The Maui news. [volume] (Wailuku, Maui, H.I.) 1900-current, 1919-02-07
Social Welfare On Plantations

Social Welfare On Plantations
The move of the sugar planters to
institute a system of social welfare
on the island plantations is crafty
ing indeed to the community at large.
1t il a harbinger of a new era; proof
that the planters, like all other in
dustrial leaders, are alive to the
changing ideals that have had their
birth in the new conditions arising
ffrom the war.
With evidence on every hand of
the dawn of a new civilization, man
ifested in the growing interest OF
capital in the welfare of the working
class, in an earnest desire to promote
a higher standard of working and liv-
ing conditions, the conviction is
borne home that the war, despite the
~stupendous cost involved in lives and
money, will prove a lasting benefit
to the world.
1t has opened the eyes of men to
things that if they were considered
at all, were viewed as %utopian, as
belonging to another age, as imprac-
ticable in application.
Despite a sporadic outburst on the
part of labor it cannot be denied that
the employer has become more al
truistic, more considerable of those
who live by the sweat of their brow
and the toll of their hands.
The decision of the Hawaii sugar
planters should have f~ar-reaching eff
fects, not this year, perhaps, but sure
ly in the not distant future. 1t is an
indication of the realization of a
mutual interdependency.
Without the power of capital, back
J ed by the energy and capability to
put into execution the forces that
spell progress and development, labor
would be chained and bound, en-
meshed in stagnation; on the other
hand, without the laborers to assist
in production and transportation, it
would be impossible for industrial
giants to attain the pinnacle of sue
cess.
It goes without saying that the
planters are wise now in grasp1ng
the trend of thought, of sensing the
significance of the momentous sociol-
ogical changes that seemingly will
lay the foundation for a new order of
society.
The planters, too, are 10 be com
menGed for their steps which will
real up a new fabric between the do
minant industry of the islands and
the field workers, whose cooperation
along intelligent lines can be made a
powerful factor for efficiency and in
creased production.
None can gainsay that it is not a
move in the right direction. 1t may
at the beginning tend to cut down
profits, but in the long run it will
prove a paying investment.
If properly directed the movement
N should gradually make for a higher
standard of intelligence among ouI
labor; it should tend to improve the
physical status of the workers; ii
will tend to bring about stability
among this class by making them
more satisfied in general with life
by providing them with the little
things that make for contentment.
Such a humanitarian spirit viii
counteract the impression gaining
foothold that the laborer is held as
a mere automaton, to grind out his
daily schedule, at the beck and cal
of lunas who frequently hold the
plantation animals in greater esteem
than the human element. Injection
of this personal equation into the
otherwise sordid, dreary, monotonous
existence of these lei and their ia
miles cannot fail to result in a gen
eral improvement, in a more elevat
ing environment in the plantation
camps.
The adoption of the social welfare
principle means an easing of the
burden that has weighed down the
shoulders of the worker; it should
A., give him a new freedom and fill his
4 heart with a new energy.
The action of the planters is a true
appreciation of the trend TOWARD
moral, political and economic uplift
1t is an exemplifcation hat the in
tellectual forces of mankind are il
the period of reconstruction to give
more attention to the welfare of theil
less favored fellows. i is an expires
sion of the higher morality of the
new age on which we are entering.
When in full process it will NEAR
sunshine for the workers. 1t canno
fail of success because it is humanit
arian.-Star -Bulletin.