The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-09-15
EGUCHI HEARD FROM.
Hilo. September Z. 10


Editor Advertiser:-My attention has
just been called to an article in your
issue Of August "a, in which a slur is
cast on my profession and charging me
with being agitator, in conjunction
with another.
While making it rule to pay no
notice to any statements concerning
myself, | must ask space for the cor
rection of this one, which is so utterly
groundless, and does a glaring inius-
tice.
First of all, I am very thankful for
your kindness in taking so much trou-
bic to introduce to the public myself,
who is utterly unknown to your circle,
or, at least, a stranger to your honor;
yet the writer deplores that you are
unable to exhibit evidence sufficiently
to establish your false charge. [ do
not mean to discuss the high-wage
question at present, yet in order to give
you ample qualification, [ would recon-
mend you to investigate more aecur-
ately and infinitely the past and pres
ent affairs of the Japanese laborers on
the Island of Hawaii; how they acted
at the time of the recent strike in Ho-
nolulu, and how they are behaving
themselves at the present
You crowned me as a sensational
agltator, yet | decline to be saddled
with any such character TO saw moth
ing OF the fact that | have nothing to
do with . dog7and-pig business in
your city. | declared and insisted in
dependently on the principle of what
IS right, IN most cordial and quiet
manner, not only for the interest and
the welfare of the japanese laborers
in Hawaii but for all the plantations
as whole. Were any specific evidence
adduced in support of the charge, [
should not decline to treat it seriously.
standing, let me quote the following
article which appeared in the Hilo
Tribune lately:
Il do not deny for minute that /
was instrumental In collecting funds
for the relief Of the suffering strikers, -
said Eguchi last week. ''But in doing
SO [ regarded them merely as suffering
brethren, and my action in helping
them IN their distress did not by any
means signify that / endorsed the prin-
ciples involved in the strike. / am
maintaining an independent attitude,
and am certainly not in anyway, fnan-
cially or otherwise, associated with Ma
kino or the Jiji. If Maxine, Negoro
and Tasaka are coming here, / do not
known anything about it; and, fur
thermore, / do not believe that they
can afford to come here under the pres
ent condition of affairs -
As for Yamamura, whom you referred
to, have nothing to do with him. |
have not had a single dispute upon any
problem with what you call "a strong
man. while he was in charge of the
Hilo Shinpo as editor People know
that the strong man. planned the
famous highwage voting contest, and
abandoned the scheme, after a little
while, on account of the protest made
by the Hawaii High Wage Union. Peo-
pie know that 1.-the strong man WELD
ed his pen ridieulously and assaulted
extraordinarily many persons of high
standing among our japanese commun
ity in Hawaii, only TO meet a legal
fight on libel ease brought against him.
No sooner did he give up the above
stated famous scheme than he aban-
doned his own position, too. The rea-
son why nobody knows except himself
and DR.. kushima, the proprietor of the
Hilo Shinpo Sha.
You stated that Eguehi became the