The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-08-20
WILL NOT WORK.

That white men will not work in the
cane fields - just as true as that they
can do So Trials have bs.en made.
White men have been brought to the
estates and given employment in the
various branches of the industry i1 the
past Some came under contract and
stayed. until they had lived osat chat
term. Whae became of trern then?
They sought the towns and there they
stay, except those who became. through
some force Of character, luEas and stay
10 direct the Ia ors of the coolies. With
so many instances which might be cEted
il seems that there must be something
behind the iteration Of the charge of
bad faith on the part of the plantation
men, in endeavoring 10 secure labor
which may stay in the fields, rather
than pure desire to see an American
citizenship in these Islands.
1t is not necessary TO go far 10 find
instances of the desertion of the plan
tations by white 'laborers. Take the
Portuguese. Almost all the men of this
race came here for the purpose of work
ing in the fields, and they did so so long
as their contracts held. How many of
them at once deserted their hoes and
cutting knives for the towns is mat
ter of a census rather than of argu-
ment. They are of the most Industrious
citizens. They work hard and long
but even they would not stick to the
stripping of cane, and the harder work
of loading it on the cars. Nor are they
alone in this. There have been tried in
the past other nationalities.
There were the Galicians, whose trials
gave food for so much thought and talk
| two years ago. They knew to what
I they were coming, and yet 1t was
| found that they would not stand the
work in the fields. Not long ago there
were brought here a party OF men from
Boston, many of them American citi-
zens. They accepted the free ride
across continent and ocean, but it Is a
matter of local history that as soon as
| they landed they refused TO carry out
their contracts and work on the estates
but deserted and hunted work In the
towns, and fer some days were objects
Of charity In this city. Other parties of
| Portuguese recruited from the ranks of
| the mill-hands of the New England
States have been sent here in the past
and in almost every instance they soon
discovered that they were not for that
kind of work and found their way into
the city, where they are now giving
their attention to the minor trades or
work upon the streets or at other IN
skilled labor. Even the Porto Rican,
whose condition here is so vastly supe-
rior to that in his own country, is talk
| ing of what he could do if he could get
hold of a small piece of land, and it is
said to be a fact that there are some
of them who are figuring upon how TO
get into planting-tobacco is their IA
vorite crop-on their own account.
This Is the result of the Spanish blood,
which is cropping out Italians have
found II wiser for them to devote their
time to seeking work in the city than
to continue in the fields.
| II is. then, matter of desire and
| inclination on the part of the man with
white blood in his veins, that he will not
work in the fields-not that he cannot.
The work requires a degree of close at
| tention and is SO exhaustive that none
of the Caucasians will follow 1t. Yet
| 1t is a matter of daily comment that
the planters should find young Amerl-
cans to go into the cane and work as
do the Orientals The first question
which would be raised would be the
matter Of compensation. There is now
| a dearth of men to till the farms of the
East at wages ranging from S1S to s24
month and found. For this sum what
do the men have? They are in a COM
munity which offers cheap living and