There were in their employ in 1896. 23.780 laborers. Of these. there were 1.615 Hawaiians. 2.268 Portuguese. 12.893 Japanese. 6.289 Chinese. 115 South Sea Islanders. and 600 of all other nationalities. About half of all these men are contract laborers. living under a condition of virtual chattel slavery. a condition that the present Republic has not seen fit to remedy. These men are paid from $12.50 to $15 per month. without board. Practically the Mongolians produce the sugar of the islands. They work for wages that white men would not accept. and they suffer hardships and privations that white men could not endure. American laborers who may migrate to Hawaii in the hope of betterment. if they continue to exist at all. would rapidly degenerate. They would succumb to their surroundings. stained like the dyers hand by the element it works in. The Mongolian is essential to the profitable production of sugar. It is admitted that the undertaking would be a financial failure without him. Broadly speaking. sugar is all there is to the Hawaiian Islands commercially. and the Mongolian is all there is to sugar. except the big capitalist. The big capitalist is afraid of the abrogation of the present treaty. hence the annexation project. which is a clumsy cover for a mercenary scheme. Saccharine trickles out all around it. the trail of sugar is over it all.
Identified stereotypes
Practically the Mongolians produce the sugar of the islands. They work for wages that white men would not accept, and they suffer hardships and privations that white men could not endure.