Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 304, 18 September 1894 — The Labor Question. [ARTICLE]

The Labor Question.

Tho mispiou of Tbnrston nud 1 tbo i'ussage of a bill providing 1 (or tbo appoiutment of a labor i commission show that tbe povern- ; ment and iheii *'planting" back- i ers aro seriousIy alanued over the outlook iu rogard to Iubor in | Hawaii. Wo have got t o many Japauose. We cannot get Chin- i ese and it will bo a most serious aftair if Europeans nro iuduccd to ! oome here uiulcr ful8© preteuscs and through the agency of the governinent’s onvoy Mr. L. A* Thureton. Tho planters say that they must have eheap labor. Should tho reciprocity treaty bt abrogatod the future of the country is aimply despairing. Wo have put j all our cggs iu ono basket; the j basket is made of sugar eane and ! uiay secm strongenongh. Shoo)d J it wcar out tho eggs will drop ; aud Hawaii has only got tho oue lot. The diversifiod iudustrics j from coft'eo to guava-jelly don't j amonut to anythiug. Tbcso is- j lauds will nevor bo a coftec eoun- i try nor will it evcr jviy to culti-: vate fruits whieh ncvcr ean l»e { brought into a markct in sucocssful compctitiou with the frnits j raiscd in Califoruia. It is there- | forc nccc8sary to take the sogar j industry iuto first cousidcration , aud seo what ean bo done to help • it a)ong without iujuring the I people at largc and their ditfer- J ont occnpatious aud industrics. The plaut«rs favor Chineso labor. Japau rcfuscs to allow auv wholesalc importation of Chinese to Hawaii. Thero cxists an agreemeut b«twcou the Mikado’s governmcnt aud Hawaii whkh prevent the introdaction of i ehineee hcre and tho govormnent of tbe republic dares not vioIate it or break it. There are moro than 30,000 Japaneaeuow in Hawaii. liiaaiated lhat arraugemenis bave been made for a further introdnction o£ 10,000. Thoy may eome within the uest sis months. W« do not believe (hat tho Japauese governmcnt is aiuioua to ailow

niore of its subject« to eooie here as long as tbere is «oeh a pronoonee»! feel ng against A»:atics among tbe whit* men bere. Still, • if an carcest *lemand is made tbev will eome aod in a short whde one balf of the p-pnlatioo of H-»waii will be Japane#e, and aearly, all males in the prime of manboc<l Can »ny country look with indiffertnce al sncb an invasion and snch a condition for the naiion’ The mission of Mr. Tburston j will be fruitkss. He will not succeed in getticg one single laborer bere. V\e understand that Colonel Spaid:ng will joinhim »r.d we all know the Colonel s preference for li&lian and Fortugues, l»borers. Their first attack will be made in Portngal. The commissionere will unfold a most glowing picture of Hawaii and persuade the iguorant citizens of the Azores and Madeira thal gold ean be picked in the streets of the ever j sunnv Paradi.se of tbe Pacific. , They will not tell the truth. ■ They will deny that tbe fact to- | day is that hundred. of Portu- j guese families are starv:ng from want of work. That the men bave to idle because what littte work is going on is being per- , formed by Japanese. That the , women find nothing to do for j their thrifty hands because the Portnguese nnrse-girl and working woman havebeen rep aced by a still cheaper Japane£e woman who has tho advantage of • being—tue wife of the eook. Mr Thurston will uot go in to the -uarket plaeo in St. Miguel and ' eiplaiu to the people how their . countrymen in Hawaii go to bed many a night with a eup of cof- j fee aml a pieeo of bread as their solc food; or how the plautation a:anng<*rs and other employers ; : hnnt them from j<lace to plaee if they do not sacrifice principlo and independence and heeome ] obedient slaves and foreswear their allogiance to their countty for tho s iko of helping a republie whieh used thera and then kicked tbem overboafd, disfraui chiscd them liko crin*mals, aud scorned them. Oh, no; Mr. Thurston will tell them ucthing of the kind. But their friends will and fortbat reason his mission to Portugal will be a failure and ho cxposed as a g : gantic fraud, a blackbirdar aud sw ind- ! ler. Then he will proceed to Belgium. Of all countries in the world we should imagine Belginm i the most unlikely plaee to whieh 1 au immigratjon ageut would go. It simply shows the astonishing ignorance of the men who eonduot the goverument. The Belgians aro not an<l immigrating people aml if they* do leave their couutrv they prefer to go to Afriea where they will find themselves under the imraediate prOtection of their home—government aud their flag. The raajority of Belgiaus are engaged in iniuing antl manufactoringlwork. The farmer who wonld be on!y suitable to plantation work is prospcrous and satisfied and will uever imraigrate even if Tburston promises gold and land in , abnudance. He will then skim the seaports j in Germany anJ Scandinavia. Tbe people of those countries have been there before and burnt their fingors. A man named Lorange at oue time weut to N*orway and bronght a number of laborers. The\- found tbemselves swimlled aml cheated and they wi uld have killed their false tempter if he hadn’t made himse1f j scarce. Tbe event«al missioo of Mr. Gnp oa behalf of the Norwegian government is a matter j of history. Wherever Thurston goes in the high North words j of waming will follow him and ' the different governmcnts will do i all in their power to prevent a rej>etiuon of the scandalooa proceedings of former years. The principlcs under whieh ihe plantatiou mauagers run their planUiione are so tota M y different to those in vogue among ihe farmmg classes in Eorope, that it would be impossible for the most willing farmer to work Lannonious’y wiih the Hawaiian slavedriver. Tbe £utopean fannlaborer is not a siave, and he is used to be treated as a man and not &a a cattle. Besides. his ‘ boas ’ ie either a peasantof who

