Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-07-09
PORTO RICAN EMIGRANTS.
Claim That They Are Badly Treated in
Hawaii.

Special Correspondence of The Evening Star.
SAN JUAN, P. r., June o. 1902.
During the past year so many complaints
have reached Porto Rico concerning the al
legged mistreatment Of Porto Rican laborers
in Hawaii that Secretary Hartzell in April
last wrote to the governor of the Hawaiian
Islands concerning the matter. Governor
Hunt has received a reply from Acting
Governor Henry P. Cooper, in which Mr.
Cooper says he will investigate and report
fully as soon possible.
On the same steamer that brought Mr..
Cooper's letter came reiteration Of the
charges, dated at Elesle, Hawaii. May 4,
1902 addressed to an American in San Juan
and reading as follows:
Honorable Sir: Porto Rican emigrants in
the Hawaiian Islands ask protection and
respectfully address you to acquaint you
and the public with the u-treatment we are
receiving at the hands of the planters here.
At one plantation in Macabele, where there
are eighty Porto Ricans, the body of dead
Porto Rican was found in a closed room.
The man had been dead two days. The
matter was reported to the authorities and
the answer was that all Porto Ricans who
die are to be thrown into the cane fields for
fertilizer. AS we could do nothing but
obey the order We buried the body near the
field. We made complaint to any one
because the government here is combined
with the planter and therefore, If anything
happens to a Porto Rican, he has no re-
dress.
These infamous people think we are
slaves and treat us so despotically that
they even try to whip us; but as they can
not do this they eject us from the planta-
ton through an agent of the company, who
is given the name of police. The Japanese
people here. who comprise much Of the la
Dor, are treated like animals. We see things
never seen in Porto Rico. When we go to
H. thr1xr N,,S oil Ssy,tr
doors in our faces, as if we were dogs. The
only people here who receive us are the
Portuguese.
LAS we have no protection here we ask
that the government return US to the port
in Porto Rico from which we embarked
If we are not to return to our beloved coun-
try we will have to use the torch. Our
countrymen should not forget that we are
Porto Ricans; and if we are far away from
our country, in an isolated territory, 1t is
because we wera deceived and taken under
false pretenses. We have received nothing
that was promised us. We came here to
better ourselves, and we find ourselves even
worse off than we were in 1887. We are
robbed of our miserable wages. 1t is i'm
possible to live in this country, where NOR
ality is unknown.
Last month four boys on the plantation
Macabele were chased by a policeman, who
shot at them. These boys were sick and
unable to work, and they were being forced
to work.
at is time our countrymen knew of all
our sufferings. The nation should never
have allowed US to leave Porto Rico. The
planters wish us to work like oxen and to
submit to the same treatment suffered by
the Chinese and Japanese. At the Heva
plantation four Porto Ricans were elected,
they being threatened with guns, which
were discharged at them. We must be
thankful for all of this to the emigration
people in Porto Rico. It would be better
had we been thrown into the Pacific ocean,
as were others. We pray that the Porto
Rican people will assist the emigrants of
Hawaii and not forget that we do not wish
to be made slaves"
The foregoing letter is signed by thirty
seven men and twelve women, all of whom
are Porto Ricans.