The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-26
FOR DIG
RAISE Of PAY

represents the universal sentiment OF
the Japanese of these Islands, with
the exception of very few whose In
terest, feeling and sentiment are not ii
touch with the mass. The resolution is
as follows:
"Resolved, That the wages of the
plantation hands be Immediately
raised.
HThe Japanese Retail Merchants As
ISOLATION of Honolulu. -
Cost of Living.
The following is paragraph of the
reasons of the japanese Retail Mer-
chants Association of passing the res
olution for higher wages for the plan
tation hands. 1t is on the increased
cost of living in camps. 1t runs as
follows:
"When we examine the condition of
life among the working men on the
plantations, we find that they are send
| ING for wives, and with the increase
of women comes the increase of chill
dren. When the children are born,
| they must be fed, clothed and edu-
| Gated. Besides this increase of bur
deI in support of family, there nat
urally follows formation of family and
extra social expenditures. The ex-
penses after marriage will be double
| that of ante-marriage period. And we
must add to this the contributions that
must be made in establishing, main
tanning and supporting educational and
| religious institutions. The prices of
daily necessities have, also, remarkably
advanced. This is the present condi-
ton of the plantation labor, and it is
no wonder that the retail merchants
in plantations are experiencing hard
time, and the Honolulu wholesale mer-
chants are complaining of the slowness
OF payment by the plantation retail
men,
Want Fifty-flve Per Cent. More.
Another paragraph of the retail
men reasons for demanding higher
wages relates to the degree of increase
in wages, and it is as follows:
owe must demand more than TWEEN.
ty-two dollars and a half, because the
labor Of other nationalities are get
ting twenty-five dollars and half and
house and lot of one acre. We
believe it unreasonable to demand of
the plantation a house and lot of
one acre for each laborer. If we sup
pose the Japanese hands to be 3d.
600, and if each man be given one
acre, it will greatly reduce the acre
age of sugar cane, which can result
only disastrously to the sugar interests
of Hawaii. Therefore, we will ask for
the increased wages in consideration of
waving the one-acre clause. We Will
ask for increase of two dollars and a
half per month for not demanding one
acre lot. 1t should be understood,
however, that the laborers' camps be
improved and their accommodation be
such as to insure them decent, civil
lied life. Not only this, the Japanese
are consuming imported goods, they |
are paying duties when they eat rice,
or canned fishes, pickles and meats, |
and when they wear their Japanese XII |
monOs. This duty is not paid by la
borers of other nationality, because |
they consume mostly the articles of do |
nestle production. The canned goods |
pay 45 per cent. ad val. duty, and the |
rice &c. per pound if cleaned and
l 14c. if uncleaned. The soy, misc,
clothing and footwear all pay duty. |
Besides, there is So poll tax. When |
all these direct and indirect taxes are
added together, the annual tax paid |
by each laborer would not be less than
thirty dollars Therefore, we will ask
the planters to recoup the laborers of
this branch of their outlay, and ask
them, for that purpose, to increase the
wages two dollars and a half per L
month. When these items are added
to twenty-five dollars and a half,
which are now being paid to the labor
ers of other nationalities, and which
We ask the planters to cOncede TO the
japanese working men, the new wages
viii be something like TWEEN
ty-eight dollars This is the just de.
mand, and a demand that can be com
piled with at once. In any case, we
do not see any reason whatever why
the japanese laborers' wages can not
be increased to twenty-five dollars and
a half at once. -
Advises Deliberate Action.
The Shinpo, which agrees with all
the Japanese that eventually the ques-