The Hawaiian gazette., 1900-06-22
PLANTATION LAB0RERS
INCITED BY AGlTATORS

crowd uf rlotsrs 81 sgriDus we're theu
concentrations that % tuDey WtH tre
over their heads
suffers ~ OIaa.
Al this the strikers lost their nyry,
and fcd iucul tiucutiy into tine can,
brush. y ". McChcsney who has &C.
Gently returned from Hawai- sa tina
the situation throughout the 10 aud i'
serious. At olaa plantation III g. " ne
uiso troubles. but tuey were que led
without great difficulty kalua. kJua
and Hilu are all stirred ~ over the
troubles although there Is some dOubl
expressed at the larger towns conCera-
ing the seriousness OF the outbreaks
many people preferring TO laugh the.u
OF ana minimize their effect.
on this Island there has been less
difficulty. Manager August AIureos
oahu Plantation was In Honolulu yes
terday and said that all of his 800 Jap.
anese were quiet and working as usu a.
From Honolulu Plantation comes Norl
from Manager j. a. Low that there are
no disturbances, and all his $40 Japan
ese are at work. They have not s.ru X,
but are well organized and have an-
nounced that they want higher wages.
G. Shiozawa, proprietor of the Hawai-.
Shinpo, the daily newspaper printed IN
Japanese in this city, gives peculiar
Interpretation of the supposed troubles
making for the plantations BY the Jap
anese laborers.
II say positively" said Mr.. Shiozlwa
last night. that the Japanese are not
and have not been crying for higher
wages since Hawaii is a Territory nor
are they disposed to strike on this ac-
count. The grievances of the Japanese
laborers are against the immigration
companies.
There are now I'm Hawaii say 10000
Japanese who came here under contract
with the immigration compani and
the planters to work for certain perio IS
of time at a fixed price. These contracts
are now annuled The majority of the
laborers have an indistinct understand
ing of their rights and of the exact
meaning of the abrogatiOn OF their con-
tracts.
Blames the Compa
Under these contracts the laborers
paid to the planters, or rather allowed
to be retained from their wages, a Ger
tain sum, usually $3.50, each month
which in the contracts was speCi ed as
passage money for their return to Jap
an" This money altogether, now in the
hands of the immigration companies
to which it was RENTED by the plant
ers-amounts to about $500, 600, ard 1t Is
this immense sum which the laborers
demand return of, and the Withholding
of which is stirring up the rumpuS
III the contracts were abrogated, the
companies have no right to retain any
money belonging to the laborers. The
laborers want nothing to do with the
immigration people. They are given to
believe that the contracts are all done
with, and that they are now as other
free men, with the right to choose their
employers and to work when they wisn
At the same time they do not want to
change. They are happy as tn y are
and know that they cannot be paid
much more and have the advantages
that they now enjoy.
'They are in the mass satisfied with
their treatment by the planters, and do
not want to make trouble. They re
to work on. OF course this man or that
mar may want to work here or there
where some relative is employed, and
may change his location, but these ar
comparatively few and not enough to
cause any friction. 1t Is against the I'm
migration companies that the laborers
are kicking. Suits for the return of this
money withheld for passage back to
Japan" will be brought against them
at once in Honolulu. The contracts read
that the money is to be deposited IL
some reliable bank in the name OF the
individual laborer to whose credit II Is.
believe that the Immigration compa-
MES have not done this In many in
stances, and that the bu of the money
is tied up in property and other invest
mentS."