The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-10-31
JAPANESE PRESS
ON THE RUSSIANS
Three HenoIulu Dailies Pay Their
e Editorial Respects to the
Newcomers.

The Japanese press of Honolulu well
coined the Russian immigrants with
mixed feelings. The three dailies, the
Shinpo, Chronicle and Jill, each pub
lshed extended editorial references to
the newcomers, each treating the mat
ter of new labor supply in its own
individual style. The Shinpo sees in
the Russian experiment a chance for
the japanese to still further prove their
claim to be the best laborers available
for the Hawaiian plantations; the
Chronicle is inclined to ridicule the eff
forts of the planters to supplant the
japanese by importing men whom the
japanese have met before in sterner
conflict and disposed of, while the Jill
takes advantage of the coming of the
Russians to take another fall out of its
old rival, the Shinpo, ringing in some
few remarks about the "planters dog"
and :" the traitor
Shinpo's Advice.
The Shinpo advises its readers to
work hard and show their superiority,
saying:
ga Chinese proverb says: Even a
foreign stone is good to polish native
jewel, which means that we can benefit
ourselves by rejecting upon our own
work in comparison with that Of others,
whether the work of others is or is not
better than our own. We must now
get some lessons from the tendency of
the hour.
SIN the past the Hawaiian sugar
planters made experiments with the Ia
horers of several nationalities such as
Porto Ricans, Spaniards, Koreans and
Molokans, but these failed to prove
themselves as good and efficient labor
ers as the Japanese: so far the good
reputation of the Japanese laborers,
which was gained by their hard and I'M
firing work for quarter of century,
was kept up untarnished. It is not self
praise to say that these experiments
of the planters with other natiOnallties
made the true value of our laborers
as field hands and mill helpers more
apparent; our laborers survived as the
fttest while others failed and de-
parted.
''There is no denying that they have
contributed much to the present
fttHE k'iituL anu pibSbSiAtN VI t4AS @e'-'NA
industry of the Territory. Therefore,
if the policy of the Territory rest sole
" upon the welfare of the sugar In
dustry, the japanese laborers may com
mand the labor market of Hawaii. But
the territorial policy must depend upon
that of the federal government. which,
unfortunately, is not favorable to the
further immigration of the japanese Ia
boring class. To supply the demand,
which is caused partly by the decrease
of our laborers, the Territory IS now
seeking Portuguese and Russians.
Mr.. Atkinson, who was sent to Har-
hin TO recruit the Russians, Is back with
two hundred men who. according 70
him. are bona fde laborers. The Pof-
tuguese are coming soon and they are
also workmen who have passed the
scrutiny of Mr. Campbell We may
imagine that they are good farmers,
better perhaps than those already here.
I'VE viii soon face the competition
of these European lahorers. which VII
either intensity the faith Of the planters
for our laborers or diminish il, accord
ing TO how the japanese labor compare
with others. It is our sincere hope that
our laboring men, who have become the