The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1916-08-25

lSlU.
'gical account of labor immigration
different factories, and is at best very
shifting"
Few White Laborers
The\ nationalities employed each
year since 1901 are treated in a table
which shows an increase in numbers
from 39,5S7 in 1901 to 44,9O4 in 1915.
In comment, Doctor Clark says:
Although the amount of sugar
made by these plantations increased
more than fifty per cent during the
last ten years of this period, the num-
Der of employees shows no appreciable
change. This is due partly TO the cessa.
ton of development work, but it Is
mainly the result of better methods Of
production. The shifting of national
tiles has responded closely to the re-
:ruiting policy pursued at different
times. Government assisted immigra-
ton accounts for the appearance of
Spaniards and Russians upon the pay
rolls and for the temporary rise in the
number of Portuguese. 49,.
but the table indicates clearly that
white and Hawaiian laborers leave
plantation work for other occupations
so rapidly that their numbers can be
maintained only by constant accessions
from without the Territory. The same
thing is even more observable in the
case of the Japanese on account of
their large numbers. Since 1908 they
have decreased from nearly $4,000 to
about $4,000, in spite of the growing
Japanese population of the Territory.
They have been replaced by another
Asiatic race, the Filipinos, but as over
$4,000 of these have been brought to
Hawaii within five years expressly to
work on plantations, and since the to-
tai number of those who have returned
to the Philippines, together with those
| now on plantations, is only about 5000,
| it is evident that many of the latter
also have sought employment else
where
There are also tables showing the ma
tiOnalities and sex of both skilled and
unskilled groups. He notes that there
are more Portuguese and Spanish WON
en- and children employed than of any
other races.
Contractors Mostly Korean
There is a comparison of time work,
statements showing the percentage of
each by nationality during the last ten
years. Koreans lead as contractors
with the Chinese second and Japanese
next. One-third Of all the Filipinos
on the plantations are working on coll
tract. Porto Ricans and Europeans do
not take contracts as a rule and do not
cooperate so well. Doctor Clark says:
"This is partly because Caucasians
ara more individualistic than Orientals,
and do not cooperate so well; but it is
mainly because comparatively few Of
them work as ordinary field laborers.
They do work that is paid for at a
better rate, and have less indueement
to 60 into piecework or contract Occu
pations.
1.-THE number of contractors, and es-
peciallv of profit ,sSHrers, rises and
fPlls with the scarcity or abundance of
| labor. During the shortage of 1902
there were probably more contracts of
this kind than at any subsequent pc.
| Rod. They declined after. that with
easier labor conditions, and received a
great setback in 1905, when an inva-
| lion of leaf hopper, an insect very de
w bukuI CdhC, WI MI
] vary about entering into agreements
by which they were paid according to
| the size of the crop.
Bonus Systems Discussed
| "When' japanese immigration was
terminated by the gentlemen agree,
/ ment' with Japan, in 1908, the result
ing labor shortage caused more men "a
be employed on contract than former
W, while large importation of Fill.
| ninos, combined with low price foI
sugar, caused fewer to be employed on
c0rtrnct in 1913 aud l9l+
| "The advantage of contracts for EN-
ployers is less from saving in supervi
| sion than from the permanence they
give to the laborng force. Profit
sharers not only work their own fields
we'll as rule, but during certain peri
DDS in the growth Of their crop they
have time to work for the plantation
as day hands. And they are alway'
present during the harvest, when THEN
labor is particularly needed
The rate of pay and the various
bonus systems are discussed. Wage,
vary according to the kind Of worE
done. and on some plantations there il
a'sHding scale. Men working less thar
fifteen DAYS per month receive a lesr
daily wage than those who turn ou
twenty, twenty-three or twenty sis
Avs.
Managers More Economical
- The average daily earnings of 25,47.
men on wage time in 1902 was sixty
eight cents; in 1908. sixtv.fve cents
il" 1910, seventy three cents; in 1915
eightvon cents. Contract eultivatOrr
earned, in comparison, ninety -nin,
i cents, eighty three cents, ninety QUE
cents, and one dollar and twenty. tire,
Hnts. The average daily earning o.
admit male field hands Increased clever
per cent from 1902 10 1915, and Of con
tractors thirty five and two tenths pc
cent.