No. 11.
Statement of William Blaisdell.

Dear Sir: I hereby take advantage of the privilege granted me by you to communicate by letter anything of interest in addition to my statement made to you a fortnight or so ago.

If I remember rightly, I forgot to reply, in answer to a question asked me, “Whether the planters had introduced any other nationalities than Asiatics in this country as laborers,” that for several years during the time we received 2 cents a pound for our sugar several thousands of Portuguese families were induced to come to the Islands from Azores under contract to this Government, and then transferred to the planters.

They proved to be the best and most reliable class of laborers brought to this country; no other class of labor has given as good satisfaction. But when the price took such a tumble and we were obliged to make sugar for $40 a ton less, we were compelled to look elsewhere for less expensive laborers, or go to the wall.

The first cost of importing Portuguese was a considerable expense as the distance is so great between the two countries; that expense had to be borne by the planters. They also received higher rates of wages than any other class of labor in the country, and, in addition, were furnished [Page 710] free house room, fuel, medical attendance for the whole family. Notwithstanding their greater expense to the Planters as laborers than the Japanese or Chinese, they were, on the whole, a more desirable class of employés than any other class of labor, and I hope that, if we are annexed to the United States of America, our circumstances will be so much better, financially, that we can again encourage the immigration of that class of labor to this country. There may be some trouble in getting them here, if the contract-labor system is abolished, for they have not the funds wherewith to defray the expense of bringing their families out here, let alone themselves. The Planters, therefore, would have to advance them that much, and the binding of the laborer to serve for a certain time is the only security the employer can obtain for the refunding the amount of the advance, which is deducted from his wages in monthly installments, and as the new settler can spare but a very small portion of his earnings each months he is as a rule two years working out the debt.

Much has been said against the contract-labor system by people who do not understand it; much more can be said in its favor by those who do. As a rule the contract laborer is better off in every respect than the noncontract man. A contract man is free to do as he pleases when his ten hours of work are over. It is true he is compelled to work when physically able, and if a man claims to the contrary, he reports to the physician, and if, after an examination, the physician finds the least thing ails the laborer, he is excused from work, and if, on the contrary, he is sound in health, is lazy, and feigns illness for an excuse to get a day or two to idle or gamble, he is ordered to work, which order should he disregard, he is taken before a magistrate, and, if he fails to prove that he is physically unable to work, he is ordered by the court to go to work, and, should he still refuse, he is sent to jail, there to remain until he agrees to do as ordered.

It is a common rule on all plantations to occasionlly grant a leave of absence for several days to a man who has proved himself worthy of it. A good man is seldom, if ever, denied that privilege.

The fact of the laborer being compelled to work when able, enables him to earn more wages than the noncontract men. He, therefore, always has money laid by for a rainy day; whereas the day laborer or noncontract man does not work more than 80 per cent of his time, and spends that time, when not at work, in idleness and gambling, and in running from one part of the country to another.

I maintain that where there is a large number of the lower class, as there is in this country, and also where the rate paid to the laborer is so far in excess of what it costs them to live, that some such system is necessary in order to discourage idleness and its consequent evils. In fact, it is as necessary as compulsory education is in this country. Every Government school has a truant officer and he is kept busy, bringing in truants and recruits. That will explain my reason for the statement made you that “if the contract-labor system is abolished we will require 25 per cent more laborers in the country to supply the demand as well as it is supplied at present.”

Since my return from Honolulu I have been from one end of this district to the other (50 miles) to ascertain as near as possible what the sentiment is among the natives in regard to Annexation. The Royalist politicians have sent several agents down here from Honolulu to influence the natives against it by every means possible. A certain Capt. Boss, a noted character, of whom, no doubt, you have heard much, was one of them. The misleading statements that he has made to these [Page 711] simple-minded people regarding America, its people, and form of government, and saying everything possible that a base-hearted person can say to encourage race prejudice, is enough to disgrace him in the eyes of every American, or anyone else that can boast of having an enlightened mind.

He has told them that America can not take care of her poor people, of which there are many thousands in every city in the Union, and that they are dying off by the hundreds for the want of something to eat. It is that class of people, he has told them, that the United States will send here among you, and as they have nothing, they will kill off you natives in order to get your lands, etc. You will be treated like slaves, and run over by the white people. The above is only a sample of what he told the natives, and although the better class do not place much confidence in all that he told them, yet they are somewhat alarmed at what he said, and do not know which way to turn.

As they are not directly interested in any of the industries and enterprises of the Islands, and are only small landowners, they therefore feel that they can not be materially affected by bad government, and that it would be better for them to take their chances in that, rather than Annexation and its doubtful benefits. And, again, the exciting of race prejudice, which has been intensified by the Royalists, has been an important factor in influencing them against desiring to annex their country with that of a white man. They are a timid and simple-minded lot of people as a rule, and are therefore easily influenced against anything foreign that they imagine may do them harm.

