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Hawaii Organic Act: Congressional debates on Hawaii Organic Act
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pieces, $350,000 in halves, $125,000 in quarters, and $25,000 in dimes,
all silver.
Mr. ALLISON. All those are kept at par with the currency?
Mr. MORGAN. On the gold standard.
Mr. ALLISON. Of the gold standard?
Mr. MORGAN. Yes.
Mr. ALLISON. It is manifest that that question will be dealt
with without delay.
Mr. MORGAN. That is what I want.
Mr. ALLISON. If the proper amendment should be proposed it
might be dealt with on this bill, but I think it had better be dealt
with in a separate measure.
Mr. CULLOM. I think so.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Senator from South Dakota
presents an amendment, which will be read.
The SECRETARY. Insert as a new section the following:
SEC. 10 1/2. That all contracts made since August 12, 1898, by which persons
are held for service for a definite term, are hereby declared null and void and
terminated, and no law shall be passed to enforce said contracts in any way;
and it shall be the duty of the United States marshal to at once notify such
persons so held of the termination of their contracts.
Mr. PETTIGREW. Mr. President, since the annexation of those
islands by the United States there have been imported from China
and Japan 30,000 contract laborers. The terms of the con-tracts may
be for three or for ten years. Those made in Japan can last for ten
years. Those made in Hawaii can only be for a term of five years.
The old contracts were for terms of three years. I have no means
of ascertaining the terms of these con-tracts; but immediately
upon the annexation of the islands the sugar planters, who have
controlled all that country and who produced the revolution which
caused its annexation to the United States, began at once the
importation of large numbers of con-tract laborers.
Under the law of Hawaii they were required to import 10 per
cent of Europeans or white people along with their Asiatic
importations. They therefore sent agents to Europe, and they did
import 300 people from Austria, who were held as slaves, whipped
and imprisoned by their taskmasters if they refused to carry out
these slave contracts. However, after this experiment, they finally
abandoned the importation of Europeans and have confined their
attention exclusively to the importation of slave labor from Asia.
As I said, since the flag of the United States was raised over those
islands 30,000 of these slave laborers have been imported.
Mr. HALE. And are there now?
Mr. PETTIGREW. And are there now. When a case was
brought in the courts of Hawaii in which the parties were
convicted to imprisonment until they should go back to the service
to which they had been assigned, this supreme court that has been
boasted of so much decided that the Constitution of the United
States did not go with the flag and that therefore these convictions
and sentences to imprisonment were good and should hold; that
these contracts for services were not penal, but civil contracts, and
that under them a man could be imprisoned for life if he did not
willingly return to the service which he had abandoned.
Mr. PLATT of Connecticut. That it was a civil remedy.
Mr. PETTIGREW. Yes, sir; that it was a civil remedy. I
propose now to ask to have the Secretary read the following clip-
pings, one from the Hawaiian Star and the other from the Pacific
Advertiser, showing the ships and the number of contract laborers
that have been imported, and then I will show what kind of
service this is that they have been imposing in that country.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The Secretary will read as
requested.
The Secretary read as follows:
MOVEMENT OF POPULATION.
The total arrivals and departures of persons of all nationalities at the port of
Honolulu for the eleven months ending June 30, 1899, as shown by the
custom-house returns, is as follows:
Males Females Children
ARRIVALS
Chinese ........ 2,348 261 158
Japanese ....... 10,276 2,626 316
Portuguese ..... 34 18 23
All others ..... 2,744 1,604 476
DEPARTURES
Chinese ........ 976 57 75
Japanese ....... 1,432 299 207
Portuguese ..... 14 9 31
All others ..... 1,782 969 323
The total arrivals are 20,884; the total departures, 6,174; net increase, 14,710. By
nationalities the difference between arrivals and departures are: Chinese, 1,659,
gain; Japanese, 11,280, gain; Portuguese, 21, gain; all others, 1,750, gain.
Mr. PETTIGREW. I will state that the paper just read covers the
eleven months previous to June, 1899, and the paper which will
now be read covers the period from Juno, 1899, to December, 1899.
