There are very few instances of abuse or cruelty; indeed, a plantation manager said to me, "If I were to wrong or abuse one of my men, he would persuade a dozen or twenty others not to re-enlist when their terms are out, and would fatally embarrass me;" for it is not easy to get laborers.
There is good reason to believe, therefore, that the plantation laborers are healthier, more prosperous, and just as happy as those who live independently; and it is a fact that on most of the islands the greater part of the younger people are found on the plantations.

Churches are established on or very near all the sugar estates, and the children are rigorously kept at school there as elsewhere.

The people take their newspaper, discuss their affairs, and have usually a leader or two among the foremen.

On one plantation one of the foremen in the field was pointed out to me: he was a member of the Legislature.
There is a good deal of complaint of a scarcity of labor.

If more plantations were opened it would be necessary to import laborers; but for the present, it seems to me, the supply is not deficient.