Ka Leo o ka Lahui, Volume II, Number 203, 28 May 1891 — THE VANISHING CONSIDERATION. [ARTICLE]

THE VANISHING CONSIDERATION.

The United States basbeen trading with its neighbors, selling th«m a kind of gelden talisman whieh has the wonderful and valuable quality of vanishing from the hands of its purchaser and returning to its master after having served to bind the bargain and secure the deBired results. If sev6ral of the sugar producing countries are alloweel to sell their product in American markets without, duty, wlfether by free trade or by rcciprocity, th© competition and over-production will |render the business unprofitable. If now appears certain thut Hawaii wiil nōt only have 4o suffer fron} temporary free traHe; but, if we continue our rel,ations with the U. S. we shall always have to corapete with Cuba, Barbad«es, Guiana, Braxil and ma:iy otlier countrieB where labur and !und is cheaper than they ean ever }>essibly be here. The sugar induslry is in a bnd The real cause of the troubln is this: Sug«r is grown in nl! tropieal countries by what is practicaliy Blave )abor, that is, unj)aid

labor, that receives only enough to keep the b(Kiy* in working conditi»n. Whether a slaves receives the food direct or a eoolie reoeives & few cents to buy it with, makes no importani difference. They work like cattle for the bare privilege of existing. A man works under coersion whether under the whip or under stress of hunger. i It is the same in fact, if a man is ! ccmpelled to work or starve or has the ehoiee of working or going to jail as men have in Hawaii. When in 1800, slavery was forpmally abolislied in the British West Indies the price of sugar rose soinewhat. But the slaves were not to be liberatfed till seven years afterward, for whieh time they had been apprenticed to their old masters, during whieh time there was a ehanee to work them to death without the loss that would otherwise accured from the loss of a valuablē chattle. Then followed the liberation of slaves in Cuba that advanced the price of sugar and stimulated the industry in the other parts of the world. The price of sugar would have always kept up i-f means of evading the spirit of the siave laws had not been inve.nted speedily. In all small countries where the planters could control the govenunentJ, peculiar labor ■ laws were enacted and the manner of construing and enforcing them was more peculiar. Indian coolies be£?an to be shipped to plantations, and Chinese coolies were bouglit and sold by shiploads' in the diffcrent planting countries. England and Amenea tned to put a stop to the eoolie trade, but after running under ground for a while it repppeared as the contract labor system and so it continues till th# present day. No counlrj T where labor is paid ean compete with slaVe owing countries īn tbe production of sugar. The best sugar industry has never shown the ability to exist without the stimulation ofa bounty. By great good fortune our sugar was admitted īn to the U. S. and protected from the competition of unpaid labor. From whieh we had a right to expect a better order of things and advantnges to our people. Instead of this the whole profit went*into the hands of the few capitalistB; and we are cursed with a eoolie labor system nearly as bad as that of Chili enforced iii the same way—*by laws and courts that look all right but work ell< wrong. If the sugar industry were not already hear we would pray that it might never blight the land, but being here we should use every endeavor t.o prevent ub from sinking quite to the level of counfcries where labr>rers are guarded night and day l>y government soldiers.