The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1903-06-11
THE PORTO
RICANS
OF
Labor Tells of
Them.
Fair Review of the
Situation as 1t
Stands.
Porto Ricans Far Better Off in
Hawaii Than They Were
at Home.

The Porto Ricans, when they arrived
| gave the least promise, either as citi-
zens or as laborers, of any immigrants
that ever disembarked at Honolulu.
The men had been carelessly recruited
! at a time when the laboring popula-
| ton of Porto Rico was in a condition
of acute distress. 1t is probable that
few of them were in a physical condi-
ton to make a long voyage when they
went on shipboard. They were mostly
people from the coffee country of their
own island, who had been starved out
| of the mountains when that region was
This was followed by a year of idle
mes, semidependence, and mendicancy
in the coast country before they left
for Hawaii They were half starved,
anaemic, and, in slime cases, diseased.
A considerable number of petty GRIM
inals, wharf rats, and prostitutes from
Ponce and other coast towns accom-
panied them. They were not so much
representatives of the people of Porto
Rico as of famine and misery in the
abstract when they arrived in Homo
lulu. Numbers of men afflicted with
hydrocele and others diseases, and who
were manifestly incapable of working,
found their way among the immi-
grants. But this was hardly the fault
of the Hawaiian planters, who spent
nearly $685., 900 to get these men, or
more than 1892 passage money and
recruiting expenses for every adult
male arriving, and who were practical
ly interested in their physical well-be
ing.
The Porto Ricans appear to have
been we'll treated during their passage
from Porto Rico TO Hawaii. and to
have been provided with as many COM
forts as are usually enjoyed by volun-
tary immigrants from Europe to the
United States. But their food, while
wholesome and abundant. was not al
ways the kind to which they We're ac-
customed, and they had been made
ravenous by long starvation. The first
three expeditions passed through San
Francisco in the winter, and. although
they were brought across the country
by the southern route, the lightly clad
members were subjected to the incle-
mencieS of what was to them almost
an arctic climate. But there were few
deaths among them while en- route.
The hardships of travelling merely pre-
vented any recuperation from the de-
plorable physical condition in which
they had left their homes. When they
reached the plantations where they
were to be employed, many-especially
of the first expeditions, which arrived
in the worst condition-were taken
directly to the hospitals, which some
of them never left alive. They did not
know how to care for themselves. They
had to be taught how to live in their
new surroundings. They We're morally
upset by their long travels and chang
ed environment, and many could II.
acquire the new habits of life necessa-
~ to their new condition. So con-
siderable number became strollers and
vagabonds. and. wherever possible,
hocked into the towns.
The social regimen of the islands is
strict. There is no extreme poverty,
and begging is unknown. Any indus
trious and able-bOdied man can always
find employment in the country, and
planters act upon the theory that a
man who doesn't work is bound to
steal. So a person without visible
means of support is not allowed to re-
main on a plantation. and as the plan
tations cover nearly all the settled por-
ton of the islands, it is exceedingly
difficult for a man to follow a life of
vagrancy with comfort. A certain
number of Asiatics contrive to do so,
but they live a sort of parasite exist
ence upon their fellows, visiting from
plantation to plantation among their
more industrious brothers, and do not
sink to the social rank or follow the
methods of tramps or public beggars-
Therefore Porto Ricans so disposed did
not find conditions favorable to the
dolce far niente existence so common
among their own country population.
They were confronted with the neces-
sity of constant labor. and this was
new situation to most of them. a fair
number are meeting the emergency
with credit. and are acquiring habits
of persistent industry that they might
never have gained in their own coun-
try. But a certain proportion have
failed to a adapt themselves to any
sort of an industrious life, and these
have drifted from the plantations in
to the towns or their immediate vicini-
" and form a class of malcontents and
petty criminals.
The Porto Ricans arrived in Hawaii
in II expeditions, beginning in Deem
her. 1900. and continuing until october
10 1901. There were about 450 in each
marty. the total number of immigrants
being about 5000. of whom 1880 were
men and the remainder women and chill
dran. The exact cost of recruiting and
bringing them to Honolulu was 1854,
1o1 6S. or more than 800 per capita-a
RI