Chapter 2, pg. 21-53 Summary and Analysis

Hawaiian sugar mill owner, William Hoper, opened his sugar business in 1835. At first he only employed Hawaiians, but found them to be inefficient workers. Then he began to employ Chinese immigrants and found them to be better workers. In 1848, when developing the plans for a transcontinental railroad in America, policymaker Aaron H. Palmer called for the use of Chinese laborers. Many companies of the time had supply requisitions which included Asian workers.

When the Hawaiian planters realized they had become too dependent on Chinese workers, they began requisition workers of other nationalities. This was done to suppress wages and to keep unions out. The national diversity of the workers kept any one block from becoming powerful. When Hawaii was annexed to the United States, they could not longer import Chinese workers, so they had to find other...