They get pre-
served food, which they really do not
need, and rice from the traders In re.
turn for their dried cocoanuts. We
found that they were anxious 10 get
supply OF ships tobacco when last
years supply Of tobacco gave out, 50
several OF the officer laid in a supply
Of ships tobacco and exchanged Il for
chickens, eggs, etc, II was the only
way TO induce the people TO bring
them.