Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 316, 4 Nowemapa 1891 — What Captain Ross did Say? [ARTICLE]

What Captain Ross did Say?

We are plcased to furnish our reader8 t witb the ii)anly opinion of Caotain Ross on the subject of Jabor, given at a meeting a week to-'l-»v before the Meehanien' Protecti vo Union. It is terse and to the jK>iut.' and gives many needed repr«x>fs to our sugar planterB, īn aifnmg to satisfy themseives in this matter without any other consideratron except for "ieir own intereBts ; for no e ;rs. It also givea wiioleßome ad.' and criticism 6n ihe unprecedented manner in whieh r»lantation owners live with their | : i rni!ies abroad % in expensive style, | Mping the profits of labor and of| th« soil, and employing expensive i managers to imagine i : *tr estate duripp; their residenco ; Vroad, at the sanie tiiae, coining *' rwardin piteous tones, before the ] :blic, and askiug thev must have <iiiilerpaid labor brought int<> thc | <• n'.ntry to satisfy this extravagant ite of living and olundering nian•i^ment. Captain Ross ou rising said he j wished they h:id called ou souue| else. He supposed that all i i easonable and tair. thinking mer. I Avt>uld admii that 1 he proHperity of; t.!ie eountry was* owing to Sugarj l\';cntation and to anotlit j r indt»try j Mik'h ha< l>een '>verit>okeii, ihat ini tl»e Rice T«dust j y. While tiiivcliug | -11 tbe Jother l«!ands he found that ■ iriborer« of eiee cultivation << am* antl the suflerod. : A!1 that p]anters ihmk ' t:»eir own ihev o\vrl«ifk ' ! 'k' ta*n thul the riec inuuh>try ; -ī*ITV-rerl gre;itiy wani. ōf \ U,j-—lal>or whi« h in no \v;iv w»th the tv:tilv. s .»v i 'V. :ii»d while u» oonredft tnr sugnr plant*»rii. n iuust notbH Jort»«»ft«*n that therr :\iv othvr h»-j

ddBtries whose inter©3tß must he thou«cht of. He aleo said t that without any intentk>n of being sever»3 on the planters that tbey owe the troubl« j and nneasineBs about labor whieh they are now to them- _ gelves. Four years ago when tbey had all the labor they w*mted anā were prospering on high pricee and the fat oi the land, they did not think of the future. . He warned several pianters of his acpuaintance of conditions that might \nise before long as reparded labor, but was not hseded. While traveling recently he was reminde£l by some oi them of his former remarks and was to!d that it now appeared that he was then correct in his suppoBition of impending trouy.e, at the present impending cnsis, arising from the fall of prioe of sugar. Tbey the planters ought not to think only qf getting eheap labor, but look wards to'wards themselves and some of their extravagances. Wouldn't it add to their prospects to reduce the fancy salaries cf some of tbe managers and grand plantation equipageB, extraordinary freights and commissions, before crying out to make fortui:es out of the bone and of eheap labor aione. Somethmg done in that direction would .tend to good feeiing instead of saying of others. himself included, that we are down on the sugar ?planters. Why, it is well known to those familiar with the eountry, that were it not for the favorable yield of tbe soil owmg to fortunate location,. tbere are several pJantations whieh could scarcely exist even with high nrices simply thrfeugh the wav in whieh they are administered.- He himself wae for the general prospe* rity of the plantations,so long as they . aliowed the full rigbtB of others and their existence in tbis couutry. There is abundflnce of room fōr other iiidcjgtries. (>niy one tenth of the av:iilable agmultural land is now in UBe. ■■■ ■ Now iijtbe sugar plantere were in earnest they should have encouraged other indastries instead of depending on one. Their oniv ory is cbeap labor. Thcv say nothing about population; thev have taken their wealth from here wbere tbey made it and invesfced ijbahroad in land andforeign Xhere are tho«Bands of acres on Hnwaii alone suitable for homes and tbe rearing of families and the eultivation of coffee, cotton, ramie and other agricuiturrd pursuits. Have the plaoters invested in ori taken the risk of opening up these j industrics or the encourageiuent of | these undertakings? N'o, they iake ! • their nioney abroad and do Kurope,; ' Thev take their families fco Berlin j | and Pn.ris. Thev might take tliem to | B«gdad as fiir as he was poncernrd j |as long as tt|cy shew a desire to <lo j 1 «omething bere. », j A short tin»e ago j ī <'oti wrsfition wilh .tlio n>an;iger uf j ia plantatiou, he eompiuim*! ol |betnjjc hard up, tbat he wanted ! more lit»M bandB. Tbe putj ' the qurry, how nuieh ofa orop he i | waB gel ting. The an<<wer >vas j ■V».>out (KKK» f ■?).>. WbHt • * i . or lopliea, yuu innai 1 ifid;*ed j v>'i y < itoap l.ibor ai tiiav ra».e, for ! y > >u B IHO**-' p' > oplc t iiAii is : j i>oedou ior that &mountof Tāe! • rbat he b<ni been( ,i»r y«)UiutĪDie rhat there; i — tr o*' i:\bur > 4n»iwht)r** y j j> qnitc about it. j The spoaJccr \vn*j£i»en Mikin<r fo aj I wh" to thu country ;

twow tferee jtears einee and frmn managing & glass factoxy. 6oth tbe -boss and the maDager were Ameneau». The4x)Bs*was in Europe luxunatiag, th« monager mostly in Honolulu driving a*ound in his eai^ lu»as, anei when one asked for an adVauee v in pay he was told it eouWn'i be dune, but that if disatisfied with his pay he could go to the offioe. Such institutions run m such a spirit will be sorely in *nsed of eheap labor; may perhaps think of having laborers without pay,and fi»d themselves; howeVer, it n|ust be allowed that all plantations arenot like that. All fairminded people went to see the plantations exkt, and in faet to see niore of them, but we also want to see people who live here get their just dues. Let the plantations have labor, but not suoh laborers as will infringe ui>on the rights of the natives and foreign workingmen and mechanies. They say the native won't work, but the speaker would like to know whose business it is a§ long as they or others could get along without working, and ~<lki not heeome a burden upon thein: The speaker had worked as hard in Jiis day as anyone, but was fi)rtunate in having a little lefb for a rainy day. He was a firm believer in the doctrine of equal rights for all. The Hawaiian was the true the soi] t and an aristoerat byfiiature, the attempts of niaRV otkers around us are merely shoddy and verv in different material some of it is at that. Let the planters proeper, but to do so at the briuging in. of hardship, aqualor, genefal misery and distress upon the nati ves and foreign meehanijCS and workingmon no, there must be a guurantee that others are not to suffer thereby. Tlianking the audience for their iadulgence T Mr. Hoss withdrew. amid, «te.