is due to the fact that on one or more days per week an employee may work on a short term contract basis or piece work basis. On that particular day he may earn more than the base pay of $1. Because of the speedup system, a plantation which formerly employed 2,300 men has been able to reduce its employees 1,660 without granting pay increases.

The proportion of male citizen employees on the plantation is 21%. Most of the citizens are not employed in the actual growing of cane. For instance, the heart of the industry is the cutting and loading of cane. On one plantation, only 7 citizens were cutting cane and 52 loading it.

One of the highest paid plantation workers on a plantation which was surveyed were two mill laborers earning $756 and $766. This same survey showed that family incomes range from $243.85 to $1,597.00 with half of the families earning less than $627. The difference between the family incomes was due largely to the number of people in the family who were working. The earnings of the husbands in the families having the highest income amounted to only $494. The long-term payment contracts during the year ranged from $172 to $343, an average of $249.99. When the contract pay is added to the income received monthly by contract workers, their average annual income amounts to $436. Non-contract workers have an average income of $508. Long-term contractors generally earn less than non-contract workers. The average annual plantation earnings of all husbands in the 101 families studied was $474.

The Plantation operators make a great play on paternalistic gratuities which they call pre-requisites. Each plantation workers' family covered by the survey was furnished with a house, running water, kerosene for cooking, and medical and hospital service. The Industrial Accident Board found that the cost of the prerequisite rather than the value to the employee should be considered and fixed the value of the pre-requisites at $2.75 per week.

73 of the 100 families studied in the survey ended the year with either unpaid bills, loans payable or savings withdrawn. Net figures showed that 42 families spent $99 less than their income, and 48 spent on the average of $114 more than their income. In 11 families the income and expenditures balanced. For the 101 families there was an average deficit of $12.87.

41 of the families reported no savings during the time they were in the territory; 80 reported savings. The average savings for all families during the time they were in the territory was $169. 34 stated they had sent money to the Philippines; 21 of them to support relatives; and 15 to invest in land; one to make house repairs. Those who sent money to the Philippines for relatives averaged $66; those investing in land, $324. 76 families owe amounts ranging from $2.50 to $446,-averaging $104, on debts accumulated since they came to the territory.

A budget prepared by Elizabeth Bergstrom of the Social Service Bureau in Honolulu fixed a budget of $1017 for white persons and $830 for oriental families. Of the 101 Filipino families studied, 99 spent less than the amount allowed for personal supplies. 94 families spent less than the budget for fuel, light, operating expense. 78 families lived in quarters more crowded than proposed in the budget. 86 spent less for transportation. 72 spent less on clothing. 70 spent less on gifts and taxes. 45 spent less on food. 23 spent less on recreation. 14 spent less on education. Because of expenditures on items not included in the budget, only 41 families spent a total less than $213.00 per adult male, the total amount of the budget suggested for oriental families. The Social Service Bureau in Honolulu provides food allowance for families on relief of $6.85 per week for a family of five, or $104 per adult male. In addition, bread is issued to the families. 75 of the Filipino families spent less on food than $104 per adult male, provided by the Social Service Bureau.

4 out of the 15 families own automobiles but had no beds. 6 had no chairs. Only 3 had washing machines. All 15 had electric irons,-all but one had a sewing machine. Of 12 families having sewing machines, 4 did not have chairs. 1 family had no beds. Many of them had large framed photographs on the walls,-pictures usually of relatives or funerals. 49 had attractive victrolas. Most of the living rooms had two wooden benches and a rough wooden table. Only half of the houses have chairs in the living rooms. Less than 1% of the families have easy chairs. The walls of the houses are of wide, rough boards. 30% of the homes have no beds. They have sleeping mats rolled up on the floor, piled with bedding. The mats are of straw, about % of an inch thick. Each accommodates two members of a family. There are no clothes closets

in the homes. 21 of the families had neither beds nor chairs. 29 families had beds but no chairs. 8 families had chairs but no beds. 43 families had both chairs and beds.

It is well to bear in mind that the survey above referred to was made on one of the best plantations in the territory. I am supplementing this report on the plantation situation by a copy of an article prepared by a man who was engaged as a welfare worker on one of the plantations.

