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


were conducted in 1902, 1905 anC
Doctor Clark first gives a chonolC
since 1920, and broad, general his
tory of the Islands. Speaking Of gen
eral labor conditions he says:
Oubans Receive More Pay
"A large oriental population and
tropical climate make labor conditions
mainland Of the United States. But
there is probably no other tropical
country except northern Queensland
where average earnings and the stand
ard of living of workers are as high as
in the Islands. Cuban plantation
hands receive more pay per day for
part of the year, but employment at
these wages is not so continuous as in
Hawaii, while housing and sanitary
conditions for ordinary laborers are be-
low the Hawaiian standard. However,
wages in the Territory are lower, and
the opportunity for common laborer
TO advance is less, than in California.
"Skilled American and part Hawaii
an mechanics in Honolulu earn from
three to Eve dollars day, and IN
skilled laborers and helpers are paid
one dollar and fifty cents and two dol
lars a day. Working people Of this
class live in small frame cottages, not
so good as the houses occupied by
town and village workers of the same
grade in our colder American climate,
hut preferable as homes TO many of
the tenements occupied by the I'M
skilled laboring population of our
large cities.
Cost Greater, Need Less
"Clothing costs more per article but
less per individual than on the main
land. Little fuel is used except for
cooking, and fable expenses vary with
living-this depending upon the pro
the workingman demands. The gen
presents no evidence of economic bard
ship, though individual instances of
such hardship doubtless occur.
Beneath the surface also there
must lurk traces of the struggle at
tending the displacement Of white and
Hawaiian by oriental labor, which has
continued ever since Asiatics began to
leave field work for other occupations.
However, this displacement has been
caused by social antipathies almost as
much as by economic competition, and
data relating to its various phases are
largely eonjeetural.
Rural labor conditions are stand
ardized by the nearly uniform practice
of sugar plantations, and here we en-
: ter the realm of more exact infOrma.
' tion. Sugar plantations employ so
large a part of the rural laboring popu-
latiOn that other employers are obliged
to conform to their labor standards.
Moreover these plantations keep a
statistical record of their labor his
tory"
Report Is Unexcelled
Doctor Clark then enters somewhat
fully into the organization of agricul-
tural production, and the influence
1.-THE plantation system" has had on
all industrial development, and the I'M
usual extent to which corporations
have replaced individuals, as en-
ployers.
1.-The example and success of these
big companies Influenced the orga MIA
tion Of the industry in regions of direct
rainfall, where otherwise cane farming
dispersed than at present" he says.
"'some citizens in Hawaii oppose this
centralized system of agriculture, and
y resent the control over their economic
independence which is thus given into
the hands of plantation officials. But
il doubtless is the most efficient way of
making sugar, and, measured by this
material standard, the fttest method of
production has survived"
He then briefly outlines the part
which the plantations and the pla Dters
association hold in the industrial com
munity, and gives a running account
, of the physical conditions of sugar
production so that anyone who has new
er seen cane grown can form q very
good idea of the entire range of field
and manufacturing proce"""s. Doctor
Clark g detailed survey Of the labor re,
quired in a sugar mill has never been
2 excelled in any private or government
publication. He says:
Is Little Sltn Required
t'Mills generally work two shifts
during the grinding season, the hands
remaining on duty twelve hours and
taking their meals in the building, As
their duties while eXacting are not
d arduOus, the extra money they earn
makes these positions eagerly sought
by field hands. Some mills do not re.
seive enough cane to work double
shifts. but are not able to handle Their
cane in ordinary working hours. I'm
der these exceptional conditions II IL
the practise to work long hours, paying
an excess rate for overtime. In such
cases men make increased earnings fOI
few months, their hours Increasing
z toward mid season and declining. II
< normal when the grinding is finished
So little special skill is required fol
millwork that men are shifted from
job 70 job as convenience requires, of
ten without a change of pay. Tht
classification Of occupations varies il