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because they seem to think they have something to build up. And what they say has much truth in it. One of the elements of the islands is the element represented by the Portuguese people.
The Chairman. Are the Portuguese entitled to vote under the constitution?
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. Being Europeans!
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. They are entitled to that privilege in Hawaii without changing their nationality, without renouncing their allegiance to the foreign government?
Mr. Emerson. I think all Europeans, Germans and all, who are domiciled in the land under certain conditions. I can not tell you the conditions that permit them to vote. While considering themselves American citizens, some of the white men have voted. They vote and act as citizens of that land.
The Chairman. Petaining their citizenship in their native land, they are permitted to vote in Hawaii under the constitution of 1887?
Mr. Emerson. AS I understand it. I do not know just what relations the Portuguese Government permits.
The Chairman. When the Japanese come to Hawaii do they bring their families?
Mr. Emerson. I am sorry to say that the Japanese come there rather too promiscuously. Some of them are married men; but they tire of one wife and take another.
The Chairman. The Japanese, if I understand you correctly, are introduced into Hawaii by an agreement between the two governments?
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. Do the overseers, controllers of these Japanese, come along from Japan?
Mr. Emerson. There is an agent, a Mr. Irwin, who ships them from Japan. Of course, there are interpreters, men who go there to bring them over; just how, I could not say.
The Chairman. Mr. Irwin is the agent of the Hawaiian Government?
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. And he resides in Japan?
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. And he sends out these Japanese to Hawaii?
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. They come under a contract between the two governments?
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. Do they establish homes when they get there?
Mr. Emerson. The Japanese are rather apt to be migratory. Now and then a bright, intelligent Japanese man will get a store. There are certain young men in Honolulu who are establishing stores in the city, and also the members of the legation. Rarely you will find one who is married; they are young men. Their prospects in the island are good, but most of the laborers return.
The Chairman. They come under a contract to return, do they not?
Mr. Emerson. I believe they do. I suppose there is a contract to return.
The Chairman. The Chinese who come to Hawaii, are they brought
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under an arrangement with the Government of China or do they come of their own accord?
Mr. Emerson. In regard to these Government contracts, my knowledge is that as to the immigration of the Chinese they are limited, as in the case of the Japanese. As I understand it, there is a limitation upon their coming.
The Chairman. DO you mean that a certain number may come within a year?
Mr. Emerson. I can not say just what it is.
The Chairman. When the Chinese arrive there, do they bring their families with them?
Mr. Emerson. I know this, the Chinamen are sending to China often for wives. My cook said, "Mr. Emerson, if you will lend me $200 I can get a wife."
The Chairman. In what kind of service are the Chinese employed in Hawaii?
Mr. Emerson. The chief service is to their own people, rice planters.
Senator Sherman. And sugar planters ?
Mr. Emerson. There are not so many working the sugar plantations. Then there are cooks in the cities.
Senator Gray. Domestic servants?
Mr. Emerson. Domestic servants.
The Chairman. Have the Chinamen ownership over the lands where they raise rice?
Mr. Emerson. I think it is mostly rented land.
The Chairman. But they have farming establishments?
Mr. Emerson. Yes.
The Chairman. And they are engaged mainly in the raising of rice?
Mr. Emerson. The Chinaman, I think, is quite an item in Hawaii, so far as his labors are concerned. There are quite a number of children (descendants of Chinamen are numerous); they are given to marrying native wives, native women.
The Chairman. How is the native population, the Kanakas, related to these different people—the Portuguese, Japanese, and Chinese? Are they friendly?
Mr. Emerson. Friendly with anybody. A Chinaman can ingratiate himself into the native's house. He will say, "You put up a building, and I will give you a certain rent." The Chinaman will run a store and pay the rent, and the native will live off it. The Chinaman will go into the country and say, "I will take your patch off your hand and plant the patch;" and the Hawaiian rents to the Chinaman, and he makes money off it. It is a very great misfortune that the Hawaiian is being worked out of his independence by this race. He needs protection.
The Chairman. Do the native Kanaka women intermarry with the Japanese, Chinese, and Portuguese?
Mr. Emerson. I do not think the Japanese and Portuguese do. I think there are quite a number of Portuguese women there; there are certainly more Portuguese women than Chinese women. The Chinese are most apt to marry the natives.
The Chairman. The native woman has no fastidiousness with regard to marriage—she will marry a Japanese, a Chinese, or a Portuguese?
Mr. Emerson. I think not, if she get a chance to marry a Chinese or Portuguese.
Senator Gray. Does she ever marry a white man?
Mr. Emerson. When they can not get white husbands.
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