The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-08-11

the intention Of the representatives of
the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Associa-
ton to go about their work quietly but
wherever available labor can be found
it is believed sufficient alluring pro-
position can be advanced which viii
convince the Filipino that life on a
sugar plantation in the Territory of
Hawaii is far more to be desired than
to continue ftful struggle for liveli-
hood in their homeland
1t appears that the subject of Amer
icanizing the Territory of Hawaii has
received much consideration at the
hands of the Washington government.
1t was not many months ago that, at
the instance of President Roosevelt,
Secretary Dickinson, of the Bureau Of
Commerce and Labor, was sent to the
Hawaiian Islands to make an ex-
haustive study of the labor conditions
there. The Federal government re-
allies that with between seventy and
eighty thousand japanese already Iiy-
ing in the islands and besides about
twenty thousand Chinese engaged in
business there, the Asiatics are fash
becoming strong and powerful factor
in a territorial population which now
numbers about one hundred and sixty
thousand people.
1t is contended that the big per
centage of japanese in Hawaii are all
eligible to citizenship. 1t is pointed
out that with the elective franchise in
vogue throughout the territory prac-
ticallv every office at the gift of the
I, LII
Asiatic. The contemplation of this
state of affairs has led Washington to
take notice and it was this condition
which confronted Secretary Dickinson
upon his tour of investigation.
For the past three years the Japa-
nese have furnished the great bulk of
the labor on the sugar plantations. The
Washington official is said to have pre-
scented the situation to the Hawaiian
planters in strong and unmistakable
terms. He also set forth the desires
and intentions of the Washington gov
eminent. Hawaii must be Americana
ed at whatever cost to the sugar
planters. If not, then the present form
of territorial government must be elm
mated and the islands must be gov
erned by a specially appointed com
mission such as administers to the af
fairs of the District of Columbia
As the best way out Of the dilemma
the planters have decided upon the
Americanizing of the territory and to
bring about this condition they readily
turn to the Filipino as a substitute
for japanese labor. After spending
hundreds of thousands Of dollars. the
managers of the great sugar estates
have realized that white labor can not
be induced to work in the cane fields
or in many capacities on the planta-
tons. The work must be performed
by race of people used to the tropics.
1t is believed that the present cam
paign for recruits now being conducted
in the Philippines, has the tacit en-
dorsement from the powers that be at
Washington. just how far the APP
proval and sanction of the project to
drain the Philippines of it's available
labor has gone, is at present mat
ter of conjecture.
Every thousand Filipinos arriving
at Hawaii it is believed will cause the
departure of at least an equal number
of Japanese and slowly but surely re-
duce the preponderance of Asiatics
which now practically dominate the
citizenship of the Hawaiian Islands