These are the conditions which the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association is determined to keep. It will spare no effort or money to prevent the organization of its employees to obtain better wages and working conditions. There have been two general Filipino strikes in the Islands. Thirteen Filipinos were killed in the first strike. The Japanese plantation workers also went on a strike which was a very vicious one. Filipino workers were imported to break this strike. By playing the Japanese against the Filipinos a strong racial prejudice has been built up. Let me quote from a confidential report made on one of the dances held at a Plantation Club House.

Saturday evening, the 15th, I attended the dance given by the Continuation School at their Club House. I found the music good, the crowd orderly and the party generally as well conducted as any held in that building. One feature of the gathering is worthy of note. The girls, Japanese and Portuguese women refused to dance with the Filipino men who were present by virtue of having purchased tickets from some of these very girls and on the few occasions when there were tag dances, there was a noticeable arrangement among the other racial groups where one of their number was on the spot to tag any Filipino the moment he started to dance with one of their girls.

It was not wholesome to see a large group of Filipino men occupying one complete side of the building, throughout the evening, glum and discouraged, and "pondering those things in their hearts", possibly for future action. There have been racial fights at these mixed dances at our Club House during the year, and there will be more in the future unless preventive action is taken. Possibly a City and County policeman should be present at all such affairs.

The Filipinos are ultra-nationalistic and very touchy, and representing 55% of our male personnel, cannot be publicly humiliated with impunity. Any program to unite the races which does not place emphasis on such a large percentage of our population has potential danger.

Here is another gem from a Plantation report, referring to a Christmas Tree Benefit Dance. "This party, given by a church crowd, was attended by too much drunkenness and fighting. The City and County police should be at all such functions."

The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association brags about what the plantations did during the depression. On one plantation there were, in March, 1931, 1479 Filipinos. By July, 1934, there were 427 less. Referring to this fact, a report to the company reads in part as follows:

Personally, I am not as enthusiastic over the increase in the Japanese personnel in the last three years-102—as I am concerned over the decrease in Filipino personnel during the same period-427-on the ground that I have a suspicion that many of our young citizens of Japanese ancestry are going to leave us as soon as financial conditions improve.

Not a single Filipino has been added to the payroll since March of this year, and only 11 have been taken on since last year. Sixty-eight Filipinos have been dropped this year, and a great many more will leave at the end of the harvest.

Not being very enthusiastic about being able to get our harvesting done by the citizen product of our Territorial Schools, I feel that special attention should be given to the question of adding, and certainly retaining, hard-working Filipinos.

Incidentally, in this connection, I would like to bring to your attention the fact that the plantations are now faced with a very serious situation. The Filipino Repatriation Act provided that Filipinos might be moved back to their native land from the mainland but because of the sugar lobby, an exemption was made as to the Hawaiian Islands. Due to the publicity given in the Islands about our investigation, there is little hope that the plantations can induce many more Filipinos to go to Hawaii under the glowing false promises which were made to them in the past.

There are about 1,000 Filipinos on strike on the Island of Maui at the present time, who demand that they either be given higher wages or be taken back to their native land.

The Japanese who worked on the Plantations more or less as coolie laborers are doing everything possible to educate their children so that they will not have to put up with the same conditions. These parents are making a great sacrifice so that their offspring will not have to live as they have lived. They do not want their children to be plantation coolies. For that reason there is developing an absolute shortage of plantation workers. The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association is at last realizing that its supply of cheap alien labor is cut off and that the offspring which they counted on so heavily to carry on will not, because of their education and American environment, go on doing the things which their forefathers did. For this reason, efforts have been and are being made to better the conditions of the Japanese colonies so as to attract young Japanese. Large ads advertising the joys of plantation life are appearing in various papers in the Islands. Great efforts are being made to stir up interest in athletics so as to attract young Japanese citizens to the plantation. All the paternalism, however, does not seem to be accomplishing the desired results. Only when the plantations finally realize that their workers must be given freedom and independence as well as better wages, can they hope to attract American citizens, even of Oriental descendants.

Judging from what I learned from personal contact and interview with various people in the educational field, most of the young Japanese are loyal to our country and if given an opportunity to live as Americans should, they would not create any dangerous military hazard. There are nearly 150,030 Japanese in the Territory whose total population is 393,000. There are 53,000 Filipinos and 57,000 Whites.

The Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association dictates the labor policy of its members and has a Labor Bureau through which employees are engaged. It maintains a blacklist, has a wide-spread espionage system, headed by a man by the name of MacDuffy who was formerly Chief of Detectives for the Honolulu Police Department but was kicked off because he was too crooked. In this espionage system, the Filipino churches, supported by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, play a key part. It has a Press Bureau known as the Pacific Press Bureau which sends out propaganda and arranges to secure all reports on all organizational activities. The Association arranges for the employment of armed guards and detectives, dictates to various governmental agencies, secures the passage of various anti-labor laws, and is the key to the whole industrial set-up in the Hawaiian Islands.

To give you an idea of some of the tactics employed by the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association, which outwardly purports to be so interested in protecting its workers from graft, Butler, the former manager of the Association, issued passes to a man by the name of Valentino, one of the H. S. P. A. employees, so that he could go to the Plantations and sell large pictures at a great profit.

The Filipino workers who have signed contracts to work three years are entitled to free transportation back to the Islands. Many of them are refused this transportation, or if they do get it, have to contribute $25 to the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association officials in order to get fixed up.

The Association sends out confidential lists which it directs the plantation manager to "read and destroy" to the effect that such and such men have left a given plantation because of union activities-do not employ under any conditions. Every union organizer appeared on a black list. In order to avoid the blacklist many of the employees formerly changed their names. However, one cannot secure work now unless he shows a work record for the three months previous so that there is no advantage in changing names. To give you a further example of the type of control exercised over the plantations by the Association, I call your attention to an exhibit attached hereto which was a letter written on March 24, 1932, by one of the Hawaiian officials in the "Big Five." Because this letter was written confidentially and came from a source which I cannot conscientiously disclose, I have eliminated the heading and signature.

This will acknowledge receipt of your favor of November 23, on the subject of the twelve hour shift in the mill, and urging that with the present unemployment problem Waialua adopt the eight hour shift in the factory. This matter has been given very careful consideration by both the Trustees of the Association and the management. Last year a Committee of managers worked on this problem throughout the year and submitted a 218034 40-vol. 22- -9

report to the Executive Committee meeting where the subject was discussed at considerable length.

There were only a few managers and trustees who felt that it would be advisable to make this change. Practically all the managers reported they had no difficulty in getting workers in the mill and that many of their employees preferred this work to field work. Furthermore, they did not feel with the present low price of sugar that it would be economically possible to make the change. Such a change would entail a considerable large expense on the plantations and at the present time there is hardly a plantation but what is losing money, and consequently it would hardly be fair to the stockholders to cause additional losses when there is ample labor ready and willing to work under the present conditions.

It would be impossible for Waialua to make the changes above. I am much in sympathy with your views, but I am in a small minority and accordingly it is impossible for me to make this change.

Consequently, I do not feel that it would be advisable for you to agitate this matter at the present time as it would do more harm than good. Kindly treat the above information as confidential.

MAUI PLANTATION STRIKE

Antonio Fagel began organizing the Filipino plantation workers on the Island of Maui early in April, 1937. For convenience sake, I quote from my letter to you of April 7, 1937, relative to certain efforts to organize the Filipino laborers:

Pablo Manlapit, a Filipino lawyer, led a strike of the Plantation workers in 1924. The strike was very far-reaching. Charges were framed up against Manlapit, and I quote the following from an editorial appearing in the Hawaii Hochi.

"Manlapit was sentenced to serve from two or ten years for conspiracy in connection with the Filipino strike. This paper is convinced that he was a victim of an unfortunate miscarriage of justice. Many of the proininent lawyers in Honolulu are firmly convinced that he was convicted on a frame-up charge and railroaded to prison merely to get him out of the way so that the strike could be more easily broken. Many believed that if there was a conspiracy, Manlapit was the victim of it."

Later Manlapit was parolled on the condition that he leave the Territory. He went to California where he met Fagel. Fagel had gone to California in 1917, and had completed his high school course by 1927. Through his acquaintance with Manlapit, he became interested in the Filipino labor situation. When the term of Manlapit's banishment had expired, he and Manlapit came to Hawaii.

On May 8, 1932, a meeting was held in Aala Park, Honolulu, at which thousands of Filipinos welcomed the return of Manlapit. Shortly thereafter, Manlapit, Fagel and E. A. Tack, organized the Filipino Labor Union. On June 19, 1932, at a meeting in the same park, the organization was publicly announced. During the early part of July in that year the three above mentioned persons campaigned in the Island of Oahu. They then went to the Islands of Hawaii, Maui, and Kauai. While on the latter Island, Fagel was arrested for trespassing. In July or August, 1933, he was sentenced to banishment to Honolulu for a period of thirteen months. He appealed and his sentence was then reduced to a banishment of five months. In February, 1934, Fagel returned to Honolulu to spend the period of his banishment.

