The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-11-21
LIGHT On
LABORERS
Builders Start New In
quiry Into All the
Conditions.

Full and complete investigation of
the labor situation alone will satisfy
the members of the Builders and Trad
ers' Exchange before they agree to the
resolution OF the Merchants Association
in relation to the admission of Chinese
labor into the Territory. This was in
the Exchange had at the regular meet
ing last night, and the scope which it
| is desired shall be taken in the propos-
ed inquiry is shown in the following
| resolution, passed after the discussion
of more than two hours:
Whereas the Merchants Association
of Honolulu has asked this Exchange
| to endorse that portion of the memorial
| to the subcommittee on Hawaiian af-
| fairs of the Committee on Pacific ISL
ands and Porto Rico of the United
States Senate presented by said Asso-
citation, in which, Congress is petitioned
| to permit Chinese laborers to enter this
| Territory to engage in agricultural pur-
suits only, deportation to be the penalty
of violating this provision;
| And Whereas the sugar industry is
the sole agricultural pursuit for which
| this labor is sought, and said industry
! in this Territory is now suffering owing
to insufficient and unreliable labor;
! And Whereas said Merchants Asso-
citation affirm that the only reason for
asking Congress to admit such labor
into this Territory is ito fill the great
gaps in the ranks of (sugar plantation)
! field hands" and that such laborers
would not displace single white man
from any position or in any sense enter
into competition with any white arti-
san mechanic or common laborer;"
And Whereas almost the entire Orien-
| tai population of this Territory, which
| in 1900 was S6,STS against 67,123 persons
of all other races combined, was origi-
nally brought to Hawaii to engage in
| agricultural pursuits only and in 1901
| the Governor reported to the Secretary
of the Interior that only 32,513 Asiatics
were employed on Hawaiian sugar plan
tations, leaving approximately $4,000
male Asiatics not employed on sugar
plantations;
I
plantation in Hawaii is today employ
| ing Asiatics not only as field laborers
but as mill hands, carpenters, en-
gineers and in other mechanical pur-
suits to the injury of white men or
Hawaiians seeking such positions;
Resolved by The Builders & Traders
Exchange of Honolulu, Hawaii, repre-
senting the great majority of the en-
ployers of skilled labor in this Terri
| tory engaged in the building and man.
lufacturing lines (aside from the manu-
! facture of sugar. and the firms hand
ling the various materials and supplies
used in said lines of business:
First. That a Committee of eight
members of this Exchange, represent
4 ing, as near as may be, the several
| trades. industries and material supply
! houses connected with this Exchange,
be appointed by the President, which
| Committee with the President, who
shall be chairman thereof, shall be
charged with the investigation of the
following matters, to wit:
/ 1. To what extent have Oriental la
borers heretofore brought to Hawaii to
engage in Agricultural pursuits only
| displaced white men or Hawaiians from
positions or in any sense entered into
competition with any white or Hawai-
ian artisan, mechanic or common la
borer.
| 2. Cannot the shortage in labor sup
ply at present felt by the sugar plan
tations be supplied from among the
sc. 600 Orientals a present resident in
this Territory and not employed on the
sugar plantations?
8. Would not an amendment to the
alien contract labor law permitting the
! importation of Portuguese satisfactory
ly supply the labor needed by the sugar
I plantations?
4. The superiority of Chinese over
! the present japanese cane field labor
being conceded by the Merchants AS
sociation, what guarantees have the
Merchants Association of Honolulu and
the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Assocla-
ton to offer that, upon being permitted
| to import Chinese cane field labor, they
would not import such labor IN guam
! titles which would, to a greater or less
extent, supplant the japanese now so
| employed and that the Japanes thus
! forced from the sugar plantations
would not displace white men from
positions or in any sense enter into
competition with any white or Hawai-
| ian artisan, mechanic or common ia
borer and thus make it increasingly DIFF
ficult "to promote trades mechanical
and industrial interests by fostering in
| This community a sentiment in favor
! OF retaining at least a portion of the
business of this city for the benefit of
American citizens or those eligible to
become such and developing this COM
munity on traditional American lines,
the main object for which this Ex-
change was organized.
5. Would the members of the Hawai-
| ian Sugar Planters Association be
willing to discharge every Oriental not
(Conrinued on rage 81