Hilo tribune., 1904-08-05
No MORE ASIATICS.
Atkinson Holds MhitehOuSe Has
Acted In bad fni n.

nor Atkinson and Supt. of Public
Works Holloway, relative to the
employment by Contractor l.. NJ.
Whitehou>e of Asiatics on the 90.
kala-Kukaiau road contract. AT
kinson favors the employment of
citizen labor whenever it can be
obtained even at an advance in
wage, over what is usually paid
japanese. In a letter adressed to
Supt. Holloway he give his views
on the subject at length, stating
that when a contractor figures on a
contract on the basis of using Asia.
tic labor, he thereby gains an adj
vantage over other bidders who
figure on citizen labor. He init
mates that acceptance of bids thus
made savors of u%niairness. He
suggested to Superintendent Hol-
loway that the permission granted
to contractor Whltehouse he revok
ed and if The latter be unable to do
the work, that it be readvertised
In response Ia this suggestion,
Supt. Holloway dictated the fol-
lowing:
Honolulu, Il. H., July 9, 1904.
Hon. A. l.. G. Atkinson, Acting
Governor, Territory of Hawaii.
Dear Sir:-I beg to acknowledge
receipt of your faver of the S,h inst.
in regard to the employment of
nou.ciliZen labor OH the OJkala Ku.
kaiau contract awarded to Mr..
W~hitehouse, he bei.g the lowest
bidder to submit a tender in c)n-
formitv with the specifications.
After netting the position which
you take i'll this matter, | feel that
possibly you are not entirely IA
miliar with all the conditions per-
tanning to the awarding of this
contract, after careful consideration
of which, | altered the clause in
our standard specifications restrict
ing the class oflaborto be employed
Ordinarily we insert the following:
ono Asiatic labor to be employed
OH or about the work.
do not know whether you are
aware that this work has been bid
on previous to Il last call for ten
ders, but offers were received on
March 2Sth, 1904, from four con
tractors, viz, l.. NJ. Whitehouse,
Benton * Arioli, +. w. Barna I'd
and Claus Johnson. The latter bid
was entirely out of order and of the
others two specified to Use citizen
labor so far as available and Benton
and Arioli agreed to employ United
States citizens only.
The tender were as follows:
Benton and Arioli, $40. 1857
l.. NJ. Whitehouse, $4,000, 90; T.
w. Barnard, S29,oS5.oo.
AS the appropriation was only
$4,000, | found it necessary to
divide the work into sections to
complete as much as possible with
the funds available, but before
readvertising for tenders / investi-
gated the question of labor very
carefully, consulting with Mr.. Gere,
the Hawaiian Road Board, Mr.. +.
w. Barnard, who has built a num-
Der of roads in the district and re-
sides in Hamakua. Mr.. Rowland,
who is entirely familiar with the
condictions on Hawaii and other
persons well informed in the matter .
The opinion was unanimous that
it would be impossible to obtain
citizen labor, so | acted entirely in
accordance with the law governing
such matters as | interpret it by
simply requiring bidders to use
all available citizen labor and | feel
that this wai to the best interests of
the country at large.
You will see, therefore, that I
have practically carried out just
what you suggest in the second
paragraph of your letter and | can.
not see how the successful contractor
secured any advantage over the
other bidders on the second call
for tenders. Furthermore he was
not lowest bidder, Mr.. Birnard's
figure being $500 lover, but his