The Hawaiian gazette., 1917-11-06
RODERICK 0. MATHESON. EDITOR
Lucky Plantation Labor

w paid by the plantations of the Territory tc
their labor will be seventy-eight percent OF the
wages under the regular scale il becomes more
than ever apparent that the plantation laborer in
the Islands is fortunate individual in his employ
nient. He has found the cost Of living higher, il
is true but the extra payment which he will re
ceye this year is fifty percent larger than he re-
ceyed last year and seventy-three percent greater
than two years ago. .g... - i.,-s-,f .,l, ~,
Profit sharing with employees is becoming more
and more general in this country with employers
whether corporations, firms individuals, anc
here in the Hawaiian Islands the plantation com
panies are dealing more literally with their hell
than is realized even by the employees themselves
In few industries, if there any, can there b,
found employees who have benefited by the in
creased prices received for the product of Their
labor as have the workers in the sugar plantation.
OF Hawaii
Steady workers in the Islands on the sugar plan
tations will this year receive in addition to tn,
regular wage scale, bonus of seventy-eight per
cent OF their regular earnings. part Of this ha.
already been paid to them in monthly payment.
but the balance is now to come to them in lumI
sum. Ii they have lived within their earning.
during the year they now have handsome saw
ing to show for the efforts which they have pu
forth in their own interests as well as those o
their employers. f.. l#.
For the year ending October 81 1913. the labor
ers received one percent over and above their ordi
nary pay. For the year ending October 81, 1914
the bonus was FIVE percent The plantation labor
er has thus, it is apparent received an increase o
wages amounting to seventy percent over pre-wa
days And this in spite OF the fact that the cost o
everything used in the industry from the ertilize
that is put upon the ground to the sacks in which
the raw sugar is packed, from the fuel used in tn,
mill to the freight paid for carriage, has cost tn,
plantation companies much more than in the pre-
war period. .,.. ..... ,".. las ~
The stocIholdercin the company gets his divid
ends upon the absolute net returns from the sugar
after all costs are paid The higher the costs the
smaller his returns but not so with the laborer
He is paid his bonus according to what is received
in gross for the sugar The fact of higher costs o
production do not enter into calculations SO far as
he is concerned. #@.
Few industries have proftted from the war more
than has copper mining, in which profit sharing il
almost universal The price of copper during the
year reached figure three times as great it was
before the war The price fixed by the govern
ment is now more than twice great as it was il
1914. The miners wages, however, have increased
only about sixty percent. The price OF sugar las
year was not one-third greater than in 1914, but
The wages OF the worker in the fields went uE
seventy percent.
II is the same way in the steel industry and il
a number Of others which enter directly into the
manufacture of things needed for the war While
the workmen receive higher wages than formerly
the percentage cannot compare with the gain made
by labor in these Islands. With them an increase
Of ten percent has pleased, and twenty or twenty
five has satisfied
The plantations called upon to beaI
still heavier burdens because of the war Terri
torial taxes higher all that is bought higher
a war tax is charged upon their earnings in add
ton to the former income tan. But these all fal
upon the employer and not upon the employee
Despite increased cost despite increased taxes, his
bonus is based on the gross receipts for the prod
net
Shipping freights expected to go still higher
That will affect the employer, not the employe.
There is probably not plantation in the Islands
that has averaged $l2l 90 for its sugar gross thin
year but that was the average market price for the
year and that is the basis upon which the bonu.
is paid.
Should it turn out that price OF go cents {
pound, $l38 ton, is fixed by the sugar commits
sion it would mean a bonus of l02 percent mex
year for the laborer. No such increase will come
ever. The increased costs the increased freights
the very item of increased bonus, all come out O
the earnings before the dividends OF the company
come to him. "A
49, i-.&.
The Curtis Publishing Company Of Philadelphia
publishers of The Saturday Evening Post, the