Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-09-20

4 Senator Reed. According to these
reports, how do they compare with
the wages in Cuba?
4 Mr.. Eallou. ! do not know. Now,
may proceed with my statement, Mr.
Chairman?
| The Chairman. Yes.
Mr.. Ballou. Senator Reed, you have
Ispent nearly 20 minutes in reading ex
!, tracts from that report. ! would ask
the committee the privilege of read,
ing from the official report on this
same question-of company stores
for q short time.
| The Chairman. You may proceed
! Mr.. Ballou. / read from page 694
of .this official report, which was pub,
lished by the department of commerce
and labor in May, 1911, Bulletin No
/ "a, bureau of labor. II is headed
Condition of plantation labor in Ha-
wall"
| The Chairman. Who signed that re.
port?
Mr.. Ballou. Victor s. Clark was the
name of the agent who was sent out
there. It was published by Charles
p. Nell, the commissioner Of labor.
The Chairman. Where is Mr.. Clark
now?
Mr.. Ballou. / do not know. / know
that after he had been out there, after
he had done this work and, think,
some census work, he severed his con.
lnection with the government and was
afterwards employed by the territorial
board of immigration.
The Chairman Whereabouts?
4 Mr.. Ballou. In Hawaii / think he
remained out there.
!. The Chairman. He is employed by
/ the Hawaiian government?
Mr.. Ballou. He Is now; but at the
time this report was made and pub.
i lished he was federal employee.
The Chairman. After he made that
report he was employed by the Ha
waiian government?
Mr.. Ballou. Yes.
The Chairman How long after he
made that report?
Mr.. Ballou. do not know.
| The Chairman. You may proceed
and read what you desire.
i Mr.. Ballou. read from this re.
port page 694:
"All 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 the
month can usually get their pay to
date with little difficulty, and in ali
instances, so far as observed, without
discount. Repeatedly. While the
agent gathering material for this re.
port was working over plantation
books, 1aborers called for their pay
in order to go to other parts Of the
islands or to their home country
Such payments. except for the delays
incident to checking up their time and
lreferffng to oversesrs or dmekeepers
I for data regarding their work and
overtime. If any. were never deferred
Unpaid debts Of laborers. not covered
by wages due them, are frequent
source OF loss to plantation st,res
Neither the laws of the territory nof
extra legal customs permit the coer
cion Of laberers for debt or to enforce
q labor agreement, and nothing re
sembling peonage exists in Hawaii
The personal liberty Of the laborer Is
as fully guaranteed as anywhere IL
the United States.
The question suggests itself. Why II
should be necessary to raise and to
dispose of so many points like these
when they would not be raised In case
OF agricultural laborers on the main
land? In reply. many regulations and
customs oppressive to labor did exisi
| In Hawaii during the days of labor
contracts, and now. during the period
of transition to purely voluntary labor
the tradition of them still continues. s
But no unbiased observer will ques
ton that the mass OF working people
on Hawaiian plantations are now bet
4 ter off than ever before. The wages
are higher, their housing better, Their
standard of living higher, their oppor
Itunities for advancement: broader
Moreover, public opinion in the islands
and the sentiment of plantation man
ayers and oyerseers as class are
! predominantly in favor of the changes
| In administering labor, and sympa
thetic with the progress made by plan
tation workers under the new system.
i do not want to 60 too far with
that
/ will simply read this further on
the question of wages:
/ Without attempting either tt
| confirm or deny a casual reIa
ton between the two facts, there
is no e-producing country il
the world outside the American
tariff area where sugar is SO highly
protected as in Hawaii. There is nc
important -sugarcane region except
Queensland and Cuba where the rate
Of wages Is so high for common field
labor as in Hawaii The condition Of
labor in Hawaii Is better than in Ma