The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1901-05-15

with it, another of the many resolu-
tions introduced by his wh1skers," has
resolved itself into nothing
The rest of the committee left for
the shore on the launch. favorably i'm
pressed by what they had seen, and
any more stories about the III treat
ment.'' or diseased condition. of the
Porto Ricans, will be taken with a bar
rel of salt.
EMMELUTH INTERVIEWED.
| Representative Emmeluth was in
terviewed last night by an Advertiser
reporter in regard to the question Of
Porto Riean immigration. He said: I
| feel that 1 cannot speak too strongly
upon this subject 1t is question that
involves more than simply the labor
| question. 1t is to the Territory the
| question of Americanization. We have
either got to Americanize the Terri
/ tory, or to give up and acknowledge
| that Amerieanization is not worth
/ fighting for. The immigration of the
class of Porto Ricans that are beins
poured into the midst of the islands, is
u
! the Territory by any means. Have we
not already got our hands full in the
work of educating and Americanizing
our mixed population of Chinese, Jap
anese and Hawaiian children, without
adding another and worse factor to
the difficulty? The reports from the
schools since the Porto Rican immigra
ton began clearly illustrate the extra
1l;Aa,ltx- an6 avnpnca 10 tha TarrifOry-
it has already caused. The Porto Ric
an children are overcrowding the
Schools wherever their fathers have
been employed as laborers, and since
the tuition of every child costs the Ter
ritory over So per year, not to speak
of the cost of school building, etc, it
will be seen that the importation of
Porto Rican children is not a desirable
thing for the taxpayers. The Porto
Ricans pay no taxes at all, and the
drain on the treasury for the education
of their children is nor offset by any
return whatever.
Il questioned the immigrants thai
came in on the Colon, and found then
to be very ignorant. Children fourteen
and fifteen years of age that had never
been to school at all, were among ths
immigrants. This sort of immigration
is clearly calculated to complicate TIN
e difficulties of our already difficult prob
0 lem of education
Another thing, there is APPARENT,
an attempt to deceive us in the matte
of the ages of the immigrants. In tn
last lot the report was that there wer
$50 males-and l think that this wa
given out to convey the impression tina
S there We're that many able-bodie6
e grown-up laborers. capable of takin
n care of themselves Instead of this be
ing the case, we found that the childre
( were in the majority. and there wer
. many invalids and weak women.
! surmise that there is a great deal {
: the responsibility at the other end
Z, the line. It is probable that the Unite
y States authorities there will not allo,
: iaborers to leave without they brin
o along their families, and that NAV /
e the reason why we are receiving 5
n many small children and inyalided We
Is men as laborers. In view of the sirius
a gle we have ahead of us. with our pre:
IS emit difficulties. before we can accom-
plish the Americanization of the il
% lands, such immigration is an impos
ton and a hardship
AS I have said this matter .brin.
e the situation to the front, presentir
Is only two solutions. One is that y
l. snail not tolerate the importation
ig Porto Rican laborers, and seek to wor
RI out the already difficult task of Amer
canizing Hawaii; the other aftermath,
ID is tnat we shall give up the struggle a
10 together, and acknowledge that Amer
h, canlzat1on is not worth fighting for