76th Congress, 3d Session House Docum ent N o. 848 Labor in the Territory of Hawaii 1 9 3 9 B u lle tin 7S[o. 687 UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF LABOR F rances P e r k in s, Secretary BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS I s a d o r L u b i n , Commissioner A. F. H i n r i c h s , Assistant Commissioner + Donald Davenport, Chief, Em­ Aryness Joy, Chief, Prices and ployment and Occupational Cost of Living Branch Outlook Branch N. Arnold Tolies, Chief, Work­ Henry J. Fitzgerald, Chief, ing Conditions and Indus­ Business Management trial Relations Branch Branch Hugh S. Hanna, Chief, Edito­ Sidney W. Wilcox, Chief rial and Research Statistician CHIEFS OF DIVISIONS Herman B. Byer, Construction Charles F. Sharkey, Labor and Public Employment Law Information J. M. Cutts, Wholesale Prices Boris Stern, Labor Informa­ tion Bulletin Swen Kjaer, Industrial Accidents Stella Stewart, Retail Prices John J. Mahaney, Machine Lewis E. Talbert, Employment Tabulation Statistics Robert J. Myers, Wage and Emmett H. Welch, Occupa­ Hour Statistics tional Outlook Florence Peterson, Industrial Faith M. Williams, Cost of Relations Living Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis 76th Congress, 3d Session House Document No. 848 Labor In the Territory of Hawaii, 1939 By James H. Shoemaker of the U. S. Bureau o f Labor Statistics ☆ Washington, D. C. June 1939 United States Government Printing Office Washington : 1940 Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis HOUSE RESOLUTION NO. 519 [Subm itted by M r . K ing] I n th e H ouse of R epresentatives, June 22, 1940. R esolved, That the letter of the Secretary of Labor, transmitted to the House and referred to the Committee on Territories on June 4, 1940, together with the report on “ Labor in the Territory of Hawaii” , which was prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics pursuant to the organic law of the Territory of Hawaii in 1900, as granted April 8, 1904, be printed as a document. Attest: South T rim bl e, Clerk. i i Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis LETTER OF TRANSMITTAL D epartm ent of L abor , O ffice of the Secretary, W a sh in gto n , J u n e 5 , 1 9 4 0 . The Honorable W illiam B. B a n k h e a d , Speaker of the United States House of Representatives. Sir : I have the honor of transmitting herewith to the Congress of the United States a report on “ Labor in the Territory of Hawaii.” This report was prepared by the Bureau of Labor Statistics under a special appropriation of the Seventy-fifth Congress, third session. It is one of a series of such reports which were called for in the organic law of the Territory of Hawaii in 1900, as amended April 8, 1904. The report, prepared under the direction of Isador Lubin, Com­ missioner of Labor Statistics, is of particular interest at the present time in view of pending legislation with reference to sugar. Respectfully yours, F rances P e r k in s. i i i Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis CONTENTS Page Preface__________________________________________________________________________ xm Introduction________________________________________________________________________ 1 Part I. T he Sugar I ndustry Chapter 1. Sugar production_____________________________________________________ 11 Relative position of Hawaii_________________________________________________ 11 Plantation organization______________________________________________________ 13 Methods of production______________________________________________________ 16 Chapter 2. Organization of the industry_____________________________________ 23 Development of the large-scale plantation______________________________ 23 The adherent-planter system_____________________________________________ 24 The agency system________________________________________________________ 26 Hawaiian Sugar Planters’ Association___________________________________ 28 Sugar refining and marketing organization________________________________ 31 Chapter 3. Employment and labor supply___________________________________ 32 Efficiency as related to employment_____________________________________ 32 The labor supply__________________________________________________________ 33 Chapter 4 Methods of wage payment_______________________________________ 36 Piece work_________________________________________________________________ 36 Cultivation agreements______________________________________________________ 37 The bonus system_________________________________________________________ 38 Wage determinations of the Sugar Division of the Agricultural Adjust­ ment Administration___________________________________________________ 39 Chapter 5. Earnings of day and piece-rate workers_________________________ 41 Scope and method_________________________________________________________ 41 Distribution of hourly earnings, by type of work_______________________ 42 Distribution of hourly earnings, by race___________________________________ 45 Monthly earnings of nonsalaried workers, by type of work------------------ 48 Distribution of monthly earnings of all workers, by type of work— 49 Monthly earnings of nonsalaried workers, by race______________________ 52 Monthly earnings of salaried workers, by race__________________________ 53 Monthly earnings of all workers, by race_______________________________ 53 Earnings of women and minors in the sugar industry__________________ 56 Chapter 6. Seasonality, annual earnings, and wage trends--------------------------- 57 Seasonality________________________________________________________________ 57 Turn-over__________________________________________________________________ 59 Annual earnings, by type of work__________________________________________ 61 Annual earnings, by race____________________________________________________ 62 Wage trends_______________________________________________________________ 63 Chapter 7. Earnings of long-term cultivators________________________________ 66 Chapter 8. Working conditions, perquisites, and general summary------------ 70 Working conditions_______________________________________________________ 70 Perquisites____________________________________________________________________ 71 Pensions____________________________________________________________________ 74 Comparative position of Hawaiian labor________________________________ 74 General summary____________________________________________________________ 78 Part II. T he Pineapple I ndustry Chapter 9. The development and organization of the industry----------------------- 83 Development______________________________________________________________ 83 Structural organization______________________________________________________ 84 Chapter 10. Pineapple plantations______________________________________________ 86 Labor supply_________________________________________________________________ 86 Types of operations__________________________________________________________ 87 v Digitized for FRASER http://fraser.stlouisfed.org/ Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis VI CONTENTS Page Chapter 11. Methods of payment and earnings___________________________ 90 Methods of payment__________________________________________________ 90 Earnings on pineapple plantations____________________________________ 90 Effect of seasonality on earnings______________________________________ 96 Chapter 12. Perquisites, working conditions, and summary_______________ 98 Perquisites_____________________________________________________________ 98 Pineapple plantations: Summary_______________________________________ 100 Chapter 13. Pineapple canneries: Labor supply and types of operations., 101 Labor supply____________________________________________________________ 101 Types of operations in the canneries____________________________________ 102 Chapter 14. Pineapple canneries: Method of payment and earnings; the present position of the industry___________________________________________ 105 Method of payment_____________________________________________________ 105 Distribution of hourly and weekly earnings_____________________________ 105 Seasonality______________________________________________________________ 109 Present position of the pineapple industry______________________________ 117 P a r t III. N onplantation A g r i c u l t u r e Chapter 15. Coffee___________________________________ .!____________________ 121 Chapter 16. Truck farming______________________________ 123 Chapter 17. Cattle raising___________________________________________________ 126 P a r t IV. T o u r i s t T r a d e Chapter 18. Tourist trade___________________________________________________ 131 P a r t V. S u b s i d i a r y I n d u s t r i e s Introduction_________________________________________________________________ 137 Chapter 19. Public utilities__________________________________________________ 140 Earnings_________________________________________________________________ 140 Working conditions______________________________________________________ 142 Summary________________________________________________________________ 143 Chapter 20. The construction industry______________________________________ 151 Government construction________________________________________________