Almost all of the better educated natives are officeholders, such as district judges and policemen, and they, for fear of losing their positions under a new form of government, do all they can to encourage their less fortunate countrymen against annexation, and this is not a difficult task when you understand that they have never read the Constitution of the United States, and all they know of America is that there is such a place some 2,000 miles away from the Islands, where all manner of crime is committed, and that there is a possible chance of such criminals coming to the Islands to flee from justice, consequently the islands will be overrun with all sorts of bad characters; this, in fact, has been told them by the Royalists.

I have worked hard to explain away such delusions and stories, and am also having the Constitution of the United States translated into the Hawaiian language, and will distribute copies of same to all natives on the Island, and will have it explained thoroughly to them. I feel sure that this course will do much to dispel many points of doubt that they now adhere to. I also feel sanguine that, after a few years of Annexation, and they enjoy all the benefits and privileges thereof, few, if any, will be willing to give it up.

But to ask them to decide in favor of it under the present circumstances would be very similar to asking the Indians of America a hundred years ago whether all the white people should be allowed to remain in that country or not, and if they had had an idea that their decision would result in expelling the whites, every one of them would have had to emigrate from whence they came. The result would undoubtedly be the same in the present case here on the Islands if the question of Annexation were put to a popular vote, as the natives and dependents upon Royalty are in the majority.

But it must be acknowledged by the whole world that the foreigners or white people have done all in their power to educate the Hawaiian race to rule and govern their own country; made all efforts [Page 712] to guide them on to prosperity and develop their resources; acted as their advisors and only took part of man aging the affairs and occupying such positions themselves as the natives were incapable to conduct. A number of attempts have been made in the course of the last fifty years by the white people to place well educated Hawaiians in those positions, but for the lack of strength of character (a natural failing of the whole Hawaiian race) the experiments have proved utter failures, and the positions filled again by honest and reliable white men.

All positions that natives were competent to fill have been given them; even then they would have disgraced themselves were they not held in check by the white men at the head of the several departments in which they were employed. But a short time ago, not over a month, it was proved beyond a doubt that the deputy sheriff of this district and subordinates (all Hawaiians) were paid a regular salary by keepers of Chinese dens to wink at their operations, and to permit the carrying on of same, free from molestation. One of the gambling dens was in the house owned by the deputy sheriff and rented to Chinese for that express purpose by him.

A proprietor of one of the dens refused to pay the sum of money won by one of his countrymen at one of their games; the cheated party threatened to expose the place if he did not get the money due him, but the threat did not alarm the offender, inasmuch as he thought the matter would be reported to the deputy sheriff, the landlord, with whom he felt secure. But the injured party knew of the local police being bribed and reported the whole matter to Mr. Wilcox, the sheriff of the Island. He sent a constable from another district to make a haul on the den. They succeeded in doing so and exposed the whole matter. The foregoing is an illustration of the character of a native, even when placed in a responsible position.

Is it a matter of wonderment that the white people, and especially those who have so much at stake in this country, and whose patience has been so sorely tried and confidence abused, have at last taken matters into their own hands and ask for protection from those whom we are sure can give it.

Any independent form of government will not stand very long under existing circumstances; we can not see anyway out of the predicament than annexation with the United States. Those who have extensive investments in this country can not depend upon the future security against corrupt legislation until the United States has the management of public affairs and the handling of the revenues of the Islands; and I claim that we have the right and are justified to ask the United States to protect us, and to accept the trust, for patience has ceased to be a virtue.

As an example to illustrate how far the native will allow his feelings to be influenced by race prejudice, I will mention a circumstance that occurred here in this district, and, as I am familiar with every detail connected therewith, I have no hesitancy in giving it to you as a fact. Inuring the last election for representatives for election in this district two candidates were in the field, one a Hawaiian-born white man, Mr. A. S. Wilcox, brother to G. N. Wilcox, of the “Wilcox cabinet,” and in opposition a native by the name of Kahilina. A. S. Wilcox was nominated by the foreigners and those natives of the better class. Kahilina was asked to run by the Queen.

A. S. Wilcox is a man with an irreproachable character and his conduct as a man throughout his life is an honor to human nature. He [Page 713] was born and raised in this district, where he has always lived, and has been a sugar-planter for the past twenty-five years, employing natives in preference to any other class of labor, and his conduct toward them has won their love and respect. He has never let an opportunity go by to do the native a favor.

A few years ago a number of natives in the neighborhood of his home, Hanalei, desirous of replacing their grass huts with wooden houses, and not having funds to carry their plans into effect, went to Mr. Wilcox for aid, as has always been their custom in such cases.

He gave them the necessary funds and as security for the payment of same they gave him mortgages on all their lands and other property. They built their houses and, native-like, the time for the redeeming of their mortgages came around and found them unprepared to do so. Mr. Wilcox allowed the matter to go on for years and finally, tiring of carrying it along on his books, he canceled all the mortgages, on which he had never received a cent of interest let alone the principal. Likewise in many other instances, too numerous to mention, he has befriended the native and does so to this day.

