The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1911-10-24
Observation-Disclosures.
Continued from page one.)

speed and good accommodations. Inc
principal stakeholder in this line owns
vast estate in Cuba, and his inter
est in our welfare may be gagged
from the fact that he is leader in
the fight for free sugar.
To summarize, poor accommoda-
lions. slow, irregular travel and the
uncertainty of transportation form
the one and only combination of rea-
sons why tourists do not come to
Hawaii.
Another of the white mans bur
dens in Hawaii is that of supplying
efficient labor in an economical way
for our canefelds, This is a question
the Planters have wrestled with for
years, but its successful solution is
still a mystery.
We imported Russians and without
exception, they were the healthiest-
looking lot of immigrants that ever
landed in Hawaii, but they failed to
make good and one of the reasons
/
agents who met them on their arrival
here knew little of the practical side
of humanity.
/ We import Filipinos lacking in men
tai and physical stamina and more
fitted for santariums than they are
for canefelds. The importation of
this class of labor is subversive of
every principle that stands for pro-
gress and prosperity.
The Asiatic is not available. Any
effort to bring him in will not only
fail, but work to our disadvantage,
for it is settled policy that this
i Territory must advance along Ameri-
can lines, or not at all.
The European immigration is far
from being the success its supporters
claim it is. To the writer, it seems
that the cost of bringing them here is
out of all proportion to the results
obtained
We employ counsel, etc, at Wash
ington Cat a cost of about twenty
thousand dollars per annum) to pro-
tect our interests in labor as well as
other things. Yet Notwithstanding
this large outlay every succeeding
Secretary of Labor files his report on
our labor conditions, a report adverse
to our interests and sometimes much
Overdrawn And it might be mention
ed that few are the public men in
Washington, from the President
down, who do not labor under the i'm
.pression that here is a land of serfs
and sugar barons.
Our labor problem is of special sig
b nificance to every citizen in the Ter
ritory, especially to the mechanic and
} trader whose small earnings, the ac
cumulations of years of toll, are in
vested in sugar.
The importation, selection and treat
ment of labor should be under direct
. government control. Time has proved
that the present system is a failure
The labor bureau should be reOrganiz
ed. AS at present constituted, there
are too many theorists and scientists
connected with it and too few of the
men who have from experience a first
knowledge of mankind.
European immigration to date has
not paid nor given results. California
derives most benefit from it. Suspend
it for a time and retire its retinue OF
agents, secretaries and commissioners
, The savings effected by carrying out
the foregoing suggestion would go fan
in placing the plantations in a posi-
ton where they could offer labor S1.25
, per day At this rate the local marker
/ would come near supplying our pres,
ent needs. Fewer hands would be
required and a possible solution OF
the labor problem would be in sight
The present rate of wages paid on
plantation is high for the class of la
Dor employed or the work accom-,
T. plished.
Y Sugar being the staple industry OF
= the Territory, any suggestions from its
< friends as to its production and econo
D mic handling should receive due con
Z sideration, for only by cain and de
e liberate action can we guard against
+. the threatened evils of free trade and
a unreliable labor.
l. A consolidation of plantations whose
lands lie contiguous to each Other
Q would cenualize and economic. Plan
+. tation agencies should confine theil
!. activities to the growing, shipping anC
marketing of sugar, and be satisfied
Il with the commissions derived from
=, this source Their present policy o
selling everything from soda water t,
suit cases should cease, because it i
I driving out of business the small mel
- chant and retailer who, in every vel
regulated and well-governed commun