The Hawaiian gazette., 1908-06-05
LABOR PROBLEM
IN HAWAII E|


vail the labor question is ever present,
ever paramount and never settled.
One-fourth OF the total population OF
the Territory is made up of laborers
actually employed in the cane fields.
OF these more than one-half are JAP
anese and Chinese; in other words,
non-cit.zen and non-assimilable. Sugar
demands cheap labor. Hawaii lives on
sugar and unless it has a permanent
supply of remarkably cheap labor. it
faces ruin. Before annexation to the
United States the government and the
planters, sometimes acting jointly and
sometimes acting separately, brought
IN laborers from various parts of the
world under the contract system.
When the United States flag perma-
nently fioated over the Islands, and
American laws applied to Hawaiian
affairs, contract labor was without the
pale of law.
The leading men of Hawaii then
turned toward Europe as a source of
labor supply. 1t was thought the
south of Europe would furnish hardy
laborers perfectly willing to work for
wages which the planters could afford.
Being Christians and Europeans they
would naturally be in sympathy with
American institutions and ideals. and
would bring forth a second generation
of real Americans. Under the plan
adopted by the states of South Caro-
lima and Louisiana, the planters con-
tributed sums of money to a fund, and
by the authority of the legislature, sent
an agent to Europe. He succeeded in
oh in dc of M
one of Portuguese and one of Spanish.
Then fell the blow from the Federal
Government at Washington in the form
Of a decision that immigration stimu-
lated in this fashion was illegal and
must cease. Afterward came the re-
striction of japanese immigration.
Thus Hawaii found itself in the posi-
ton of being prevented by either pri-
vate or public enterprise from assisting
immigration. 1t is too small and too
out of the way to attract voluntary
immigration, and its labor question is
most acute.
Politics thrives on conditions. The
Southern States of the Union, with
practically no exception, are suffering
from lack of labor supply. The mil
lions and millions of men and women
who have come to American shores
from Europe in the past fifty years
have all found homes north of the
Mason and Dixon line, or west of the
Mississippi. The Southern States were
stagnated on account Of the edevasta-
ton of the war when the great tide
of immigration began, and it is only
within the past seven or eight years
that the South has begun to feel the
need of new white blood. The South
is like Hawaii in that it needs this
immigration but cannot get it. While
the North is clamoring for regulations
which will place further restriction up
on the influx of immigration, the South
is crying for a relief from labor famine
South Carolina sought to solve the
problem by state-assisted immigration;
Louisiana tried the same thing, but
powerful influences at Washington
were able to put a stop to the plan.
If it were not for the fact that the
Southern States, and some of the Pa
cific Coast States, were thus suffering
from a shortage of labor supply, the
Hawaiian situation would be quite
hopeless. AS it is, the Hawaiian lead
ers are confident of pooling interests in
Congress Although they have no vote
they will be able to secure some legis- |
lation which will permit the Territory, |
as a public necessity, to bring about |
artificial immigration from Europe. |
Even the sugar planters sadly accept |
the fact that the days of Orientalism
are passed
The mere question of getting laborers
to come to Hawaii is only half the
problem-getting them to stay here has
proved equally difficult.
The first laborers imported to Ha-
waii, when the native Hawaiian labor
er was found inadequate, were $50 Chi
nese brought in in 1852, during the
reign of Kamehameha III. These la
borers cost $50 apiece to bring over.
They were paid So a month in cash
wages and furnished with food, lodg-
ing and clothes, which cost 81 per
month more. There was no economic
difference between the system of con-
tract labor, which had its beginning at
that time, and actual slavery. Since {
that day laborers have been brought to
Hawaii from Manchuria, Korea, China,
Japan, the islands of the South Seas. f
from Norway, Germany, Austria, Italy, t
Russia. Portugal, Spain, Madeira and '
the Azores. while both whites and 7
negroes have been recruited in the f
United States. Since 1852 the number e
Of labor immigrants to Hawaii has
reached the enormous total of $4,000 n
" $1,000 more than the total popula- t
ion of the Territory at this time. What b
las become of them? Some have died '
If course, but the immigrant class is n
Usually sturdy and the records show
hat the birth rate has been such as to c
practically Offset the deaths. Still IL
here are 81 900 not accounted for a
These figures when analysed mean L
hat one-half of the laborers brought 81
o the Territory go away. G.
Over 125,oO0 Japanese have come to D
laval, but nearly half of them made u
stepping stone to go on to the II
United States. Before contract labor c.
Tas abolished it used to cost the plant
r, in the matter of steamship fares,
n average of s75 for a Chinese, SOS
Or a Japanese, s112 for a Portuguese,
nd $50 for a Norwegian. AS the &
europeans always came in large fami- W
es, and as the Japanese usually came VI
lDgiy, it was much cheaper to bring =,
1 Japanese. After the days of con- =,
racf labor uher tho Topapara oor,a -