he is the eqaal or a gentl*:man. Th« average Hawaiian p!aoter is oeitber one thing or tbe other. Wbere tben sha ? ! our patriotic i p!aoter get hi« laboTers? Why not fr >tn Amenei, the !and to whieh Mr. Tburston wishes to join Hawa i. If there really is, as we have been to!d s-> often 60 mil!ions of sj'mpathizing Amerieans witb 60 mi!li<:<ns of heart» beatiog a rvgular ta-too for tbe free raen of Hawaii *hy don't #ome of them eome out aud help the said freemen in raising eane and making JividendsT Why doe« Mr. Thurston Ieave out the j land of bis Wby tloes not he pive the e >xev army. tbe evicted Pullmaa #trikers and the numeroris idlers a ehanee to beeome ricb by workiog as “eheap j iabor’’ on a HawaiLn p!antation? Look to Amenea for your labor Me?srs. scgar barons. The men ; < f Euiope canuot be fooled any more by fair and fa’se prom:ses. Bat gentlemen. you are atraid of tbe Americans and that is wby i your tool Thurston steers clear of I the land"f the Stars and Stripes? Tbe commis3ion in the meantirae has not materialized. The idea of it raay be good and the promoter mean honest. Our private opinion is thnt nothing will be gained by it excej>t demonstrjting it as a g ; gintic humbug. The I.<ibor quest:on will neither be solved by Thurston's “bridal" tour or Erarceluth’s pet commission. We want to say something awfully pretty to our esteemed morning contemporary bul tears of gratitude blind our oves. The promptness with whieh our editorials are being reproduced in the Advtrtiser is worthy of a eompliment aud the community feels truly grateful to find something worth re.nding in the forncerly stale columns of Mr. Armstrong’s paper.—P!easecontinue your good work, We are not copyrighted! 1 The Diocesan Magazlne for September is out and furnishes some very interesting reading. The editor, Bishop Willis, has not given up hopes of nn uhiraate victory for the people of Huwaii. He writes forcibly aud to thej|oint and pr vcs himself U»ereby throughly and happilv nitferent from the reverend oftbe “Anglican Churob Clwoniole.” The month!y co/tuus many clerical raatters ar#i als>anotitication of the L/au and Fair whieh short!y wiilpe he!d for the benefit of the chur/jli and t> whieh we refer in anoiho/ olumu. I —=