Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1915-08-23
Oceanic OWNER SCORES SCHWERIN
FOR FIGHTINGNEW SEAMENS ACT

sailors could not understand the
language In which orders Of the off,
GERS In command OF the respective
boats had to be given.
1t was too dark for them to see
signs tif signs could have been infnlii
gently given), and only one OF the two
Chinese who spoke English appears t.
have known anything about lowering 9
boat and there had been no drill oil
1.-THE crew in the matter OF iowerine
them. Under such circumstances. It ID
mot surprising but that three Of the
boats were lowered. one of which was
successfully lowered by the efforts OF
Officer Coughlan and the ships carp.
enter, another of which was swamped
by one Of the Chinese as the ship went
i down.
1--WE have no hesitation In holding
1 that the ship was insuffic.ently
manned, for the reason that the sell
ors were unable to understand and
execute the orders made imperative
by the exIgency that unhappily arose
and resulted so disastrously to life, as
well as to property
/ Loss OF 131 human lives in the &C.
cident referred to In the above case
seems of no consequence to the man
who pleads with Congress for re.
peal OF the Seamen's Bill.
Takes Up Wage Scale.
The company pays these Orientals.
according TO his statement, from $3.50
to SO per month wages and feeds them
at cost of only 13 cents day. White
crews would cost from $40 to $50 a
month in wages and So cents day to
feed, according to the gentleman's
statement, which statement ] am re-
liably informed il an exaggeraticn.
The difference in cost In operating
five steamers of that company Is CIV
en- by the same authority as $685., 316.-
81 per annum for Oriental crews and
1903 ,S10.40 for white .crews-an In
crease Of $436. 493.76 per annum.
Those figures. taken by themselves,
would be staggering to the average
man. but fortunately the gentleman
gives us the gross earnings Of his COM
pany, which were $5,5S5, 72S.64 for the
fiscal year ending April 80, 1913, and
$5,556. 1906 for the fiscal year ending
April 30. 1914.
I'm other words, the per centum cost
of labor Is $500 per cent of the gross
earnings for Oriental crews and under
the European standard Of wages and
food only 14.441 per cent of the com
pany's gross earnings.
With the Oriental crew cost de-
Quoted from, gross earnings, the COM
pany would still have st, 198, 814.22 left
to meet its other expenses and return
Sgv{1auda t,x.<,,. 80 x,3f.1 {v,xS,of.1. ,s,ft1,
the white crew cost deducted from
gross earnings would still have $4,-
762. 320.56 left to meet other expenses
and return ;dividends upon capital in
vested. Labor, then. is but small
part of the cost of operating steamers,
and human rights and Justice demand
that men should receive at least fair
share of what they help produce.
The gentleman who breaches so
eloQuently for cash dividends for his
company at the expense OF labor EN-
ployed under his management, himself
receives princely salary More ef
ficient and conscientious management
and better treatment of employees
might produce several times more
money for that steamship company
than the apparent saving made by en-
ploying cheap Oriental labor.
Would Cut High Salaries.
Careful investigation Of the com
pany's affairs might disclose how saw
ings could be made that would war
rant the company hiring white men
at q living wage without loss of net
earnings. Less politics, q cut In the
high salary roll and In other extrava-
CANT expenditures might easily save
for that company far more than the
possible increase to be paid to white
crews under the Seaman's Bin.
Congress is continually asked to
protect capital and it's methods of
high finance. Protection and opportu-
nifty to continue earnings upon their
watered securities while human beings
starve are demanded by men who
know not hunger and want. Let not |
the spark of human kindness die in
America.
We must not tolerate continuation
of commercial greed and the placing |
OF dollars above human rights and |
needs. Europe is demonstrating to-
day the inevitable result the policy OF |
commercial greed leads to. The toll |
In money and In human life now being |
paid at the altar of governmental sub |
mission TO the demands of capitalism |
should be a warning that no intelli.
gent American can afford to ignore.
Ny writings may shock the mem
bers OF my so-called class, but my be-
lief in them is still sufficiently strong
to warrant In hoping that if they win |
but take a step outside the binding |
influence of their selfish environment, /
new light will dawn upon them and |
then there will be hope that the Unit.
ed States of America may go forward |
and forever live in accord with the in.
tention, purpose and mandate of this
founders"