1905-1909. JANUARY 1 TO JUNE 30, 1910, INCLUSIVE. Japanese... TABLE 4.—Arrivals and departures, certain immigrant races, Hawaii, 1905 to 1909, and first six months of 1910—Continued. 23288 12 56 Hindus.. 36 +: +1111 521 3 16 298 56 259+ 319 These figures indicate that during the five years ending with the close of the year 1909 the net increase of population in Hawaii, due to immigration, was slightly less than 1,000. The net increase of Caucasians (Iberians and Russians) was 2,794. This was the net increment in the islands after an immigration during that period of 7,124. In other words, for every 5 Caucasians of the nationalities from which the islands derived assisted immigrants, who came to Hawaii during this half decade, 3 left the islands. Of course those departing were not in all cases immigrants; many of them were doubtless children of families who had come to the islands in the earlier immigration, but the effect upon the population was the same. The number of aliens departing from Honolulu for the mainland of the United States during the six months ending with October, 1910, was 848. This was a normal movement, except for the Russians, of whom 510 recent arrivals departed for the Coast during this period. One hundred and seven Spaniards also left Honolulu for California. In the case of the Spanish and Portuguese, and even the Russians, there is some return movement, this movement being most marked in the case of the nationalities longest settled in Hawaii. It is due partly to the seasonal character of the labor demand in California. As soon as the fruit-picking season is over unemployment drives the former resident of Hawaii back to the islands. The following table shows the details of this movement. The figures for nationalities other than those mentioned possess little significance, as do also the statistics of arriving aliens of the same class. They merely represent the transient passenger traffic of a mid-Pacific port. TABLE 5.-Aliens departed from Honolulu for the mainland of the United States, May to October, 1910, by nationality. This flowing out of the Caucasian population almost as rapidly as it is recruited is one of the most serious problems met by the Territory in its present immigration policy. It is a phase of the displacement of races and nationalities by other races and nationalities having a lower standard of living that takes place in certain neighborhoods of New York and Chicago, and in certain country districts of the South where the colored population increases at the expense of the white. This displacement is due both to racial antipathy and to economic causes. The economic influence of the different races in competition is roughly shown by the following table of average incomes of working people in Honolulu, summarized from an investigation made by the federal Bureau of Labor, in 1910: TABLE 6.-Average annual family income of working people, Honolulu, 1910, by race. In.considering these tables, which show that the average Japanese family was contented with less than half the income of the average Caucasian or Hawaiian family, it is but fair to recall that even this smaller income probably exceeds the average income of the families of unskilled laborers in the Eastern States, and that it affords to the Japanese a considerable margin for saving. It is not so much the impossibility of supporting a family on an equal standard of living with those of white unskilled laborers on the mainland, but the im possibility of maintaining the margin of difference in wages and standard of living, as compared with those of the oriental, which the white man thinks his race dignity demands, that causes the latter to avoid competition. Another motive for the rapid migration of whites from Hawaii, in spite of continuous employment at fair wages, is the attraction of higher wages, a more homogeneous race community, and the greater variety of occupations on the Pacific coast. No doubt at the present time the field of opportunity for the unskilled laborer is broader in California than in Hawaii; he may not throughout the year earn more in the former State, but the chances of his being able to acquire a home and a competence, and the speculative elements of success are much greater on the mainland. A comparison of the census figures of 1900-1910 gives the following results: TABLE 7.-Increase or decrease in population, Hawaii, 1900 to 1910, by race. The figures showing increase and decrease are to be taken with some slight qualification, on account of the probability that the enumeration of orientals was rather more complete in 1910 than in 1900. The real increase of Japanese, especially, is probably somewhat less than that indicated. The increase of Part-Hawaiians is not governed by the same laws of growth as the increase of any of the other population elements, because its source is three racesthe pure Hawaiian, the Caucasian, and the oriental. Upon an uncertain number of these three races this increase has to be computed, and not upon the number of Part-Hawaiians in the territory in 1900. The distribution of this population by sexes and by age periods is abnormal. Orientals brought to the country, or coming of their own volition, are usually adult males. As old age approaches and a small competence is acquired these orientals return to their own country. Comparatively few oriental women came to Hawaii in the days of contract labor. Oriental children are not brought to Hawaii in numbers, and children of oriental parents born in Hawaii are often returned to Japan and