The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-04-14
NEWELL ON THE
LABOR QUESTION
Extracts From His Report on
Conditions in This
Territory.

For a half century the question OF
labor has. been and still is most per-
picking problem. The production of
sugar, the main business of the islands,
IS, under present conditions, dependent
upon cheap labor, mainly that of
0gSentals, paid ST. or more in addition
TO house. water, and medical attend
anee. There are approximately $4,000
Of these aliens, over half of the entire
population of the islands Besides the
0rien1als there are $1,000 Portuguese,
including with this Spaniards and
Others Of LAIN tongues These men
receive slightly higher wage, So per
month and upward, and demand per
0rientals, as they are eligible for citi-
zenship and are more effective as la
borers
With the rigid enforcement of the
Chinese exclusion act, the stopping of
emigration from Japan, and the pre-
vention Of contract labor from abroad,
the supply OF cheap laborers has been
practically cut off. Attempts are be-
ing made to bring immigrants from San
Francisco or even New York, securing
them as they arrive from Europe. The
difficulty of getting these people across
TO the islands without losing them to
other employers is very serious.
The labor market is now practically
surrounded by an almost impossible
barrier; the number of laborers who
are willing To work in the fields at low
wages IS decreasing, while the demand
is steadily increasing. The planters, it
IS understood, have a fixed scale and
theoretically at least do not compete
among themselves, although by various
methods of contract or bonus for length
of service, there is a tendency to in
crease indirectly the wages paid 1t
IS generally recognized that higher and
higher grades Of laborers must be Sc
cured as the Orientals decrease through
return home CT through entering into
other industries.
Systematic efforts have been made
to imprve the condition of the migra-
tory laborers and TO induce them to re-
main in given locality. The japanese
are readily moved and are quick to re-
SEM any grievance. By impulsively
shifting from place to place their eff
feetiveness is far less than though they
stayed on one plantation where they
could become familiar with conditions
and the requirements of the manager.
Their capacity to work effectively with
out constant oversight and their initia-
ton is reported TO be- somewhat lower
than that Of the Portuguese.
In the case of the Portuguese and
similar laborers not Snly is the wage
scale somewhat highd than that paid
the Orientals, CORRESPONDING to their
greater efficiency, but inducements have
been made in the way of offering to
them houses and small tracts of land
on condition that they willelive on the
ground for two or more years and will
make moderate payments in monthly
installments. The offers of this kind
have frequently been regarded with
suspicion, but in a few cases they have
been accepted. The average laborer
would rather have dollar or two more
a month IN cash than twice its equiva-
lent in real property, as he is fearful
of being{ied down or he suspects some
Interior motive.
In some localities the offers of free
land from the government have been
accepted and small bodies of laborers
are acquiring title. On one of the plan
tations railroad facilities have been
provided by which the laborers located
in their homes can reach other points
of work If they SO desire. Where the
laborer finds he is thus free to seek
other occupation he usually prefers to
stay near home, work on the adjacent
plantation, and with the help of his
family cultivate his own little garden.
Liberal treatment in such directions has
been followed by more effective work
and by less desire to move about from
plantation to plantation
On the Olaa plantation in Hawaii
an acre OF ground is given to men who
have worked for three years at regular
wages. Over fifty Portuguese and thir-
tv Spanish have awaited themselves of
rhis opportunity. With decrease in sup
ply of labor from the outside the eff
feiency of the individual workers now
employed is steadily increasing, due to
the more settled condition and to vari-
GUS other causes, so that now it is be-
lieved that the Individual Japanese
worker. for example, aceomplishes
twenty per cent. more than he did
~ tit Il t4t iG0b Ne~i1tt ~ INC 1oidhuo. L hiS
is due IN part TO the fact that many
of the Japanese are taking small con-
tracts for cnltivating or cutting the
cane; with aroused personal interest
they are doing more and better work;
also it is asserted that during the war
with Russia the Japanese laborers were
more or less excited and devoted con-
siderable time to war news After the
cessation of the war and with the
stimulus of minors Of possible troubles
with the United States, the laborers
resumed work with renewed vigor with
the idea of accommodating as much
money as possible in view of early re-
turn to their own country.
With the increase of effectiveness of
labor through better work on the part
Of the Orientals and higher grade of
labor for the Latins, there is coming
about also reduction in the amount
of heavy manual work For example,
the planters experiment station has
discovered that the stripping of the
cane, very laboriou. process, does not
add to its value, but even the reverse.
With the elimination of the stripping.
possibly twelve per cent of the labor
on the plantation viii be reduced. The
burning of the cane Immediately before