Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-08-07

Their Relation to the Industrial De-
velopment Of Island Territory

r~--.x
Sk'ANeAs Va AsAA~
From the Honolulu Advertiser.
From any point of view the present day
..-x. - xr..-... x.,,,..x ~ .<.,,,a,.ss ,vtsh-
.ts.'.s v - ~ S'e y -
OUT giving a place. anu pretty taIse paee'
to the japanese In point OF numbers tneH
relation to the industrial and economic de-
va,an-,a,, a, ~. ..rrt,ory and i.s rAnerai
.ep.. W s-.,.-..,,
piesp1''', 'nes o. eS ,.,
resatioh, moreover, they onef an inVnihs
field of study and research to the student
of society of a peopie migrating from an
ga h,. ,-.rx, a.,v.-ar, ,,,,,,i,s,,,,, INTO n
~. ' fes uese'' e'''
ne" one ana adjusting themselves 10 @"
tireiy new conditions. The adaT,tahility or
the Japanese has become proverpial. but
that power OF adaptabiiaty. as observed by
the west, has generally included only the
higher classes-students oficiais search
ers after knowledge. Sc Then the Japa-
nese have been studied from a distance by
Europe and America, almost wholly by
mechanism of the most advanced Euro.
pean civilization and adapting It to OF
rather welding II on their own
This article Will eudeavor to give the
readers of the Jubilee number of the Ad-
vertiser an account necessarily BRIEF ana
Inadequate OF the large colony of Japanese
in Hawaii purposeiy emitting any refer
ence to their corning here
To those uniformed In the matter II Is
perhaps we'll to say that the class OF Japa-
nese that do most of the plantation work
in Hawaii are of the peasant farming class
in Japan in the prime of physical man
hood None but young men, from twenty
to thirty-nye in vigorous health can long
stand the strain of the most exacting work
in the cane fields-such as stripping cut
ting and loading cane. Hence the impor-
lance of having no weak or old men on
the nlantation.
No exact statistics of the number OF la
horers on the niantat;ons are AZ any given
moment obtainable but of the labor con-
cerned In the production OF the four hun
dred thousand tons of sugar In Hawaii far
more than half Is Japanese, and OF that
part / am informed more th.n half is
done by lob or contract entered into be-
tween laborers and planters. For instance:
The planters make either verbal or
written contract with a rang OF laborers 70
pay them so much per ton for loading cane
on the cars {considered the hardest work.
to be hauled to the mill The laborers ar.
thus left free to work as many or as few
hours per day as they please with the
limitation that enough cane must be deliy
cred to feed the mill and keen II running
Like contracts are made for stripping and
cutting cane. for cultivating and for va
rious other activities on the plantations
This is a favorite form of labor with the
Japanese as 1t gives the strong active
and ambitious the opportunity of making
larger wages with fewer hours, work IL
a man have a wife to nick i'm and nile th.
cane for him IT IL a common occurrence
for the two to make dollar and a half a
day, and they NAV he saep leaving tho foid
at q and 4 O'Clock at that Then this
system, to a large extent dispenses with
lunas or oyerseers-always dtstaztefuI tr
the Japanese laborers and in former ,a,rs
the source of much Irritation and trouh,a
OF course many of the men esneciaJlv ths
lazy and those not very strong nrefer 70
work by the month of so man 5svs 81 -
much per month
In all cases the laborers In tina mil, worL
and are paid by the month This work {
almost wholly done by the Japapesa The
women sewing the bags Another kind of
work by the job or contract plan. done on
the plantations by the Japanese. is In CON
nectfon with the construction OF the greg,
irrfgating bitches Water Is led from the
deep canyons of the high mountains where
thefe Is nearly continuous rain, through
tunnels and bitches. many miles long to
me arid. low plains near the coast, &c
MAKE tne lands available for cultivation
AS IL is necessary In leading the bitches
over OF rather through continuous high
riases IKE Knife blades to lower levels.
many tunnels are necessary. An eminent
hyorostatic engineer told the writer that
IN TINS KIND or work. particularly in tunnel
ing the japanese have no equals They
are small, strong and stocky. Two of them
can squat ana work in a tunnel the size
vi ~hicn would only accommodate one
man OF larger size. Then they are brave,
aaaptapie ana resourceful. They are not
SuperStltfOuS. II any man h. hlou-n -