Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-02-24
japanese
And Railways
HARRIMAN'S MANAGER TALKS
ON WAR SCARE AND
JAPANESE


one in the country that regards all
this twaddle about war with Japan
otherwise than as buncombe and tom
my-rot," said Vice President and
General Manager J. p. O'Brien, of
the Hartman lines in the Northwest,
this morning, in discussing the Jap
anese seCtiOn-hand scare" The sec
tion-hand scare is, briefly. that in
case of war between the United
States and Japan, there are enough
Orientals employed on American
railroads to destroy all means OF
communication between the East and
the West.
II don't consider there Is the
slightest or the remotest possibility
of an imbroglio between the two
| countries, and haven't heard
railroad Official express the least anx-
iety, our war-alarm Mayor to the
contrary Notwithstanding or course,
| Mayor Lane has right to entertain
and exploit whatever theories Of war
he may deem the situation merits,
but | cant help being amused at his
fears.
"Ill tell you why the railroads EN-
| lloy japanese labor. II is Just be-
cause they are so much better than
the class of white labor that we have
been able to get In the past that
there is no comparison. The Creeks,
| Italians. and other offsCourings of
| foreign population are worse than
worthless, and for the past ten years
the railroads of the country have not
been able to>get class of white la
Dor that was worth a picayunc, aud
If We did we were forced to pay eX-
orbitant prices. II IL hadn't been
for Jap labor there wouldn't have
been any railroad construction in
this part of the country for years
4 past.
| Take white labor, for instance. A
gang of men will go to work aud
they will work ten days. They will
get their pay checks and hike for
town and get on a roaring drunk and
blow in all their money. Four or
five days later they may have recOv-
cred far enough to come back and
ask for their old jobs. And 1t has
been the same story over and over
again. Whites are absolutely unre-
liable, and until the recent stringen-
I Ill h.
I Take the Japs, on the other hand.
Put % of them to work, and you
know that they will he at work ev-
cry day. You can depend on at least
| twenty out of the twenty-five stick
ing right to their work and doing 1t
right.
Perhaps 65 or 20 per cent. of our
section hands are japanese, and they
not only work for less money but
they give better service. During the
busy season OF the year, when bust
ness in all lines is on the boom, say,
4 from May to September or October,
our only salvation has been Orienta
labor, and 1t is during those months
that track work should be done.
Road-beds and track should not be
Interfered with during the winter
months,
II appreciate the fact that white
men have an excuse for complaining
against japanese labor now, because
the labor market is all shot to
pieces, but they sang a different song
before last fall. They wouldn't lool.
at job on section gang then, and
they demanded more than they were
worth when we needed men on con
struction work.
Talk about settling the japanese
question by refusing to employ Jap
anese labor is all bosh, fail to SET
where the so-called japanese prob
; lem is of sufficient magnitude to war
rant consideration of any such dras
tic measures as that. Furthermore
business is business, and big employ
; oTs of labor are going to hire thai
class of labor which gives the bes
service for the wage paid, and which
possesses some degree Of reliability
And as for the Japanese war cloud,
the people who imagine they see any
thing like that above the horizon
/. should be advised to change thei
] brand. For instance, people Xix
D those Tacomans who saw quee
y lights and funny flags in the sky tn
other night.
Young man, let me ask you on
question. Do you imagine for a mo
4 ment that If the railroads of thi
. country entertained any alarm owe
: the possibility of war with Japan W
q would keep the japanese employee
all along our lines, where they coul
destroy hundreds Of thousands, yes
:. millions, of dollars worth . of GU
property? 1t is all right for theorist
G to talk of war with Japan. but II tn
4 railroads had any idea of an impend
u ing conflict, they certainly would nc
Y continue to keep their vast proper
. l.. l,.,.