Evening star., 1903-07-03
COREANS IN HAWAII
uPORTED As LABoRKRS ON THE
PLANTATIoNA
Private Test 9uits Filed to Determine
the Character Of This
immigration.
pecial oetrespondenc. Of Ths R,.nine stas.

Special Coerespondence Of Ths Evening ota3.
HONOLULU. T. H. Juno 20. 1901.
A hundred and thirteen suits brought In
the federal court here against e. r. Bishop.
secretary OF the firm OF Brewer q Co.. for
alleged Illegal importations OF Corean Ia
borers. have attracted the earnest attention
of the Planters Association and all others
interested in the local labor question. The
suits are brought by q private party. They
are for $1,000 each. 1t Is understood that
the Planters Association is the real de-
fendant. as Bishop was agent for the as
ISOLATION in the transactions which are
called In question.
The plaintiff In the case is F. w. Berger
Of Honolulu, who is suing under the fed
eral statute which allows any citizen to
make the government cause his own In the
matter OF enforcing the contract labor
laws, and to collect for himself the fine OF
81 600 for each violation. II he brings suit
before the authorities do so. The authori-
ties have taken no action In these cases,
though an investigation OF them was made
United States Immigration Commissioners
Sargent when here looked into the matter
and approved the action Of the local fed
eral officials, but this does not prevent
private party from trying his hand at max
ing the collection.
How the Coreans Were Procured.
The hundred and thirteen Coreans were
induced to come to Hawaii as q result OF
trip to Corea by E. F. Bishop. as agent OF
the planters to see IL q labor supply could
be secured from there Bishop went last
year and spent some months investigating.
and, according to his own statement. ne
made arrangements whereby the Deshler
Bank OF Chemulpo pays the fare for such
laborers as desire to come to the islands
In his testimony before the board OF In
quiry which made an investigation OF the
right of the Coreans to land from the
steamer which brought them, Bishop ad-
mitted that they were assisted immigrants.
but declared that no promises had peen
held out to them; that they were not under
contract, and had not been offered any In
ducement to come.
The board examined a number OF the
Coreans. and they told practically the same
story as Bishop. They had come to Ha-
wall and expected to FARM" but they
didn't know where. nor who was to employ
them. They had come because they had
heard that 1t was a good country to work
In. Under this showing the board Of in
Quiry unanimously voted to allow them 10
land, as being not contract iaDorers ana
the matter was regarded as settled until
Berger, who Is said to have several back
ers began his suits, fling a separate suit
in the case Of each Of the Ills Immigrants.
for $1,000.
Coreans Good Workers.
The Corean 1aborers are proving good
workmen. and the planters of Hawaii would
like some more. In his trip to Corea
Bishop had a letter from the Treasury De-
partment, giving instructions under which
he claims to have acted. The letter stated
that payment Of the fare of immigrants.
while regarded as evidence Of them being
contract or Illegally brought laborers. was
not necessarily conclusive. Under this In
struction Bishop made the arrangements to
pay fares. but his testimony Is emphatic
to the effect that he was very careful to
avoid making labor contracts or promises
of employment. He told the Coreans what
Japanese and Portuguese had been able
was left to them to decide to try to do the
same.