Statistics secured by the United States Bureau of Labor indicate that while the pay of field hands, and also of overseers and foremen, is increasing, the average pay of mechanic employees and their helpers fell off about 9 per cent between 1905 and 1910. The details of these statistics clearly show that this is due to the greater employment of Japanese in skilled positions. The increase of Japanese in this class of employment has been sufficient not only to take up the entire addition to the plantation skilled-labor force during these five years, but also actually to displace a considerable number of Caucasians, Hawaiians, and Portuguese previously employed in such positions.

The condition of quarters furnished laborers, the sanitation of camps, and the general terms of employment have all improved during the decade. A movement is already started to conduct social welfare work among the employees at the expense of their employers. Several plantations are supplying parks and playgrounds and are preparing to furnish recreation halls for their workers. The Planters' Association has made arrangements for lectures and movingpicture shows upon the plantations. These entertainments will not be free, but will be open to employees at a nominal price.

During the decade since annexation the industries of the Territory have become more diversified, and the number of small farms has nearly doubled. This subdivision of the land into small freeholds and leaseholds has given opportunity, particularly to the Portuguese and orientals, to settle in Hawaii more permanently and independently than heretofore. The tillers of these small homesteads pursue subsistence farming, and, except in the vicinity of the pineapple canneries, raise few staple crops. Consequently many of them combine the cultivation of their holdings with wage service on the plantations, the public roads, the irrigation works being constructed in different parts of the Territory, and similar undertakings. These people are forming the basis of what may ultimately become a resident peasant population, which at present does not promise to rise to the civic or economic dignity of the communities of farming settlers in the mainland States.

To encourage settlement, or, as it is commonly called in Hawaii, to domicile rural labor, the plantations have offered Caucasian immigrants small holdings, which they may acquire, in freehold or fee simple, conditionally at the end of three years' service, and practically unconditionally at the end of six years' service. These freeholds are paid for by the deduction of $2 per month from the laborer's wage, and their intrinsic value is considerably more than the $72 which they cost; in fact, the houses on some of these homesteads represent five times the amount of the payment required. But the laborers are not, as a rule, disposed to take advantage of this offer, partly because the advantage of $2 per month additional wages is more highly esteemed than the remoter benefit to be derived from the homestead. Parcels of land assigned under this contract never exceed 2 acres and are not, of themselves, large enough to make the homesteader independent of plantation work. As the laborer is certain to receive the use of a cottage free during his term of service. he is less inclined than he otherwise might be to enter into such a contract for a home.

At the time the homestead scheme was adopted the sugar plantations of the islands offered 400 homesteads of 1 acre each of feesimple land, 425 paid-up leases of 1 acre each on lands leased by the plantations, in addition to which 495 homesteads were offered upon government lands held by the plantations under lease and relinquished by them for this purpose, the total number of homesteads thus offered being 1,485. A census of the homesteads taken up under this agreement has never been made, and consequently accurate figures are not now available, but it is probable that out of the 1,485 offered not over 25 per cent were ever entered upon by the laborers, and that at the present time there are only two or three score actually occupied in the Territory.

ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH BY IMMIGRANTS.

The tax statistics of Hawaii show that the colonies of assisted immigrants have, during their sojourn in the Territory, acquired a considerable amount of wealth. These figures are as follows:

TABLE 10.-Taxpayers of nationalities to which assisted immigrants chiefly belong, Hawaii, 1909.

The property tax is levied upon an assessed valuation assumed to be nearly the true valuation, which it is in the case of much of the property here affected. However, in condemnations considerably more than the assessed valuation is claimed and paid. There is a $300 exemption, which makes the sum here given much less than the total property held by these nationalities in Hawaii.

The income tax is 2 per cent on all incomes over $1,000 per annum and 6 per cent on all incomes over $4,000 per annum, with an exemption of $1,000 from the aggregate income of each family, composed of parents and minor children. Four Portuguese, 6 Chinese, and 2 Japanese pay the 6 per cent tax.

