The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1901-01-15
: TIE CALIFORNIA FARNER"
TALE OF TERROR HE TOLD THE
PORTO RICANS.
Now Thy Find the Tale Was Untrue
and Show Their Satisfaction With
Their Present Situation.

rios, ANtle and celia, are employed ia
railroad building through the canehelds.
In answer to questions the three men
said that the promises to them We're
the same as TO the others, showing
some evident untruthfUlness some
where The man designated by Moral. .s
as the farmer from California also
tried to make them leave the party ana
refuse TO come to Hawaii.
Only two more Porto RlCans were
left to be seen-Ilario Latista and
Casus ColOmb.- at work on a plantation
railroad They said what the luna and
many of the men had said-they We're
getting 75 cents at home and were Of
fered so cents a day to come to Ha-
wall They liked the work and were
satisfied with their treatment-if they
got so cents
Some of the cigars received on credit
from Lahaina store were between the
teeth of women I'm the Porto lican camp
when The Star representative arrived
there. There was some very vigorous
conversation in Spanish and it was evil
dent that a strong kick had been eu-
countered at last. when the interpre-
ter had time to speak it was found
that the women had taken the visiting
newspaperman for plantation officer
and We're making themselves heard ON
the subject of water supply IT ap-
pears that the Well water at hand
is braclsh and the rain water tank
some distance away had been found
empty
The Porto Ricans on am average, are
fair sized WOrkmen and apparently able
to stand the work they are doing. The
plantation managers refer to- them as
satisfactory, without euthusing over
them. All scemd arr and willing. There
was no loahng, no cause for the lunas
i'm charge to speak To any pt them dur
ing the couple of hours while the writer
of these lines watched them Only one
was seen who answered the description
Of consumption He looked as if his
labors as fireman were about all he
was equal to.
The work in the cane field is
by no means as hard as it is often de-
Clared. The men work slowly but
steadily. There is great heat, for shade
is not one of the features of a cane
field. But the labor is not nearly as
hard as that which white farmers do
in many of the states, nor are the
hours as long as the farmers have.
Already Cupid has been at work
among the men ana wOraen from Porto
Rico. The worries of a dreary trip from
New Orleans to Southern California
and the eXCitements of a constant siege
from newspapermen for several hun
dred miles till a climax of interview
ing was reached near San Francisco.
could not scare the little god away and
he aimed with his usual acCuTCy when
he got targets. Two young members
of the party We're married at Lahaina
last Sunday and are now receiving the
congratulations Of their friends, who
comprise the total population of the
Porto Rican camp. The young men is
naturally elated after being informed
that he was going to massacre, or at
| least slavery, to graduate from his
season of travels hardships into the
happy station of a groom.
What the Porto Ricans think of Ha-
waii is shown from their statements.
What the plantation men who brought
the Porto Ricans here think of them is
another question and the answer to it
exposes a good deal of the difficulty of
dealing with the labor question in Ha-
wall at the present time. To Manager
Barkhausen the addition of about fifty
Porto Ricans to his plantation popula-
tion is a small matter, fifty new
comers not being a very large increase
TO the l4OO men employed on the plan
tation at Lahaina.
The manager seems to expect that
large proportion of the men from Porto
Rico will leave in short time. They
will learn to talk a bit of English or
native, they will be told of wonderful
salaries to be I'D on other planta-
| tions,-and they will take advantage
of their privilege to leave when they
want to, and will leave, to see what
other plantations have to offer This
experience has been gone through be-
fore-notably in the case of the Cali
clans. Some of the Galicians are back
at Lahaina plantation. They have been
to Honolulu, enjoyed the pleasures of
the labor agitator's hot air. and the
more serious experiences of the work
ing man who is jobless, and have come
! back to Pioneer plantation, to take up
which rs 70 To
wall to do.
The same experience is expected with
the Porto Ricans They will leave,
says Manager Barkhausen, as soon as
they know enough to understand the
| language of the willy labor LAWYER
who will come to them and tell them
they are being wronged. By the time
they are trained to work well and un-
| derstandingly, this condition of affairs
| will develop and off will go the Porto
| ficans to seek jobs in other places
This is one of the present troubles Of
| a Hawaiian plantation manager. As
| II is common experience all ought to
come out even. 81 suppose l am train
| ing them for some one else" said
Barkhausen land that they will go as
soon as they think they know enough.
They Will want to go to Honolulu,
like the other laborers and they will
! go there and get stranded and look for
another job. It's the same all over.
! so | suppose if some other plantation
! gets men / have trained, | get men
trained by others
The manager of Pioneer plantation
says he will pay the Porto Rico labor
ers what they We're promised as soon
| as he learns what that is, but he does
not want any more laborers at so cents
a day. If that Is the.rate due to this lot.
To bring new, inexperienced men in at
that price would be courting a general
strike for higher pay among the Japs,
who are getting the $15-$16-$17 sched-
ule. They are growing rich on it, so
rich in their own estimation that
many of them cannot be made to work
regularly,
There is a cooperation proposition
open to the Porto Ricans, as to other
laborers, at Lahaina, if they desire to
| enter into contracts to be paid accord
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