The three organizers then continued their efforts in and about Honolulu until Tack was arrested for gross cheat. He was accused of taking a five dollar membership fee to the Union on false representations. He was convicted and sentenced. He appeal and the lower Court was reversed on September 14, 1935.

Shortly following Tack's arrest, Manlapit was arrested and convicted of charging more than the ordinary fee and getting a bonus for a Filipino. This was approximately in October, 1935. The Secretary of the Federal Labor Union was the chief witness against him. This same man was also the chief witness against Manlapit in his first conviction and banishment. Manlapit was exiled again after his second conviction, and, I understand. is now head of the labor unions in the Philippine Islands. The Secretary undoubtedly was a stool pigeon of the worst type.

After Tack was arrested the three organizers decided to change their name and disguise their purpose. They adopted the name appearing in the Charge. Very little work was done in this new organization at that time.

Fagel, after Manlapit and Tack became enmeshed in legal difficulties, started working as a bus boy in the Young Hotel. Apparently the word got around that he was the same man who had been connected with the Filipino Union, and he was fired for smoking. As a matter of fact this man has never smoked in his life. After that he secured work with the Hawaiian Pineapple Company. When the pineapple season closed, he worked as an extra bus boy at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel on Waikiki Beach. The Treasurer of his organization, Estevan Cavanda, wrote him requesting that he come over to the Island of Maui, which he did on November 12, 1935, and began again to carry on his organizational activities. He was severely beaten on two occasions, only one of which is described in the Charge. Filipino spies followed him everywhere he went.

I do not believe that Fagel intended to call a strike on the plantations. He planned to create his organization and then attempt to negotiate with the management in order to better the workers' conditions. Either due to the fact that so much resentment had been built up among the laborers over a long period or due to the work of an agent provocator, the men quit spontaneously when one of the company officials, Ward Walkers, refused to talk to them about a wage increase. This occurred about April 20, 1937. The strike spread until at the present time there are about 1,000 to 1,200 workers out of work. Referring to this matter I quote from my letter to you of May 14, 1937:

A strike has been in progress at this plantation since April 20th. The strike affected only the Filipino field workers and factory workers. I consulted with the union and was informed by Mr. Bailey, who was acting as an advisor to the union, that the organization was very weak and that he feared most of the men would go back to work within a short time as their morale was getting low. All Filipino strikes to date have been broken. He felt that the same fate was in store for this strike. He stated that the committee of Filipinos, especially the leader, Fagel, had had no experience with labor organizations, and was very emotional. Mr. Bailey thought that if any kind of a proposition could be worked out which would permit the men to go back to work and let them build up their organization, it should be accepted by the strikers. The Company had refused to meet the union committee, and had taken a position which indicated that it intended to starve the strikers into submission. I contacted the company manager, and his two lawyers, on Monday morning, went over the demands of the union, and secured from the manager the first written proposition that has ever been made by a plantation relative to a Filipino strike. It was far from satisfactory, but I thought it my duty to submit the matter to the union committee without approving or disapproving. A mass meeting was later held by the union and the company's proposition rejected.

The seat of the trouble does not lie in this particular plantation. The Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Association dictates the policies of all the associations. There is, in fact, really just one big sugar trust which controls the whole industrial set-up of the Islands. In my judgment any hearing involving the plantations would serve little purpose unless the entire set-up of the Association was thoroughly gone into. That would be a tremendous task. I refer you to my previous correspondence, particularly my last letter relative to this subject. I am enclosing a charge against the Hawaiian Sugar Planters Association which is self-explanatory and gives you some idea of the ramifications a hearing would have to take.

You have received a copy of the charges, but for convenience sake I am attaching an additional copy. The allegations therein are very interesting, and, to the best of my knowledge, true and correct. The averments in the charge were so broad and comprehensive that they would permit investigation of the entire industrial set-up in the Islands. In my judgment an investigation of the charges should not be attempted by one man but rather by a well-equipped staff. The job is too big to be tackled single-handed and without adequate help. I feel confident that if Congress knew the facts relative to the situation in the Islands it would take some action to assure a more democratic administration there. Untold good can be accomplished if some plan could be worked out whereby a Congressional investigation could be carried on jointly or in conjunction with our hearing