The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-12-27
HAWAIIAN WORK
At THE CAPITOL
CONTINUED from Page one.)


Used hearing before the Senate Com
mittee on claims after the holidays on
bill to vote compensation to the
Queen on the crown lands in Hawaii
The Washington Times in a recent
issue has the following account of the
government s cooperation in plans for
sending laborers to Hawaii:
"Through a meeting held in the of
fee of the Secretary of the Interior, the
United States has given its moral sup
port to a plan of the Hawaiian gov
ernment to $Americanize' the labor
of the Islands. The meeting was at
tended by Secretary Garfield, Governor
Frear of Hawaii, Ernesto Fabri, former
ly partner of J. P. Morgan, and now
secretary of the society of Italian i'm
migrants at New York, and John J. D.
Trenor, agent of the board of immigra-
ton of the Territory of Hawaii.
"Some ninety-six per cent. of the
agriculture of the Islands is devoted to
sugar. The labor comes from all ma
tionalities but includes preponderance
of Orientals, chiefly japanese.
"The desire of the government is to
introduce class of men and women
and build strong foundation, on an
American basis, for the great prosperity
which Hawaii is destined to enjoy after
the Panama Canal is opened. The is
lands will lie directly in the path of
three-quarters of the commerce of the
world, and future is in store for this
most beautiful spot in the Pacific of
which its early colonists never dreamed.
''The plans of the government to at
tract American labor are not fully form
ulated, but in their rough outline they
appear to offer inducements superior to
any ever before held out to the work
ing man and his family. For example,
each certified man on arrival will be
assigned a plot of land, on which the
government will erect a substantial
house for his occupancy. Fires never
are used for heating on the island, but
the laborer will be supplied free with
fuel for cooking, medicines, hospital
service, and other likely necessities
which he could not otherwise easily
provide for himself. At the end of
three years, provided he has served
faithfully, the house and lot will be-
come the laborer' s own property.
E'The work of cultivation is that to
which the immigrants most desired are
accustomed at home. Italians are the
favored race, partly because of the sim
ilarity of the climate to their own. An
other reason is. as stated. that they are
accustomed to work in the fields; and
a third, which appeals to the Italian
leaders in the United States. is that
they deprecate the tendency of this ma
turally open air people to swarm to>the
American cities and there suffer the
disease and death which are incident
to the close life of great municipalities
Each immigrant will cost the govern
ment about 800 for transportation.
Contrary to what may be the popu
lar notion. the American sugar trust
has no holdings in the Hawaiian Is
lands. 1t buys the product, in the form
of raw sugar. but the plantations are
owned and managed by stock com
panies. whose investors represent CAPT,
tai in all parts of the world. Only one
sugar refinery is maintained, on the is
land of Oahu. The Hawaiian planters
are fearful of any reduction of the
American duties on sugar. for they say
that the cost of freight on tor of
sugar to New York is $11.50, while
Porto Rican and Cuban sugar comes
here at something like $3.50 ton Amy
further reduction of the sugar duties
the Hawaiians say, would wipe out their