The Hawaiian gazette., 1911-05-19

sugar industry upon central mill, small.
farm basis. However this may BE IN
she future, tho past i've years have
witnessed an increasing rehabilitation
Of this industry; large plantations have
been combined into still larger plan.
iations; sugar factor firms, which rep
resent the center Of financial control,
are fewer but stronger than In 1905;
local transportation, both by land and
by water, Is moro centralized and in
moro direct relations with sugar pro.
ducing interests; and steamship lines
to the mainland are more closely allied
than ever with sugar factors and
planters.
Pun Liberty.
HSuch changes are not peculiar to
but are part of the larger res
organization Of industry taking place
everywhere, and are not dictated or
controlled by individuals. Also, as will
be seen later, with the increasing size
of the industrial establishment and it's
affiliated enterprises, have gone hand
in hand increasing freedom of move
ment and self-direction of the EN-.
ployes of the establishment. This is
personal liberty Of the citizen Of a
modern State of perhaps continental
area, as compared with the subsection
of the resident of a petty German prin-
cipality in the eighteenth century.
"While the same general organiza-
tion of the sugar industry prevails
throughout Hawaii, the methods of cul.
tivation and transportation, and the
actual size of the plantations, are quite
different according to varying natural
conditions. Some plantations are small
because the amount of arabic land, or
of land that can be put 1nder water,
tributary to a mill, is limited. The
windward plantations are relatively
smaller because the broken country on
that side of the Islands makes natural
boundaries which it is not economical
to transcend. The superintendent water
allows cane to be flumed to these mills,
while elsewhere private railways are
the chief dependence for transporta-
ton. As a rule cultivation methods
are not so intensive in the rainfall as
in the irrigated districts, and the prod
uct per acre is not so large.
GA considerable extension of the
cane area is still possible, with pros.
pective water development; but at the
same time the rate of yield from the
longer cultivated fields is lilsly to di-
minish.
Sugar can in Hawaii is usually an
lS-month crop, and must be eat at ma.
turity to avoid deterioration. Replant.
ing occurs every second or third crop
on most plantations, though some
planters rattoon (allow the cane to
grow up from the old roots) in particu
lar fields for seven OF eight crops. The
labor problem of a plantation consists
in getting field hands; for here lies the
main expense in making crop. the
pressure to get cheap labor is greatest.
and the work is in many ways less at.
tractive than on the railways, at the
reservoir and pumps, and in the
Everyone Must Hustle.
The condition of employment and
the rate of pay of all these classes of
workmen vary; but all employees. from
The manager downward, are subject TO
certain general requirements which are
uniform, and enjoy certain
privileges and advantages which vary
N degree, but not in kind, for the whole
plantation force.
The hours are long, and work
begins early. Every conscientious man.
igor, though his salary may be $1,000
month, is up and 'on his job by
sunrise. Plantation work involves some
'ocial isolation-and this is probably
most felt and most truly occurs in case
# white employees The field hands are
enough to form their own
oeiety. Practically all plantation EN-.
,ioyments are physically laborious.
even the manager must be a man Of
rood physique and constitution TO stand
he long hours daily in the saddle. and
he exposure to climatic inclemencies
peculiar to the Tropics, which he must
'nc0unter. Stripping cane-now less
he fashion than formerly-is one of
ne hardest and most disagreeable |
,inds of field labor in the whole range
# agriculture. On the other hand. one
would be likely to suffer more from
leat In New England hay field during |
he course of normal summer, than |
n any of the regular planting and cul |
waiting operations of al Hawaiian cane |
leld during the entire season. There |
re no occupational diseases in planta- |
ion work, and very few recorded acct, |
Ients. Such injuries to employees as |
ceur are mostly on the railways or in
he mill.
Chance TO Rise.
Plantation employees arc under no
Expense for rent or fuel, and many of |
hem can have gardens and keep fowls
nd pigs on plantation land. Where
ueh privileges exist no deduction Is
yer made from wages on their account.
he diversity Of occupations and of
ates of pay is sufficient to afford op.
ortunities of promotion. about equal
those in most mainland industries.
White men rise from field bosses or
MI assistants to managers Orientals
nd Ha'waiians are promoted from the
oe TO the shop bench, the engine
irottle, and the saddle.
. A majority of the skilled EMPLOYEES.
specially of white men, are paid
ilarics. and their time is not checked
3 IT would be in a mainland manufae.
lirng establishment of equal size.
fhite mechanics and engineers. being
lemselves bosses over other employees,
re- not subject to as minute direction
nd probably on the whole are more
dependent in their work than IN SINH.
= positions In other parts of the eoun.
- l.. N. I