Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 157, 25 March 1891 — Conract Labor. [ARTICLE]

Conract Labor.

That pugar-coated organ establiplieel aiul subsidised for tHe main--lainānceof oontract labor and other peculiarities deemed necessary to ihe comfort of certain of Hawaii'e hueolie rnagnates and knov/n as the . Pae. C@m. Advertiser did in its issue of the 20th inst, charactcrize • «ur comments on contract labor, ♦ publishcd in Ka Leo on the 16th inst., as worn out and dishonest. We are not concerned in answering the Advertiser'fi question of how many <Timinals must be acting in coilus:on.', beyond stating the well known f;ict that the mortgaged human rhattel euphoniously termed a eontract laborer is not generally consid : .!ered handsome or wealthy enough hv any of the long list of Inspectors umployers. lunas, witnesses. judges, ;m<i <he Advertiser could add law-v(-rs to enlist syinpathy. īf he hap•iens to be a Japanese, he has to -on;e extent.the protecti(jM whieh his nwn governnient insist on of niediiiM'i) and interpretcrs and iiih'pectors of his <«)wn cou.ntry.iaen, to that l;c ge? ji;. I»Ml what of all the otlier nationlitics not so j'rotect< (l, iii<*lu<iing even t.he Ha- , v. aiian?

Is it not 11 fact l>eyond <3ispute tliat :herc is not a poliee judge on the '-lands outside <)f Honoluln who <loes not know that his iiving depends upon not doiug any official act coiitrary to the expressed wish of the loeal planter? Ts not the sheriff and his deputy iilso happy when the plantation ūianager smiles? Is there not at .'ieheil to everv plantation a stall fed la\vyer as part of the 'eoneem €ver ready with his lega 1 lassoo to haul the contract laborer over tbe coalsf whiV the unfortnnate mortgaged chattel—who has fjoneraliy to find hiinself and fainily on from thirteon to eighteen dullars a :nonth, if he is able to do twenty{■:ix days \vork a month, is inv.-tria-blv destitute of a knowledge of law or a lawyers fee. In the case we instanced on the 16th inst. of a medica3 man on Kauai who sued an erx:ployer for services ren(-lvred to his contract Laborer and who was cheated bv the trick of the emplover in not having the contract figned, the Advertiser says " it ghows that the contract laborer ig well cared for" in being provided with medical attendar.ee. But would tbis trick help him to be well cared for again ? Not medically we guess. We are not speciallv interested •in the fact that the coutracts are to a great exterit unsigned and unetamped otily for thepurpoee of indicating liow the law in this particular is commonly evaded and a inedical man defrauded by a trick. We will take the trouble however to inforni tīie ignahominus who questions our gospel, how that particular contracts remained unsigned and how there was no need of ' criminal collusion,'V and y®t how the white man planter had the firmest kind of legal grip over that The law requires that there ehall be an original coatract and a cops the one for the "mistor" the copy for the u servant." They eaeh re- j quire a dollnr for acknowledging before a commissioner and eaeh a dollar Btamp. It s?ldom happens that the servant demands the copy as he knows ali about itj after the formalitv of acknōmd«dging

the original it is pul «v,\iy unstamped the staniping costs a dollar and is a needlessl out)ay unless the laborer'is taken to Court. As for the ehanee of the laborer ever seeing the plantation, onlv the moment the laborer quits work t© go to the court for rēdress—unless a Jap—he is arrcsted and charged with desertion and if eonvicted fined, or failing the ability to pay, is set to work it out on the roads on a par with criminals. The Advertiser eondescendcd to notice only one phase, of the several on labor whieh we prescnted, and that the least interesting. We are charged by the Advertiser in being dishonest in accusing the planting interest with being accessorv to the man-stealing that has been for years carried on by Hawaiian ships owned by our p!anters. We assert tiiat a certain niissionary planting firni in this city did for years—as long as the law permitted—bargain for the delivery of Ronth-sca Tslrinders at per head and <Jui retail them ont again in lots to suit, and if thc Advertiser .wants. t!ie full na:ne <>f the parties we. w.ill publish them,.*ogether wiili tiie nurnbors of. is!:inrlers iinpcrted and the eoniparativc few exp(.)rtc<l baek to their hoines. We wish it • u-nd ; erstood that there are planters on these island who ever discountenanced the -importation of Soutli-£ea laborers knowing the mcans used to precure them, and we knew planters who ean get' along well without any contract labor. It is. with the hope of increasing the number of planters vvho employ free labor and to prepare them for the inevitable day "near at hand," when the labor laws of the United States will be our standard that we thus try to do our share in public "diication. M<'antinie 3 we hope the Advertiscr will <lerive eomfort frorn Judge l>o!e in the labor matter. :