The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1910-08-02
Professor Abe, Japan's Leading
Socialist, On Local
Conditions.
SEES SURPRISING THINGS
Studying Municipal Conditions to
Apply the Lessons Learned
When He Returns.
lFrom saturday s Advertlser.l )


"Japanese farmers and laborers buy.
ing silksl Why this would be beyond
the comprehension of our people at
home" declared Professor Abe yester.
day in an interview on the industrial
situation in the Islands. The univer.
sity instructor who has the Waseda
baseball team in charge is devoting
much of his spare time, while the Ath.
letic Park series is going on, in making
a study of social relations as regards
the japanese people who have migrated
to Hawaii and municipal problems here
to enlighten his cOuntrymen when he
returns to Toxic.
Professor Abe has visited several Of
the plantations on the Island of Oahu,
and what surprised him the most, he
said, was the fact that three thousand
Japanese laborers about the Eva planta-
tion bought between FIVE and six hun
dred dollars worth of japanese silks a
month from the six stores located there.
That farmer or common laborer could
afford to wear silks is something that
the japanese people could not under
stand, for in their own country cotton
is good enough.
Three to One Advantage.
home" Professor Abe said, "the Japa-
nese here on the Islands are better off
in the ratio of three to one at least,
and the only thing they have any cause
to complain of is dissemination. The
average wage scale for the japanese
laborer on the plantations is eighteen
dollars a month, whereas the Portu-
guese, Porto Ricans, Russians and other
nationalities receive twenty-five dollars.
At the EVA plantation,n the professor
continued, 7'the laborers are paid on
the piece work basis, which, | think,
is the best, ms it is the true merit sys'
TEN. At Eva the japanese work longer
hours, but they get over twenty dollars
a month. There ought not to be any
race discrimination at all If the Japa
nese people can do the work as we'll as
the others, they should receive just as
much pay as the others.
Stores Reasonable.
"As to the plantation stores, they
sell to the laborers at cost prices. This,
of course, hurts the japanese small mer.
chants who have their stores in the
neighborhood of the plantations, but the
interests of these few must, of course,
give way to the majority who are bene
fited. These storekeepers, however, sell
lots of japanese goods which the planta-
tion stores don t keep, and in this way
hold trade that does not compete with
the other concerns.'
Five Times as Much.
Taking the Japanese laborer in the
Islands as compared with his cOntem
porary at home, Professor Abe said
"The poorest paid worker here gets
a dollar day. whereas in Japan he
only receives the equivalent to twenty
five cents, American money. This is
in the ratio of four to one, while the
price of ordinary food in the Islands
is only twice what it is in Japan, so
that the working man in Hawaii has
very much the advantage over his
brother laborer at home. The price of
beef here, however, is not nearly so
out of proportion with home prices.
Here in the Islands it is only from
thirty to fifty per cent higher than in
Japan.
Don't Intend TO Stay.
"Most of the Japanese people who
come to these Islands only intend to
stay few years--long enough to save
a little mOney-and then they want to
go home again. They are a great deal
better off to stay here, especially the
children. The educating of the Japa-
nese children here in the Islands is
quite n problem If they are going to
become United States citizens and re.
main here, then the public school edu-
cation is the best for them and they do
not need any japanese learning; but if
they are going to make their homes in
Japan after few years, they need some
of the rudiments of the japanese sys.
tenn of instruction. They don't neces.
sarily have to know the old Chinese
figures in writing. The Roman letters
running across the page and here
the professor flashed real Jim the
penman flourish" will suffice for them
to get along all right in the Orient.
Too Much Study.
'As it is now, the children ON the
plantations put in too many hours of
study. They attend the public school
four hours each day, and then they
have classes in japanese studies which
last from one hour and a half TO two
hours a day. The planters contribute
toward the maintenance Of these Japa-
nese schools, and the japanese people
want their children 10 nave something
of japanese education. / think, how.
ever that five and q half 10 six hours
a day al study is too much for the
young ones II would be a great deal
better IL the japanese would content
themselves 10 remain here, where they
are much better on, Jet their offspring
grow up 10 be United States citizens
and learn the American ways
Municipal Problems
The university professors speciality
% municipal problems and he said yes
terday that be hoped % thoroughly ae,
quaint himself with the public utility
systems here in Honolulu with b view
20 bettering conditions n bic own