The Hawaiian gazette., 1904-07-29
ACTING GOVERNOR TAKES
STAND ON CITIZEN LABOR
Complete Correspondence Between Supt. oil
Public Works and Executive Tell Story
of Hawaii Road Contract.

CClpl u your FAVOR OF tlle OH INST. III
regard to the employment OF non-citizen
labor on the Ookala- Kukaiau contract
awarded to MIR. Whitehouse, he being
the lowest bidder to submit tender i'll
conformity with the specifications.
After noting the position which you
take III this matter. | feel that possibly
you are not entirely familiar with all
the conditions pertaining to the award
ing of this contract, after careful consid-
Grafton OF which, altered the clause
in Our standard specifications restricting
the class of labor to be employed. Or
diuarily we insert the following: mo
Asiatic labor to be employed on or
about the work.
| do not know whether you are aware
that this work has been bid on previous
| to Our last call for tenders, but offers
were received on March aSth 1904 from
four contractors. viz. l.. NJ Whitehouse.
Benton & Aroli, +. w. Barnard and
Claus Johnson. The latter bid was en-
tirely out OF order and of the others
two specified to Use citizen labor so far
as available and Benton & Arioli agreed
to employ United States citizens only.
The tenders were as follows:
Benton < Aroli, S4o,IoS.67; L. Nj.
Whitehouse, S54,ooo.oo; f. w. Barnard,
S2o,oS5.oo.
As the appropriation was only SIS ,ooo
| found il necessary to divide the work
into sections to complete as much as
possible with the funds available but
before readvertising for tenders | in
vestigated the question of labor very
carefully, consulting with Mr. Gere. the
Hawaiian Road Board, Mr. T. W. Bar
nard, who has built a number of roads
i'll the district and resides i'll Hamakua,
Mr.. Rowland. who is entirely familiar
with the conditions on Hawaii and other
persons well informed i'll the matter
The opinion was unanimous that 1t
would be impossible to obtain citizen la
Dor so | acted entirely in accordance
with the law governing such matters
as | interpret it, by simply requiring bid
ders to use all available citizen labor and
| feel that this was to the best interests
of the country at large.
You will see, therefore, that | have
practically carried out just what you
suggest in the second paragraph of your
letter and | cannot see how the success
full contractor secured any advantage
call for tenders. Furthermore he was
not the lowest bidder, Mr.. Barnard's
figure being $500 lower, but his tender
was thrown out on the decision of the
Attorney General that it was not in order
The only other bidders were Benton &
Arioli whose figure was SI3,44oSo as
against Warehouses; SI2,445, and | do
not believe that there is any question
but that all the contractors figured on
using Asiatic labor AT the present time
Benton & Arioli are using non-citizen
labor on the Pahala- Volcano House con-
tract although they are employing all
citizens available and it has been clearly
shown that it would be impossible for
them to rely on citizens only.
The principal question involved in re-
strcting Mr. Whitehouse from using
Asiatc labor is now one Of law mas
much as his bid being in accordance with
the specifications, the contract has been
signed and his bond furnished, so / do
not believe that we can restrict him
from any of the privileges noted in the
specifications without placing this de-
partment in the position where a per-
manent I'M junction could be obtained
against awarding this work to any other
person. OF couse, if the contract had
not been signed the matter would be
entirely different and new tenders could
be called for | should think that it
might be advisable to have the opinion
of the Attorney General on the above
question.
| feel quite sure that the contractor
will employ all citizen labor available,
providing applicants are willing to do
a days work without being allowed sew
eral hours to come and go from their
homes during the eight hours which
they are supposed to work, and | shall
certainly instruct the Inspector on the
work to keep strict watch and report any
failure to conform to the specifications.
On future work | understand that you
wish it distinctly understood that bids
on citizen labor only will be considered
irrespective OF the cost OF the work and
| shall act in accordance with your in
structions. Further action will be de-
layed in the matter OF the labor on the
Ookala- Kukaiau work until | have had
the pleasure of hearing further from
you. | beg to remain,
Yours respectfully,
c. s. HOLLOWAY,
Suneriutendent of Public Works