The other candidate, Kahilina, is a full-blooded Hawaiian, well educated. For a while he held a position as district judge in Hanalei, Kauai. But that position was taken from him before many months had elapsed, as it was proved that he accepted bribes and appropriated court funds for personal use and lived in open adultery. This is the character of the man that the Queen and her party put up as their representative to run against Mr. Wilcox. I may here state that Mr. Wilcox refused the nomination, but when he learned that Kahilina was to run for election, and rather than to have such a man go to the Legislature to represent a district where the foreigners had invested so many millions and had so much at stake, he consented to contest the election against Kahilina. The first thing Kahilina did when he found that Mr. Wilcox was in the field against him was to run down the white man, and did all in his power to excite race prejudice, as he could find nothing in the character or past life of Mr. Wilcox with which to weaken his chances with the natives.

Prior to the day of election Kahilina went into the precinct where Wilcox was born, and among the natives he had befriended, as mentioned above, knowing that there Wilcox was a favorite, and there he told the natives not to vote for a white man. “Wilcox may be all right, and a good man himself, but he represented the white people, and they would treat the natives as the white people treated the Indians in America; they were overrunning the country and would soon gobble up all their land.” This had the desired effect. When the election was over and the count made of the votes cast in each precinct of the district it was found that very few natives voted for Mr. Wilcox, and none of those whom he had befriended. Mr. Wilcox was elected, but by only the foreigners, Americans, English, Germans, and Portuguese. When the natives were upbraided for voting against Mr. Wilcox, after all his kindness toward them, they acknowledged their indebtedness to him for all past favors, but they did it “because he was a haole (white man) and represented the white people.”

Only in political matters is that sentiment expressed; outside of that the natives acknowledge their dependence upon the foreigner, and will go to them first to ask a favor in preference to one of their own nationality. There is not a foreigner on this Island, and I will go as far to state on any of the Islands, but what feels that the native is a special charge and do all in their power to administer to their comfort [Page 714] and welfare. A visit through, the Islands would convince you of that fact at every step. Leave the race to themselves and they would drift right back to where they were fifty years ago. They would do so now were it not for the fact that the foreign element is continually tugging at the other end. They have no conception of the great watchword of the enlightened world, “progress;” they have no objection, however, to be carried along with it so long as they are pampered like a lot of children.

To a person who thoroughly understands the character of a Kanaka it is no surprise that matters have taken the turn that they have in the past two months. According to all rules of progression, it had to come some time, and now that it has arrived, we who have the welfare of the country at heart, and for the good of all concerned, feel that there is no hope for domestic tranquillity in the future unless the United States will accede to the prayers of the respectable people of this country. Left to ourselves domestic strife is inevitable, and will ruin the whole country in a very short time. This must not be permitted. It is the unquestionable duty of the United States to ward off that danger and consequent destruction of homes and interests of thousands of her citizens, and if she should not do it she would be shrinking from a duty that she would always regret. She will have to doit sometime and probably not at a time so favorable to all concerned. “A stitch in time will save nine.”

This country’s resources can be increased tenfold if the large tracts of Government and crown land were taken out of the hands of large leaseholders and divided up among enterprising citizens as homesteads. There are thousands of acres of the richest land to be found on the face of the globe in the hands of a few, and only a small portion of which is under cultivation, whereas if settled upon by enterprising people with small means, they can be made to produce millions of dollars annually, as sugar and rice are the only products that are admitted into the United States free of duty. Those industries alone have received attention, consequently on an extensive sugar estate there are thousands of acres of land that could be made to produce almost anything else under the sun, but are given up to cattle grazing, because they are not altogether suitable for either cane or rice.

Upon such lands thousands of families could build beautiful homes live in a climate second to none on the face of this globe, where flowers bloom and all kinds of vegetables grow all the year round. This will surely come about with good government and an available market for all products of the Islands.

I would give much if you could visit this, the garden Island of the Group; you would then learn from your own observations the truth of the above statements. You could see from your carriages some of the grandest scenery to be found on the Islands—a beautiful country covered with verdure from the tops of the mountains to the water’s edge, and an abundance of water everywhere, and yet there are miles and miles of this beautiful country unsettled, with the exception of the rich valley bottoms.

I shall regret very much if you leave this country without honoring us with a visit; you could do it and be absent from Honolulu only three or four days. I therefore on the part of all the people on Kauai cordially invite yourself and party to pay us a visit. Everything possible in a quiet way will be done for your comfort, etc. I fear that I have already imposed too much upon your patience and valuable time, and trill therefore close, trusting that you will do all in your power to gain [Page 715] for us the protection that we feel so much the need of and is our only hope for future prosperity.

I have the honor to be, your obedient servant,

  • W. Blaisdell.
  • Col. James H. Blount,
    United States Commissioner, Honolulu.