The Hawaiian gazette., 1910-04-01

The principal spokesman OF the prc.
vious day again took up the TILE. He
told the troubles OF the Russians who
went 20 work on the plantations OF
| Hawaii. One man, he said, had worked
steadily but he is now in debt s37. A
lot of them are shy eight dollars n
month on their living expenses. Much
of the food they used to buy in the
store was poor. A pair of shoes for
which they paid $3.50 wouldn't last
more than week. If a man went into
the field and worked three or four
hours, got sick and had to quit, he got
no pay. If man were five minutes
late in going TO work, he was locked
quarter of day.
The lunas treated the men very badly.
If they stopped work for minute to
rest, the lunas threatened and swore at
them. The Russians on Olaa were
treated just like slaves, continued the
Russian spokesman.
The immigrants were willing to learn
the English language, and Perelstrous
free schools, an hour day after work
! ing hours-the spokesman read from
the book issued to the Russians by
tcioiotiVuS. ~ was piihtcu III v iaui-
vostok.
When the Russians. went to Kauai and
found how things were, they asked for
better conditions. A policeman came
and demanded the books. He took them
and didn't return them, because they
made promises not advantageous to the
planters. Several times the Russians
called for the books, but the plantation
The book, he said, has been printed
twice. The second edition is greatly
different from the first. The first book
promised the women 35 rubles a
-aonth; the second promises them %
rubles. The book promises that the
men would make three rubies a day
picking coffee and the women three and
half rubles. The book tells them
they can buy bag of flour for a'dollar,
whereas they have to pay $3.50 or So.
for ten cents a pound; they can't. Eggs
they have to pay four cents. The Rus
slams figured that it would be very good
to come for the terms the book prom
least fifty rubles month";. The rea-
was that they could get free education
and could become American citizens
For that reason they accepted the terms
offered them.
Another Russian took up the tale.
Mr.. Atkinson and Mr.. Perelstrous prom
Used them that they were to get their
houses on the plantation, and if, at
the end of three years, they wanted to
hn rNlo bot no
them 300 rubles for the house. They
were promised they should have wood,
but they got none They had to go
or feur miles. They were promised
half a Russian aere), but now they
find they can't have even foot of
land. Mr.. Perelstrous promised to fix
everything all right, but now he says
he has no time to do anything. He
went to the plantations and promised
them he would fix everything for them,
but instead he got into an automobile
and went away SO fast they couldn t
see him for dust.
Mr.. Perelstrous told them, continued
the Russians, that if they wanted to
send letters to their friends, the best
tiers to him and he would forward
them. But now they find no letters
have been delivered. The man showed
a postoffice notification of the receipt
of "a registered letter which he said he
had never received. He said when he
went to the postoffice and asked for
the letter, he was told that Mr.. Perel-
strous had taken it. Mr.. Mott Smith,
bn 4al Aha%
be mistake. Mr.. Lightfoot, he said,
could get the letter for him.
Another bewhiskered Russian took
the chair to tell his story, Mr.. Koshin
sky, he said, came to the village where
to go to Hawaii. The islands, he said,
were full of Japanese, and the govern
ment wanted to get some good white
settlers. Mr.. Perelstrous asked what
he would take for his property. The
man said he was willing to go to Ha.
wall and would have to sell his prop.
erty cheap.-<He would get 500 rubles
for it. Perelstrous told him he would
have nice living ON that-in Hawaii
and wouldn't have to 20 to work. He
asked Perelstrons if he should bring
his horses, but the special agent told
MN ne foulu get horses Tree IN da-
wall. He came over and went to work
on Puunene and was sick several times.
Perelstrous, he said, went to the plan
tation store and told the storekeeper
the Russians wanted black flour. The
storekeeper said all right, and he got
some, but when the Russian tried to
use it he found it was quarter corn
meal, and when they took 1t back the
store refused to take it back. The
man said he had a wife and six chill
dren, and they were able to make Just
a bare living. The whole family was
able TO earn only s67 a month,-not
enough TO live on.
Another immigrant (named Ivan),
complained that at the end or the month
wheh they settled their store account,
he had only 50 left and his wife had
but ~. And they had bought no clothes
at ALL At the end of the second month
he had nothing coming 10 him, nor did
his wife. Another man was more for
tunate; he had twenty cents coming TO
him. He himself left the plantation
because there was no use in working for
n Ot binQ irwalva families lafl fha MA M