China to be educated. In 1900 the proportion of females to the total population in Hawaii was about 30 per cent, as compared with 48 per cent on the mainland of the United States. While the Japanese formed but 36.5 per cent of the total population in 1900, they furnished over 51 per cent of the male population 18 72289-VOL 1-11-46 years of age or over. On the other hand the Hawaiians, who probably represent most closely the normal distribution of age, supplied 19 per cent of the total population and but 11.5 per cent of the adult male population. This condition explains the diversity in the emigration and immigration of the two sexes and of adults and children shown in the statistics of immigration for 1905 to 1909. The excess of departures of children, amounting to 4,335, was due to this return of Japanese minors to Japan. Of recent years an increase in the number of women through immigration has occurred, in spite of a decrease of both men and children, showing that under present immigration conditions there is a tendency to establish a closer equilibrium of the sexes. SCHOOL ATTENDANCE. The facts as to children are further illustrated by the statistics of school attendance during the past decade, which are given in the following table. During this period the total school attendance increased about 65 per cent, or some 10,000. Of this increase over one-half, or 5,406, was of Japanese children alone. In spite, therefore, of the large return of Japanese children to Japan the residue in the islands continues very large. However, of the total school attendance the Japanese children do not form so large a percentage as the Japanese population does of the entire population. The increase in the school attendance of Portuguese appears to be less relatively than the increase in the Portuguese population. TABLE 8.-Nationality of children in public and private schools, Hawaii, 1900– 1909. Nationality. 1900. 1901. 1902. 1903. 1904. 1905. 1906. 1907. 1908. 1909. The assisted immigrants to Hawaii come principally as plantation laborers, and the most important influences in determining their economic status are the rate of wages and the other conditions of service in the sugar industry. That these conditions are improving is indicated by two facts. First, the wage of field hands is constantly increasing; second, a transition from day labor to contract cultivation is occurring, which enables laborers to earn more than formerly. Be a See p. 710. tween 1905 and 1910, according to statistics gathered by the United States Bureau of Labor, the number of field hands on all the sugar plantations of the Territory decreased from 20,925 to 14,645, although there was during this period an expansion of the industry unequaled during any previous period and a considerable increase in the total plantation force. In the meantime the average wage of field hands, including women and children, rose from 63 cents to 70 cents per day. This wage is in addition to house, fuel, water, and, in most instances, medical attendance. Contemporary with this decrease in field hands was an increase in the number of cultivation contractors from 5,846 to 7,106. The average earnings of the cultivation contractors rose from 83 cents to 91 cents per day, together with the same privileges of house, fuel, and water that are enjoyed by the field hands. In other words, there was an increase of wages in both of these basic occupations and a transference of labor from the lower paid employment to the higher. As nearly one-fourth of the entire population of the Territory is employed on the plantations, and over one-half of all the plantation employees are rated either as field hands or contract cultivators, these figures, which are more or less representative of the movement of wages in all classes of employment, are very significant. The following table shows the nationality of plantation hands from 1904 to 1910, inclusive, and the percentage of each nationality for the years in question. For several years, at least until the Japanese children now in the islands become of working age, we may expect, if the present immigration policy is pursued, a continued decline of Japanese field hands in the plantation forces. At present this decline seems to be about counterbalanced by the importation of Filipinos. TABLE 9.-Number of plantation employees, Hawaii, 1904 to 1910, by nationality; per cent distribution. Nationality. Number. Per cent distribution. 1904. a 1905.a 1906. 1907. 1908. 1909.b 1910. 1904a 1905a 1906. 1907. 1908. 1909 1910. 509 654 615 621 542 604 627 1.1 1.5 1.5 1.4 1.2 1.4 1.4 2,876 3,194 3,286 3,394 3,807 3,826 3,906 6.3 7.1 7.9 7.6 8.1 9.2 8.9 583 750 637 515 1.3 1.6 1.5 1.2 457 1.0 470 455 467 544 428 396 (c) 1.0 1.0 1.1 d1,312 1,711 1,604 1,356 1,309 1,454 1,339 2.9 3.8 2,066 2,029 2,017 1,878 1,989 2,024 1,869 4.5 4.5 4.9 3.9 1.2 9 .9 (c) 3.1 2.8 3.5 3.0 4.2 4.2 4.9 4.3 3,778 3,938 3,684 3,248 2,916 3,561 2,761 8.2 8.8 8.9 7.3 6.2 8.5 6.3 18 75 140 a The figures for 1904 and 1905 are for July 31. For subsequent years they are for June 30. The number of employees does not vary materially throughout the year, but the distribution of employees in different branches of work is quite different at different seasons. The figures for 1909 are abnormal because a strike of Japanese plantation workers was in progress when they were taken. This strike was confined to the island of Oahu. Not reported. d Figures for earlier years, except 1903, will be found in Bureau of Labor Report on Hawaii, 1905, p. 11. e Less than 0.05 per cent. |