With regard to these figures it should be remembered that the immigrants who have come to Hawaii from other countries than the United States have, as a rule, brought with them very little money, and their accumulations represent the savings made in the Territory. The Honolulu banks hold over $750,000 deposited by Portuguese. The two principal benefit societies have paid out many thousand dollars in benefits and pensions to their members. The Japanese have built up in the islands a considerable trading capital and have been able to establish a number of small manufactures, as well as

several more pretentious undertakings. They own cooperative canneries, rice mills, a sake brewery, and one or two planing mills. The Chinese, on account of their longer residence and their greater disposition to invest money in the Territory, control a relatively larger amount of local capital.

LAND AND SETTLEMENT.

The public lands of Hawaii consist of lands transferred to the territorial government by the Republic. They are administered by the territorial government under general regulations made by Congress. These regulations were amended at the last session of Congress for the purpose (a) of securing a greater subdivision of the land of the islands into small farms and (b) of preventing the acquisition of such lands for speculative purposes. The principal provisions of the amended act are:

1. No government lands shall be alienated to a person who has previously acquired government lands or whose holdings of land exceed 80 acres, or who is an alien.

2. Government homesteads can not be conveyed, mortgaged, leased, or otherwise transferred to or held by or for the benefit of any alien or corporation, either before or after title is acquired.

3. Provision is made for drawings to determine the order in which applicants shall be permitted to select homesteads on the public lands.

4. The opening of public lands is compulsory whenever a sufficient number of citizens shall apply for such opening, providing the lands were not, prior to the passage of the act, under lease for a definite term. In the latter case the lands can not be leased again, at the expiration of the term, in such a way as to prevent their being opened to settlers whenever petition for them is made. The general effect of these regulations will be to force the subdivision into small farms of about one-tenth of the cane lands at present under cultivation in Hawaii and a much larger proportion of other agricultural lands now used for grazing or unoccupied. The forms of tenure are as follows:

Homestead lease.-The applicant first receives a certificate of occupation, and at the end of six years, if he has performed the required conditions, he obtains a lease for nine hundred and ninety-nine years without rent. He must reside on the lot continuously from the end of the second year. He must reduce to cultivation before the end of six years at least 10 per cent of the land, or else reduce to cultivation 5 per cent and plant and keep in growing condition an average of not less than 10 trees per acre of the entire land, if it is agricultural, or, if the land is pastoral, he must fence it within six years. The land can never be transferred except between joint heirs or by exchange between persons holding under this method, and is exempt from the execution, but it descends to heirs in the manner prescribed by the statute. There is no charge for the land, but the applicant must pay a fee of $2 when he makes his selection and a fee of $5 when he receives his lease at the end of six years. The area which may be taken by this method is smaller than that under the other methods. It is limited to 8 acres of first class, and 16 acres of second class, agricultural land; 1 acre of wet land; 30 acres of first class, and 60 acres of second class, pastoral land; and 45 acres of pastoral-agricultural land. Under this method a person and his descendants are given a home for nothing and secured in the enjoyment of it both against his own acts and against legal process as long as they use the lot as a home.

Special homestead agreement. The applicant pays 5 per cent of the purchase price at once, 5 per cent one year thereafter, and 10 per cent each year thereafter until the entire price is paid; that is, payments are made in annual installments covering a period of ten years, and without interest, with the privilege, as shown below, of paying all at any time after five years. Residence must

aggregate five years in periods of not less than six months each and must begin within three years. The applicant must have at least 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 per cent of the land cultivated, and maintain an average of 5, 10, 15, 20, and 25 growing trees per acre upon the remaining 75 per cent of the land, from the end of the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth years, respectively, until he becomes entitled to a patent. He may obtain a patent at any time after five years if he has performed all the conditions up to the time, and has resided on the land at least five years in periods of not less than six months of continuous residence at a time and cultivated at least 25 per cent of the area and maintained at least 25 growing trees per acre upon the remainder of the land for at least four years, continuously.

Right of purchase lease.-The applicant obtains a lease for twenty-one years, with an option of purchase. He pays a yearly rental equal to 8 per cent of the price of the land. He must reside on the land from the end of the first year to the end of the fifth year continuously. He must before the end of the third year reduce to cultivation not less than 5 per cent of the area, and at the end of the fifth year have under cultivation at least 10 per cent of the area, and keep in growing condition an average of not less than 10 trees per acre of the whole area if the land is agricultural, or fence it if it is pastoral. At any time after three years during the period of the lease he may obtain a patent upon paying the price of the land, if he has reduced to cultivation 25 per cent of the land and resided thereon not less than two years and performed all other conditions. Cash freehold agreement.-One-fourth of the price of the land is paid at once and the balance in equal installments in one, two, and three years, with interest at 6 per cent per annum, with the privilege of paying at an earlier date and stopping interest. Residence must continue from the end of the first to the end of the third year. The applicant must have under cultivation at least 25 per cent of the area and keep an average of at least 10 trees per acre if the land is agricultural, or fence it if it is pastoral, before the end of the third year. A patent is then given.

