The Hawaiian gazette., 1906-04-13
FA|RCH|LO ON
MOLOKAN
MATTER

failure as workers in the cane fields,
his remarks were based upon an ex-
perience of about seventeen years In
the cultivation of cane and he feels,
he says, that he is competent to judge;
he would qualify his statement by add
ing that there are a few In the lot
who could earn ordinary wages, but
the number is small IN comparison
with those who can not.
THE introduction of Molokans on
the lands of the Makee Sugar Company
has been an expensive error and there
are people here who say that Colonel
Spalding was not sincere in his de-
termination to try q class of labor
other than the Orientals," said Man
ager Fairchild yesterday. THE failure
of the Molokans may be intensified
by the fact that they have fallen far
below the estimate furnished by the
men who were anxious for them to
come and give the place try. / be-
lieve Mr.. Castle was perfectly sincere
in all of his connections with the i'm
migration scheme. / believe he was
fooled and he may possibly feel the
disappointment as keenly as I. The
fact is these people do not want to
work as a community; 1t has been a
failure here, as 1t has been in many
other places where 1t has been tried.
do not consider that 1t is a matter
in which the climate figures largely;
they do not want to work in the cane
fields and they will not. The head of
large family told me that he would
not work in the field for all of the
land under control of the company.
When 1 said there was small per-
centage Of the men fit to work 1 hit
the nail on the head.
I'VE are satisfied to keep those who
are good and let them work independ-
ent of any community proposition. but
in that We are hampered by some
ridiculous ruling of the Land Commits
sioner, who tells me they will work as
a community or not at all, and he will
not consider any proposition to allow
the men to have the land separately.
And there is where the thing hits, for
We are practically tied up, in so far
as this particular land is concerned,
until August, 1907, as it was incorpor-
ated in the agreement by which these
people were brought here that they
were to be allowed until then to de-
eide whether or not they would culti-
vate the land.
And there Is another unpleasant
feature. We have had Portuguese
working for us for the past thirty
years, probably no other plantation on
the islands employ the same number,
and now those people are leaving be-
cause the government will not give
them the same opportunities 1t has
the Molokans. They are as willing to
cultivate the land as the best of the
strangers. may say they are a good
deal more willing to do so, but the
government will not give them the
chance, so We are to lose their SER
vices after all these years. 1 called
on Mr.. Pratt and toldshim the sltua-
ton and asked him to open up the
Anahola lands on the same conditions
as the Molokans secured the Kappa
lands, but he peremptorily refused to
consider 1t, said he did not propose to
allow anyone to get land under such
easy terms and at such a low rate,
as he considered the government los
ing money by the operation. l told
him the Portuguese had made the best
laborers we had had and we were anx-
ious to have them stay and that we
We're willing to do our part toward
keeping them on the plantation. There
are a thousand acres of land in Ana
hola they wanted to get II the govern
ment would consent and If we would
arrange for the water; they asked us
to guarantee them a supply sufficient
to irrigate four hundred acres, which
means an expenditure of fifty thousand
dollars to the plantation in building a
new ditch. When 1 presented this pro-
posal to the Land Commissioner he in
formed me that we could not use any
more of the water than is actually
necessary to irrigate the government
lands at Kappa. Now, wouldn't that
surprise anyone who is seeking to set
tie the country with white people?
The Hawaiians are as anxious as
the Portuguese TO cultivate the Ana
hola lands under the same favorable
conditions as are offered the strangers
and they feel hurt to think that the
government puts its foot down on 1t.
Mr.. Pratt says he does not know what
the government may want to cultivate
on that land in the future and for
that reason 1t will not let It go. II
TIC anu on Ma
uai are given even the same privileges
as the Portuguese on Hawaii / believe
II would induce them to remain and
must say l consider II is a great
mistake for the government TO refuse
them; II Is not only that Kappa is los
ing the services OF good grade of
labor, but the Territory is the suf-
ferer.
Let me tell sou OF another cut, and
an amusing one. We have some Japa-
nese who have been with us for years
and who are good hands. Well. when
we put the Molokans over on the Ka
paa lands In among those old workers,
the Japs simply put their hoes ON their
shoulders and walked up TO the Once
with demands for their time. When
asked what the difiieuty was they ins
formed me that they had licked hlazes,
or words Co that effeot, out OF the
Russians ana now they were asked
To work along side ~ them, Aud there
was nothing We could do 10 get them
TO remain, 1 told them l would have
them put over ON the Anahola lands,
but II was no use-thoy were agln the
Russians, ana that settled a. The