The daily worker. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1924-1958, 1931-03-09
Forced Labor in us.
Colony Hawaii
By HELEN KAY.

valued in le2s-29 at about $66,000.o00, and was
produced by the sweat and toll of thousands OF
exploited contracted laborers in this province of
American dollars,
Leland olds, of the Federated Press, says of
Hawaii; "Out where the wealthy pleasure seek
ers do not go, cheap labor is exploited to pro-
duce something like $3.50 a head each year in
dividends Owners OF Hawaiian plantations
have all the advantage Of cheap colonial labor
without having to meet the duty which Con-
gress has levied on Cuban sugar"
Hawaii is chiefly an agricultural country with
sugar and pineapples as the main products, fol-
lowed by coffee. rice and tobacco. Originally
Hawaii had population of about $4,000, and
as Victor Houston, in the Mid-Paclhc Maya
zine of March, $780, put it: observers report
that tl7e race was strong and virile, and there
seems to be grounds for believing that there was
little dangerous sickness amongst them. 1he
land and the sea produced everything need1ul
TO a prosperous continuance OF the race. AS
contact with the older civilization rolled IN dis
ease and pests and vicious practices literally
invaded the land. The race was literally decl-
ms ed, so that aS one time there were only
5000 old Hawaiians left"
v-orkers we're imported to work the plantations
as carly as 1865-1886 during which time over
90 900 coolies mainly Cantonese, were brought
in They came under contract that paid them
four dollars a month with food and shelter.
Food that was in reality a starvation diet, and
shelter. consisting of long low filthy barracks
This importation of contract laborers which
means peonage and slavery to the workers I'M
dor the con1pete control of Mr.. Dollar, is still
orf10 cI10yrc in
of January. 1881, than even during the crisis
in Honolulu when workers were walking the
streets vainly hunting jobs, "at the very mo-
lnent when this unemployment crisis was most
acute. the sugar plantations were constantly III
the market for labor and we're actually import
lug 100 to 300 laborers from the Philippines
every fortnight"
Leon Partlow further states in his article:
There is an old saying, You can't keep SOUR
rel on the ground and it seems equally true
tlat you can't a laborer in the cane helos.
Conditions are so horrible that workers will
not remain slaves on the sugar plantations
longer than their contract holds them. That
is why continued importation of workers is
necessary to keep up the level Of exploitation.
Although 10 per cent of the cane field labor
is done by Filipino workers there are in
Hawaii, Japanese, Chinese, Koreans, Scandin-
avians Germans Galcians, Portuguese, Porto
Rjcans Spaniards, and South Sea Islanders
Each imported, at one time or another by Amer
lean imperialism, to work on the sugar planta-
tons
To insure constant influx of cheap labor,
43 of the As sugar companies united, and formed
what they call the "Sugar Planters Associa-
ton" whose chief duty is to insure cheap con-
tract labor for all the member plantations Reg
ular statesmen travel from country to country
where workers can be induced to work in the
pearl of the Pacific" They entice the workers
by various means to leave their poverty stricken
homeland and come to Hawaii, to work on the
beautiful" sugar plantations. Workers must
pay their own passage to Hawaii, which amounts
to about SIS, and they are told that after they
get there, if they work for three years on the
plantation, they may pay their passage back"
Once accepted they sign contract with the
sugar Planters Association in which they agree
to work for ten hours day, at least 20 days
a month for three years, and to turn out Tor
work WHENEVER CALLED UPON"
The contract further forbids worker to
leave the plantation to which he is assigned
and go to another plantation to work until
one year has elapsed" The wage is generally
settled at 81 day, but they are not usually
paid on this basis. They are most often paid
on the basis of the amount of work turned out,
the piece work system I'm addition to these
amounts the laborer is given turnout bonus
of 10 per cent Of his wages provided he works
as many as % days in month" The company
must offer some bride to keep the worker slay-
ing under the hot scorching sun for such mere
pttances.
In reply to questions asked by investigators
an overseer replied as follows: eff a contract
1aborer is idling in the field we dock him; we
give him only one-half or three-fourths of a
day and if he keeps it up we resort to the
law and have him arrested for refusing to
work"
For the first offense he is ordered back to
work, and he has to pay the cost Of court. If
he refuses to obey orders he is arrested again
and light fine is inflicted which the planter
can pay and take it out Of his pay, or else.
he is put on the road to work For the third
offense he is likely to get three months impris-
onment."
Since s5 per cent of the workers on the plan
tations are under contract to the boss planter,
and since the island is under the direct control
of sugar trusts, one can easily see how COM
pletely under the control of the sugar capitalists
the imported contract laborer is
Leland Olds, also brought out that the "con-
troll Of the island appears to radiate from three
main concerns. Alexander and Baldwin have
20 directorships in II companies; American Fac
tors has 80 directorships in IS companies, and
Bewer and Co. has 81 directorships in IL COM
panies. To cap the pyramid, the representatives
of Alexander and Baldwin sit on the boards of