Hawaii Holomua, Volume III, Number 111, 12 May 1894 Edition 02 — The "Ferguson" Scheme. [ARTICLE]

The "Ferguson" Scheme.

— Our reaJers doabtless reaiem- ; ber the seusatīon;il accounts recently pablished by the vernacular press and reproduceJ with sceptical eommenU in these I colnmns with reference to alleged | harJships anJ cruel treatment satlereJ by Japanese immigr:tnts m Guatemala. In consequence of these stories, Mr. CuinJa, ! Japanese Consul in San Francisco j was sent to examiue anJ repurt, auJ his account. au epitome of whieh now appears in tbe Sichi Sūhi SMiubun, not only Jispels thc illusion that Japanese labor-i ers have beec sobjectoJ tb any ill-treatment, but aiso sbows tbat theīr emplovers hare been kmJ and even liberal towards them. There are at preseut 140 Japauvse laborers īn Guatemaia. aud their work CTnirasts so favorably wiih ; that of tbe indo!ent natives of the plaee that no disposition exists to treat them barsuly.. lt is true thut the iazy habits of tho

nativvH have induc»’»l en>ployers to resort to melho*.is of panish»uent of a more or !ess qaestion—able character. among whieh are mcluded imprisonment in. cells constracted on the placUtions and redoetious of the daily rati':<c ; of food. It seems verv probal>Iv that the Japanese objected to a tr-rra of cmployment whieh injcluded sach eontingencies. bat • certainlv no -i-eeial harsbne>s • 1 wa> resorted to m tbeir case More ver the creat- majority of the:n have become free laborvrs. >o that only 30 now remaiu under contract. One result of thi> is that the Japanesc labourers havc acqnir< i exceptional inAueuee. They know how to use their strength too. and instances are uot wanting of their combination for parpoSe> ofintimidation. So far. therelbre, from being in a state of somislaverv. they really control the sitnation and command eoneiliatory treatment. The true origin of the complaints th»t havo reacbed this side of the wator seeras to be Snancial. A labourer s pav is ten American doIl.us a raonth, of whioh aliont one half is required for food and clothing, so that no very large sum eau be laid by iu the course of a year. There is also some trouble apparently with respect to food. The universal custom of the conntrv is two meals a day. and employersof Japanese labour conforru. of course, to this custom. But the Japanese like three, and sometimes four, meals a day, and though arrangemeuts have now beeu made whieh permit tbera to indnlge this propensity their frequent recourse to food soems to have di>credited them in tbe eyes of the nativeS. Cotiee-planting is the work upon whieh thoJapane.se ureemploved The loeale is a plaleau from three to five thousainl feet above sealevel, so that theclimateotfers no courseforcomplaiut. TheJapanesecome fromHawaii with a good reputation whieh their coud«ct in Ooaiēmala has hitherto sū> taine«l. But there are evidently some abuses connected with their transfer from tbe foruoer plaee to the lattor. Thus,r gents through whose intervention they uro bronght over receive. it is said, in some cases a commission of as mueh as eighty dollars a head, and moreover make twenty dollars out of the sixty whieh they charge for passage raoney. These large gains have so esited their cupidity that they search far and wide for Japanese, going even as far as San Francisco to find them. Mr. Chiuda, iu hi> report, warns his countrymen agaiust being deeeived by these Jagents, for it is not to their inj terest to engage tbemselves as contract Iaborers in Guatema!a. He thinks that tbere is a good prospeot for free labor, above all if it be accompanied by capital for a!though cotfee-p!anting as carried on there is profitabie. no returns eau be expected from a I plantatii ns until fivo years atter it has beea laid dowu. Moreovsr. the cofieo-plauters appear to mainiain severe competition among themselve5, an«l any man settling in Guatemala raust be provided with means to work quite independently of his neighbors. In a word, the conditions existing in Gaatemala do not <difter materially from thc>o iu .Mexico. C«pital is nine-teuths of the battle.— J<xpan \\'eekbj ' Mail. Thl street-sweeper, lately imported by Soper’s brother-in-law, shoald be edacateJ in the etbics of time at least. if not in plaee aud opportunitv*. The work of the aneient article comes ouder the head of ‘*deeds of darknes,” with night-soil men etc.