The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1900-10-09
THE FUTURE
Of SUGAR
Will Production Cost
Increase?
FIGURES ON THE subject
Opinions Of Or. Harvey Wiley, Chem
ist Of Department Of
Agriculture.

The following on the conditions which
will tend to increase the cost of sugar
Is taken from a report on the industry
In Hawaii written by DIR. Harvey
Wiley. Chemist of the Department OF
Agriculture of the United States, and
published in a report on the Progress
of the Beet Sugar Industry In the
United States" by order of Congress
Unskilled labor performed on the planta-
tions and in the mills in the production
of sugar on the Islands is almost entirely
done by four classes, as follows: Portu-
gCese. Japanese, natives and Chinese. The
desirability of these different natlonalities
for work on plantations seems TO run in
tho order which / have named them. 1t
will be seen from the table on page 127
that this Is the order according to wages
paid. ! desire to discuss under this head
the prospect for future rise in the
wages 1t will be seen by the tables on
page les that the greater portion of these
laborers are Asiatics. there being many
more Japanese than Chinese. Almost all
of the laborers were brought to the ISL
ands originally under contracts. A con-
tract laborer is one who signs contract
agreeing to work for his employer for a
stipulated sum for stipulated time. on
condition that the employer pay the ex-
penses of transport ation and furnish him
place to live, he boarding himself. Usu-
ally the time stipulated in these contracts
Is three years, and the wages $l2 to SIS
per month. There are other conditions in
these contracts, and. In addition, the laws
made by the Hawaiian Government give
the planter almost entire control of the
contract laborer's actions. He can be
punished and imprisoned and made to
ri. onI h. vNlo hno thn To
decide whether or not he is able to work
and other powers which make peculiar
reading under the Jurisdiction of the
Stars and Stripes. The contract laborer
himself Is known as "coole."
From q moral or an intellectual stand
point, he would not rank very high. /
have seen them unloaded and 'corralled'
by the hundred. 1t Ia hard to imagine
that any country could furnish so many
human beings so lily equipped for civil
Lied life. These people. as they arrive.
are usually dressed in a single loose gar
ment without other clothing except some
form of sandals, and possibly a blanket.
IL ey present themselves as future wage
earners possibly citizens, at least serv-
ants to participate In the island affairs.
LABOR WILL BE DEARER.
OF course these are crude workmen-no
wonder their pay is so little-but after
three ears apprenticeship they are sup
to hire out as day laborers, go into BUSH
nc IS for themselves or return to the coun-
try they came from. Under the laws of
the United States. which take effect June
IA. 1900, no more Chinese laborers can
come In, no more contract laborers can
come, and all that are there simply be-
come day labcrers. If any additional
Cinnamon come 1t can only be merchants.
students or travellers. and. as an element
of the population. the Chinese will gradu-
ally become scarce. Some VIII die and
some will return to their native land. II
any additional Japanese come. of course,
1t will be such rs can pay their own ex-
penses-a better class. who will demand
higher wages, so that as these lower
clEss Cinnamon and Japanese decrease in
numbers wages will become higher. the
same as they did In California.
This change will begin Immediately. rs
the demand for labor OF all kinds is ex-
paEding at a wonderful rate In the Islands.
The history and conditions in this case
are exactly the same as those of Califor-
mia, and II will be but short time until
they will be paying in the Hawaiian ISL
ands the same wages for the same kind
of service as Is paid In California to-
day.
AS business of all kinds increases In the
islands. other Industries will compete with
the sugar industry in the demand for la
bor. If the cost OF unskilled labor shall
come up to level with the cost of the
same in the States. then the cost of labor
to the Hawaiian sugar producer will have
Increased about two-thirds.
AS TO CAPITAL STOCK.
It Is interesting In this connection to
Investigate some statistics which appear
In Thrum's Annual for the years 1S97-9S.
These statistics are used officially In the
Islands. In making a comparison of the
number OF tons of sugar to each laborer
employed agriculturally and In the manu-
facture of the product, he gives the fol-
lowing:
1897. l-3 tons of sugar to each laborer
employed on the plantation or in the mill
1898. 10 1-2 tons of sugar to each laborer
employed on the plantation or In the mill.
The same authority gives the average
wages paid on plantations as SIS a month.
or SIG per year.
Suppose We take ten tons of sugar as
the average amount produced per man
during the years 1897 and 1898, then the
cost or producing one ton would equal
SIG. divided by 10. or $2l.60
If the average wages IN California are
tD per month. and the average wages in
Hawaii Increase from SIS to the Califor-
MIA level. the change will involve an tn
crease or CT 2-3 per cent The increase In
me iapor cost of ton OF sugar viii he
sh.fo and the labor cost of u ton of sugar
WIZ be 1885, III the average total cost OF |
producing ton OF sugar In the islands nj |
present IL $40. the additional labor cost |
or sffo VIII increase the total cost OF pro- |
duclng sugar In the islands to Sd 40 ner
ten, and the increase n the entire cost
of production on acL, unit OF this Increas-
ed cost OF labor will amount to 80 per
cent.
Tho tendency OF these companies 10 ex-
pand their capital stock TO tho highest
limit furnishes another item of cost In
production. which will not only make the /
cost OF production higher than II has
been hitherto, hut II will have tendency
% fx this Item permanently for the fu- |
tura. While the stock OF these companies
10 listed as "all paid up" this does not
necessarily mean that an amount OF cash
equal 90 the face value OF the stock has
been invested, IL elmply implies that the
holder or the stock In not liable 20 ASSESS
ment. In many eases the amount OF tho
stock OF a company IL greatly Increased