The Secretary read as follows:
VESSELS FROM ORIENT, FUMIGATED AND UNFUMIOATED, SINCE MONTH OF
JUNE, 1899.
The collector-general of customs, Mr. Stackable, has submitted a statement
to the board of health showing the number of vessels, number of tons of
cargo, and the number of immigrants that have arrived at this port from the
Orient from June 17 to December 31, 1899. The emigrants on all vessels were
sent to the quarantine station. The cargoes of 10 vessels were fumigated, as
follows:
FUMIGATED.
Ships Cargo Emigrants
Nippon Maru, July 14 ............ Tons. 750 Numbcr. 227
310 396 381 628 250
428 306416368
Peking, July 22 ................. 400 575 350 29
Gaelic, July 23 ................. 296 341 916 242 216 494 447
Hongkong Maru, July 28 .......... 348 447 705 675
China, August 14 ................ 300
Doric, August 14 ................ 650 2,340
Nippon Maru, August 25 ..........
Rio de Janeiro, September 2 .....
Coptic, September ll ............
City of Peking, October 1 .......
Hongkong Maru, October 13 .......
China, October 24 ...............
N nyo Maru, December 18 .........
Gaelic, December 22 .............
Algoa, December 23 ..............
Hongkocg Maru, December 31 ...... 588 637
NOT FUMIGATED.
Rio de Janeiro, June 17 ......... 427 395 427 32 431 483 384
Coptic, June 26 ................. 1,000 33 190 376 705 605 701
America Maru, July 10............ 1,100 300 699 252 699
Thyra, July 23 .................. 300 250 575 711 701 710 688
Belgian King, August 15 ......... 140 200 360 573 695 731
Toyo Maru, August 18 ............ 891 517 650 710 662 251
Carmarthenshire, September 2 .... 368 200 580
Lennox, September 15 ............ 750
Bankoku Maru, September 23 ......
Gaelic, October 7 ...............
Toyo Maru, October 13 ...........
Dalny Vostock, October 22........
Carlisle City, October 24 .......
Doric, October 30 ...............
Nippon Maru, November 9 .........
Coptic, November 25 .............
Toyo Maru, November 25 ..........
Yorishimi Maru, November 25 .....
Thyra, November 28 ..............
America Maru, December 4 ........
Carmarthenshire, December 5 .....
Total (37 vessels) .............. 18,923 17,886
Mr. PETTIGREW. According to these statements, up to the 31st
of December last 30,000 Asiatic have been imported to these islands
as contract or slave laborers, and they are still there. I understand
that very many more have been imported during the months of
January and February, and that they are importing them at about
the rate of 3,000 a month. When these emigrants reach Honolulu
they are distributed from that point throughout the plantations of
the islands; they are assigned by the companies who import them to
the different planters with whom they have made contracts. Under
these contracts, if the laborer refuses to toil he is arrested, and if
he refuses to go back to service he is sentenced to imprisonment
and confined at hard labor until he will consent to return to the
service. He is fined for the cost of his arrest, and that is docked
from his pay. There is a system of docking if a laborer is too slow
to suit his taskmaster. It is the custom upon plantations to whip
the laborers, to knock them down, pound them with clubs, and to
abuse them in almost any manner that suits the whim or pleasure
of the overseer.
Mr. GALLINGER. Will the Senator from South Dakota permit a
question?
Mr. PETTIGREW. I will.
Mr. GALLINGER. I am very much interested in this phase of
the Hawaiian matter, and unless I am converted to the contrary I
shall vote for the Senator's amendment. I want to ask the Senator if
these contract laborers who seem to be coming to Hawaii in such
large numbers displace other laborers in the islands. In other
words, if they were not brought there, is the supply of laborers
sufficient to meet the requirements of the islands? I know
nothing about it and would like to obtain information.
Mr. PETTIGREW. I presume, Mr. President, that in a measure
they displace day laborers, and that an additional number is also
needed to help take the place of those who returned to Asia, their
contracts having expired. They are also needed to open up