Evening bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1895-1912, 1908-03-03


Sugar Industry and Beet Sugar Ga
zette" contains what would appea
to be an inspired article entitle
Hawaii and Contract Labor" relat
ing to the bill which has been favor
ably reported by the House Commit
tee on immigration suspending 70
six years the prohibition against tn
importation of solicited European Ia
borers into the Territory of Hawai-
The article contains so many falls
and misleading statements that
cannot pass unchallenged. II says
"A bill has recently come be-
fore Congress which provides that
the Hawaiian Government may be
allowed to solicit immigrants In
Europe, contract for their work
and pay their passage, for a pc
riod of six years from the pas
sage of the bill.
There is no doubt that the
Hawaii sugar industry would
profit by the passage of this bill
since 1t would prolong for a pc
riod of six years the present con-
ditions respecting cheap labor on
the islands. The principle of the
bill does not, however, commend
itself to the minds of Americans.
In the interest of better citizen
ship, the contract labor law was
enacted in this country.
Since the japanese are begin
ming to learn their value on the
mainland, numbers of them are
immigrating from HawaiD to
this country. II is to replace
these losses and to prevent the
japanese who remain from de-
handing a higher wage that the
planters seek to introduce con-
tract labor from Europe. The
history of such experiments in the
past has been uniformly injuri--
nus to the countries making them
Injurious in the worst sense
that II strikes at the character
OF the citizenship ana degrades
free labor to the level of the con-
tract class.
1T has been suggested that
Hawaiians might better afford to
pay wage that would attract
intelligent American workmen
and so improve their citizenship
from the ground up. There is
Just now surplus of unskilled
labor in the United States, and
that labor could be attracted to
Hawaii by little push and ad-
yertising, provided the planters
would pay the wage that Ameri-
can planters and beet-sugar grow
ers are forced to pay.
Since Hawaii has the advan-
tage OF American markets free OF
duty, Il should be willing to treat
its working people with equal JUS
'iNS ohu iuii hSoS' rtllluB III lHlSs
we see no reason why the Amer
lean Congress should relieve the
Hawaiian planter from obedience
to law that his American COM
petitor must observe.
mo truly republican govern
mont can exist in Hawaii until
policy of justice to the working
classes has been adopted that will
raise them to the level of similar
classes in America, and Hawaii.
under anything less than a repub-
lican government is not a desir-
able possession for the United
States"
In the first instance the prelim
nary statement that 1t is intended I
import contract laborers" as tn
term is used in the article is III
true. The purpose of the bill is [
permit the Territory of Hawaii I
continue European immigration eY
actly as 1t lawfully did previous I
the amendments to the Immigratio
law in February, 1907. The propose
bill permits the Territory to sole
aliens to come to Hawaii by offers {
employment, and to permit the Terr
tory to pay the passages of such in
migrants with money subscribed b
/.
,r corporations. In no other esser
tial respect is any change made
the existing immigration laws; I
soliciting of immigrants is permittt
by private interests, no contract
employment. express or implied,
permitted to be made with the allie
induced to immigrate. No penal col