The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-05-19


tu adult thntailos ishofst ~ iiaeail
af'ufllnl ~ ne diflarf n0u pfcvan
ing among them. a between flt knl
sottH drllass n month Ihif osiimat,
q based on The actual coal of hohfiini
7 lahofra hy oriental tohtarinfa. AMI
] employers W different places ~ shown
I by their own accounts Tropical labor
efs. even the ufientais. having no win
ter rect hrason. DO not work every davl
aud the average actual earnings n
these employees probably do not much
exceed, " they exceed az al, sid
monthly.
" Nevertheless tho Japanese and
Chinese plantation hands In Hawaii
manage 10 travel about good deal from
plantation TO plantation; they support
various purvcyors Of amusement and
luxury, rs well rs Of vice, and they
send TO Asia yearly large suma said
In the aggregate considerably 10 OK.
coed tl,0O0,00O
Bonuses and Contracts.
''The reason for this apparent dis.
crepancy between the standard rate OF
pay Of field laborers and their actual
economic status is found in the syAtem
Of bonuses and Of contracts. that has
everywhere been introduced 70 relieve
the hard and fast conditions establish.
ed by the uniform wage scales fixed
by agreement among the planters.
Bonuses are paid on several plantations
to all laborers working twenty DAYS or
more in month and amount to two
dollars or over. Thus 3 laborer at the
SIS rate working twenty-one days
would receive $16,5S, instead of $l4.5s.
More important. than the bonuses are
the contracts.
To Place oriensals.
cit would cost the Hawaiian plan.
tations about $4,000 per annum, or
in the neighborhood of forty cents per
ton of sugar, to replace all the orien.
tails now employed in skilled positions
with Hawaiians, Portuguese and other
Europeans, at an average wage of 81 so
per day, and such a transfer of labor
would add about 1900 males, or say
1000 persons, to the citizen population
of the plantations.
An advantage that the Hawaiian
plantation worker in most capacities
has over many classes of workmen in
the mainland is that there is practically
no unemployment. The plantation force
does not change materially in numbers
throughout the year, the variation be-
tween the heaviest and the dullest sea-
son averaging less than four per cent,
Such variation as exists is not forced
one, but is due largely to the employ.
ment of school children during vaca.
tions, in addition to the regular force.
to cut seed and to plant cane. These
are light occupations. One manager of
a comparatively small plantation said,
when his place was visited, that in
1909 he had planted $50 acres with
the help of school children alone.
Plantation Stores
Some plantations supply free medical
attendance and hospital privileges to
their employees. In 1910 the plantation
managers agreed to adopt the policy
of selling the necessaries of life for
cost at the plantation stores. About
one-third of the plantations maintain
such stores, though in many of these
cases there are private stores compel.
ing for the laborers' patronage with
ployes are usually paid by the month
ahu III III bySNGil OO6S
not exist-or if there are reported
traces of it in the attitude Of a few
plantation managers toward laborers'
store accounts it affects the general
welfare of Hawaiian working people
very slightly.
Nothing Resembling Peonage.
CAN laborers are free to quit their
Jobs and to move from plantation to
plantation at any time. Laborers de-
string to leave in the middle of month
little difficulty, and in all instances, SO
far as observed, without discount. Re-
peatedly while the agent gathering
material for this report was working
over plantation books laborers called
for their pay, in order TO 90 to other
parts of the islands or to their home