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

| Stated another way, in 1909 each
plantation employee made eight ard
four.tenths tons Of sugar, nine aud Ave.
tenths tous in.l905, twelve tons lirsl9lo
and ffourteCn and four-tenths tons N
1915. In this connection the report
says, g.. .u.. "a,2 S -.,.. la -.'.'r
1.-THE growth Of product per employp
has not depended on the accident of
: seasons, but il the combined result Of
mill improvements, better methods of
cultivation. and increasing labor eff.
cheney. Rising wages have made man.
ayers more economical Of labor;I some
laborious processes, such rs stripping
cane, have been curtailed, more opera.
tons are paid for by the piece, and
there is greater specialization of occu.
Iations than formerly ..1 Pc,
Few Idle Hands C.
After describing the bonus system
Doctor Clark says: ".H
/ "No forced unemployment occurs in
Hawaii, AS in most other sugar coun.
tries, to affect the regularity of la
bOrers. The custom Of retaining the
whole plantation force throughout the
year has been continued since the days
lof identured labor, when such policy
@as5 epmnulsoryf u Although the prae.
tise OF thus holding workers when their
labor Is not absolutely needed makes
tho cost of producing sugar more in
Hawaii than il otherwise would be
and hi~hcr than in countries having
flexible labor supply, under existing
conditions il is not likely TO be chang
ed. The only departure from thus cus.
tom occurred year ago, when the
price of sugar was very low. One plan
tation then inaugurated the plan of
| laying of its surplus hands few day.
each week and paying them sum suf-
fcient for their subsistence during
the time they were thus neeessari-
~ idle. The company saved about
$4,000 a week in this way, but
, its example was not followed by other
managers. However, one other planta.
tion sometimes advances the means of
subsistence to men and families whom
IL desires TO retain in the neigh borhood
pending the conclusion of contracts
with them for planting cane.
3 Demand More Rest
1.-THE real variation in the planta
ton labor force from month to, month
IL less than two per cent. In 1914 the
minimum number on the pay rolls of
Planters Association was 44,1l7 in
November and the maximum number
was 1868 in July. But more than
were school children, who usually work
only few days a month, and 300 were
l!women, who are also less regular Ia
brrers than men, Moreover, during the
grinding season plantation pay rolls
are padded by the duplication of hands
who shift from contract to day labor
md the reverse as old contracts art
closed and new ones begun.
"But while there h little forced un.
employment in the sense that employ
es can not have work if they want it.!
The men themselves claim that they can
not labor continuously at ardu6us field
tasks without taking more than their,
Sunday leisure to recuperate. Natu-'
rally this depends upon the health and
physical stamina of the individual, but
in precise few ordinary laborers work
he full month of twenty.six days
"a computation made by the Ha-
waiian Planters Association at the be-
ginning If the present year showed
that the japanese on pla ntationsf work
upon an average PIC days a mouth, or
'iGhtyfour per cent Of full time, and
tilipinos work IS days a month or six
ty-nine per cent Of full time Europeans
Hre more regular workers than the
Japanese, but smaller proportion of
them are engaged in arduous FERNS of
'abor Men with families are steadieri
workers than single men, which indi-
'ates that physical reasons alone do not,
occasion irregularity. The influence
+ If family responsibility helps to nc.
count for the better showing of the
Japanese rs compared with the Fill
limos, for many of the former are mar.
led, while the latter are mostly young
single men and youths.
Average Yearly Earnings
"When the bonus system was in.
| troduced it became necessary to keep
complete record of the days worked
and the monthly earnings of each in,
dividual employed as basis for the
computations il requircd. Before this,
plantation timekcepers, who sometime
have 1000 employees on their pay rolls
md seldom list laborers by name bur
| Wy numbers. kcpt no record Of cases
where the same number was assigned
+" different Individuals in the course
If the year. 1T
Several plantations, since the bonus
'Nstcm went into effect hav" compiled
average yearly earnings of adult male
plantation and mill labOrers. This
table shows that the wages of Ameli.
ans in 1914 were $833.l3; Chinese
t3@l.23; Filipino, $3OO.23; German
1dI4l; Hawaiian $3s2.23; japanese
SI-&dH. Korean, $2h4.32; Porto Rican
'2dN.23; Portuguese, $350.77; Russian
SjGH.01 aud spanish, *264.54. The aver,
1ge per capita wage for all races was
S3O5.6s.
Another table shows that in the two
wears 1914 and 1918 employees who re.
'eivcd the bonus earned an average
"ag" OF one dollar and twelve cents
n"r day while those who received no
bonus earned one dollarN and eleven
cents per day. The non bonus earning
Inb"r"rs were watchmen, stable and
ward boys pump and reservoir men Of
The d"llnr-a-day and above class whose
work is light but involves response
| biltv.
Housing Conditions Vary
Housing conditions have vastly i'm.
'r"Eed, Doctor Clark says, since 1902
He says: -, 4"
Considering the demands Of the ELF.