The public lands are offered to homesteaders at an appraised valuation that varies from a few dollars to $20 or $30 per acre for those at present thrown open to settlement. The cane lands, as they are subdivided, will doubtless be sold for a higher price.

Hitherto the obstacles to small farming in Hawaii, more especially by American settlers, have been:

1. The competition of Asiatic labor in agriculture, which creates a caste prejudice against field work and lowers the general standard of living in rural communities.

2. Pests and blights, which, on account of the large uncultivated areas, especially in the mountains, are not so easily brought under control as in a more densely settled and highly tilled country. However, with the extension of agriculture and the increasing study given to pests by both the federal and territorial governments this difficulty is being slowly obviated.

3. Lack of transportation facilities. While there has been great improvement in the local highways during the last ten years, outside of the cane districts wagon communication in many parts of the Territory is hardly a decade old. Prior to that time, in most regions, the only way of getting produce to market was over a horse trail. Communication between the islands is still very expensive, and hitherto there has been little direct shipment to the coast. The Federal Government, however, is now developing excellent harbors on each one of the four principal islands of the group, and on the island of Hawaii a railway is under construction that will tap over 100 miles of rich agricultural territory. Consequently transportation difficulties are gradually being overcome. The whole problem is not yet solved, but it is now possible to market many products that formerly could not be sold to advantage, and there is an excellent pros

pect that special facilities will soon be at hand to place the products of Hawaii not only in the local markets but on the Pacific Coast.

4. Marketing facilities.-Partly on account of the diversity of races, partly because so many of the homesteaders are not educated, partly because the producing districts of the islands are frequently separated by valleys, gulches, and lava tracts, which prevent ready intercommunication, there has been little cooperation among Hawaiian farmers in placing their produce either in the Honolulu market or in other countries. The pineapple raisers and canners, however, have been a notable exception. Even the coffee business is still unorganized. Consequently shipments of produce have been made in a form not calculated to secure a good market. Sent in irregular parcels, often poorly packed, generally not graded, this produce has been charged a higher freight rate than would have been made had it been properly packed in uniform parcels and shipped in larger quantities. The commission merchant receiving such produce has discounted heavily in the price he paid, on account of uncertainties of quality and the need of regrading and packing. The lack of cooperation caused producers to flood the market at one time and to leave it entirely unsupplied at another, and this unreliability in supplies has led local commission merchants to depend upon the coast for produce that could easily be raised in the islands.

To meet these difficulties the Territory has provided an appropriation to establish a government marketing department in Honolulu, to receive and grade produce and to promote a market for it not only locally but on the coast. An important function of this department will be to instruct farmers as to the demands of the market, the time for shipping certain classes of produce, and the methods of packing and grading in order to get the lowest freights and the highest returns.

GENERAL CONDITIONS ATTENDING IMMIGRATION.

The two motives that induce an immigrant to come to Hawaii are employment and land. The remoteness of the Territory from the labor-supplying countries of Europe makes it necessary for the Government to pay the expenses of immigrants to the islands. The principal employers are the sugar planters, who engage directly the services of nearly one-quarter of the population. So dominant an industry must determine all labor conditions in Hawaii, and only in cooperation with these employers can the inducement of employment be placed before prospective immigrants. The basic wage of the islands is that of field workers in the cane fields. This wage for Caucasians is at present $24 per month for twenty-six days of labor, plus house, water, fuel, and, in practically all cases, medical attendance. The average wage on the plantations is much higher than this, as onehalf of the hands employed belong to the higher class of unskilled labor or are skilled workmen, whose wages range from $30 to $150 per month. These employment conditions would be sufficient to attract a large European population were Hawaii in the same location relatively to Europe as Porto Rico or the Bermudas, or even Long Island or Florida.

The land inducement is not so attractive as on the mainland of America, because the public lands are more limited in extent; they are