Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1905-09-14
SERtNO {. PAYNE
PROPOSES KOREANS
Late, Young Writes Of
The Taft Party
Impressions
HAWAII'S AFFAIRS DISCUSSED
AFTER they LEFT here
WHAT IOWA EDITOR AND CON.
GRESHAM THINKS OF HA-
WAli-cHEAP LABOR
PROBLEM.

| Lafe Young, the editor of the Des-
moines CIowa) Capital writes as fol-
lows to his paper regarding his i'm
pressions of Honolulu while here with
the Taft party:
At Sea With the Taft Party on
Board Steamer Manchura, July 20
Secretary William Taft is a big fellow
and just as jolly as he is big. Now
that we are sailing over the broad ex-
panse OF the Pacific after a pleasant
sojourn in the harbor of Honolulu the
| chief topic of discussion among the
members of congress on board is "can
we afford to give Hawaii coolie la
bor?" While the remembrance of the
entertainments furnished by the good
people is pleasant one yet 1t sinks
into insignifcance with the labor ques-
ton. The prominent citizen" when
ever the occasion was opportune would
take Secretary Taft aside during the
festivities and invariable say now as
to the needs of the island Mr.. Secretary
we must have a few thousand China
men to work upon our sugar planta-
TONS" Statistics were quoted and we
are now indulging in the pleasure Of
debate upon the mooted question.
Hon. Serene Z. Payne, chairman of the
committee upon ways and means is OPP
posed to admission Of cheap labor and
today he presented his arguments in
this form:
Hawaii desires an amendment \
to our alien and exclusion laws y
so that they may bring several \
thousand Chinese laborers for \
their sugar fields. There is I'M y
doubtedly a scarcity of labor y
there, as there is in every north \
= ern state. But we cannot for this \
y reason let down the bars and adj 4
NIT the serfs and slaves OF the six =
companies. We welcome free self =
y supporting and self-respecting \
immigrants, who can learn to :
y conform themselves to our insti- \
tutions and laws; but we cannot =
open our ports to those who can =
= and will never measure up to these \
requirements. The sugar business \
= has not been for the past three \
= years ending January 2lst last, \
y as prosperous as formerly, owing \
y to overproduction OF bounty fed \
= beet sugar in Europe, which \
brought the price down to cents =
pound for Hawaiian raw sugar, \
yet the annual report Of the sec !
rotary Of the Hawaiian Sugar as \
y ISOLATION, very complete and ac- =
curate. shows a profit and capt. \
tai invested tabout sixty-five mil \
y llons) of 1.3l per cent on the !
calendar year of 1902. OF 7.3 per \
= cent in the years 1903 and 1904, \
respectively. For the year 1905 =
the prices range from AS to Az \
= cents per pound. Under the same =
conditions this would seem to !
mean profit of about 20 per cent y
y for 1905. With such profits there \
= would seem to be sufficient mar \
y gin for labor, to make It very at \
tractive to immigrants. II Is said \
that Koreans after they have \
= been filled up with good food make \
y excellent laborers on sugar plan y
y tations. 1t Is also stated that the \
y Korean government forbids the =
immigration of any more of its \
people to Hawaii II would seem \
that the administration might !
= remove this difficulty by nego- \
\ tiations and treaties. Certainly \
y we cannot AFFORD to reverse our =
= policy as to the admission Of \
\ coolies, to further increase the \
' profits Of so prosperous an indus \
= try, which has increased its prod \
= ucts more than one hundred per \
= cent since annexation, and which =
= now exports more than four hun \
y dred and twenty thousand tons Of \
= sugar per annum. y
VISIT SUGAR PLANTATION AT HO-
NOLULU.
We visited while at Honolulu a large
going by rail. The plantation Is not
the largest but is large enough to be
sample of the plantations OF the is
lands. The ride on the railroad gave
us view of growing rice and growing
sugar cane. Ample side tracks took
us through sugar fields where Japanese
laborers were putting the soil in shape
for planting, and also for the irrigat-
Ing bitches These bitches are deep
and run parallel with the burrows turn
ed up for the planting of the cane.
The labor on sugar lands must be per-
formed by hand. The irrigating
trenches make 1t impossible to rulti-
vate with a plow. The pillow would
demoralize and misdirect the water
The soil is reddish brown and appears
to he rich. When cane is planted the