The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1902-12-12
Continued from yesterday


In the opinion of the managers and
owners of the plantations, the Japan
csc are by far the best workers They
are capable of any work and must be
considered as the mainstay of the plan
tations. They are very quick to learn
and easy to manage, being a very
peaceable and contented set of men and
women. Governor Dole speaks most
highly of their conduct and the value
of their work, while the general opin-
ion of the authorities is that the Jap
anese can improve things as well as
initiate them. Professor w. D. Alex
ander, President of the Board of Edu-
cation in Hawaii, said of them in 1895:
They manifest an increasing tend
ency to settle permanently in the
Islands with the approval of their gov
eminent. Under the most favored ma
ton clause of the treaty of 1871, the
Japanese government has claimed for
them entire political equality with any
other class of foreigners in the country.
Their characteristic traits are well
known. Their competition with white
traders and artisans is even more dam
gerous than that of the Chinese. They
are versatile, ingenious and ready to
learn new methods. No race in this
country appears to be more tenacious
of its nationality or less inclined to
renOunce its allegiance to it's home
government and to become thoroughly
identified with Hawaii.
The Japanese spend more money
than do the Chinese and rarely send
money back to Japan, preferring to
settle in the Islands and bring their
families. Not only on the plantations
do the Japanese predominant, they are
everywhere and in every branch of
trade and labor-builders, storekeepers,
BARRIERS, contractors, stevedores, labor
ers and domestic servants-to mention
no others. At every turn the Japanese
are to be met with, and generally
very prosperous and comfortably set
tied An idea may be formed of the
extent of the Japanese interests in Ho-
nolulu itself from the fact that a sum
of 100000 was voted to indemnify
them for damages consequent upon the
fire of 1900. This fire was accidentally
started during the plague visitation,
and destroyed the Chinese portion of
Honolulu-only a comparatively small
i part of the whole city area.
Some statistics as to the relative ed
ucation of the races may be of interest.
In 1898 it was estimated that 1928
| per cent of the Hawaiians and part
Hawaiians could read and write; S5.65
| per cent of the Americans and Europe
ans exclusive of Portuguese); 27.S4
per cent of the Portuguese; and 51.10
per cent of the Japanese, Chinese and
South Sea Islanders. There are many
( Chinese schools and some Portuguese,
but the government schools, and those
recognized by it, have to be taught in
! English-education being compulsory
/ The Jail reports from the Oahu prison
in Honolulu give the following stats
tics for 1900: 30.16 per cent of the
prisoners were Hawaiian males, "a per
cent Hawaiian females; 44.19 per cent
foreign males; 953 per cent Chinese
j males; 14.55 per cent Japanese males
and SO per cent Japanese females. II
the old days, when the difficulty of OBJ
tanning labor had not become so acute,
the "lunas,' or lower overseers, used
to beat the laborers without mercy on
| the slightest pretext, and frequent dis
turbances resulted. Now such action
on the part of ''luna" would be re-
warded by his instant dismissal. Re