The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1909-06-23
San francisco Chronicle:

/
About the question of the rate of
compensation received by the laborers
on the sugar plantations in the Ha-
waiian islands the people of the main
land are not greatly concerned; under
the existing conditions that is a matter
for adjustment between the planters
and the laborers employed by them
But Americans will be interested if
they will sit up and take notice of the
methods adopted by Japanese to secure
what they believe to be their rights,
and to observe how closely in many
respects they resemble those of peoples
with revolutionary ideas and whose
first impulse, when their demands are
denied, is to forcibly compel compli-
ance with them
1t is well to note at the outset that
the Government of Japan is in no
wise identified with the movement in
Hawaii The solidarity of the work.
ers and the Incorporate expression of
the Japanese press of the islands may
give it a political appearance, but the
!
eral of the empire, and his open ap-
proval of the efforts of the American
authorities to stamp out what seems
like a conspiracy to gain control of
the sugar interests, show conclusively
that mis- home government is not in
sympathy with the strikers and that
the latter were merely animated by the
feeling that their numbers make them
masters of the situation and that they
could win by the eXertion of force.
What the uprising proves is that the
Japanese are very capable organizers,
and that wherever they are found in
considerable numbers they stand to-
gether as no other foreigners have new
er oone before in this country. Some
times it is urged that there is clannish-
ness exhibited by immigrants from
Western nations, but investigation and
statistics prove that it does not take on
harmful proportions. 1t scarcely endures
longer than tue period taken to learn
our language and lsever extends be-
yond the first generation When chill
dren arrive on the scene they are Anne
ricans, and they succeed in making
Americans of their parents. Barriers
are speedily broken down, and there is
an assimilation which simply makes
exclusiveness impossible. The COM
position of a trades union illustrates
this. If there are any strictly Ger
man, French, Irish or Italian organi-
cations of that kind in the United
do VIE hear of such aliens bestowing
their patronage exclusively on peoples
of their own nationality.
| Exactly the reverse is the case with
Orientals and particularly tire Japanese.
The very quality which we so much
extol, the one perhaps which caused
them to win in their great conflict with
the Russians, operates to keep them
together The national idea is by
them carried to extremes. Once a
Japanese always a Japanese is an ar
ticle of faith with them, and no immi-
grant from the Mikado's realm ever
honestly renounces his allegiance to
that potentate A people with such
ideals are Understandable, and their
capacity and disposition to organize
makes them dangerous, because their
belief in the efficacy of solidarity may
tempt them to adopt methods to carry
their purposes to which Americans will
not consent because if they did their
institutions would be imperiled and
finally destroyed.