Hawaii - James Michener [583]
The big man looked in dismay at his leader and was about to reject the proposals, but Hale reasoned: "If we must live with labor, and that seems to be the spirit of the times, let's do so with a certain grace. I'm going to call Sakagawa back and make the best..."
"I do not wish to be present," Janders said abruptly. He started to leave the room by the back door, but paused to warn his associates: "You're turning these islands over to the communists. I refuse to watch a Japanese field hand come stomping into my, office to lay down . . ."
"But you will consider yourself bound by our decision?" Hale interrupted.
"Yes," Janders snapped grudgingly, and when Goro returned to ratify the mutual surrender, Hewlett Janders was not there.
When the great strike ended, three of Hale's plantation managers, men senior to himself, quit with these words: "We been doin' things our own way too long to be told by a bunch of slant-eyed Japs how to raise sugar." Younger men stepped forward to take their places--and it was a rueful moment when Hale discovered that he did not even know two of the replacements--and before the year ended, the new overseers were reporting: "We can work with the new system. Looks like we'll make more sugar than before." Hewie Janders snorted: "Something is eroding the character of America when young men are so eager to compromise with evil."
And then Hewie made his point. At a meeting of The Fort he rushed in with the news that one of the lesser communists had broken with Rod Burke and had signified his willingness to identify both Burke and his wife as card-carrying members of the Communist Party. This caused a flurry of excitement, which a series of substantiating phone calls raised to fever pitch. "I knew the whole lot of them were communists!" Hewie cried triumphantly. "To think that we allowed Goro Sakagawa to come stomping into this office . . ."
"I don't believe he's charged," Hale cautioned. "At least when I called Jasper he didn't . . ."
"They're all communists," Hewie warned. "I told you a year ago that Rod Burke was a red. And he was. I tell you now that Goro Sakagawa is a red. And he is."
John Whipple Hoxworth said icily, "Let's wait till they're indicted, then apply all our strength until they're convicted."
"Has anybody called the governor?" Janders asked.
"Not yet," John Whipple replied.
"I'd love to!" Janders gloated. "Last time I saw him about communism he said . . ."
"Nobody will call anybody," Hale interrupted. "A great thing has happened in our favor. Nobody must spoil it." And The Fort studied carefully how the new developments could be used to its advantage.
But the day's triumph was somewhat dampened by an assistant's report that while everyone's attention had been focused on the strike, something curious seemed to have been happening, something which he was unable to explain. Producing a map of downtown Honolulu, he pointed to certain areas hatched in red and explained: "This is the Rafer Hoxworth building, and the ground floor has been leased to a Japanese named Fujimoto. Nothing suspicious about that. He has the big dry-goods store in Kaimuki. Now this area is the restaurant whose building is owned by Ed Hewlett's widow. It's been leased to a Filipino who runs a restaurant in Wahiawa."
"What are you driving at, Charley?" Hoxworth asked impatiently.
"Look!" the assistant cried. "Within the past six months, every store in this block has been leased, except the big Joe Janders holding. Do you see what that means?"
Quiet descended over The Fort as the managers studied the map. Finally Hoxworth said, "If somebody has been leasing these sites under an assumed name . . ."
This ugly suspicion circulated, but it was soon stopped by robust Hewlett Janders, who said gruffly, "Hell, what are you worrying about? I've warned Cousin Joe a hundred times never to lease his building without clearing things with me. As long as he holds fast, there's not going to be any trouble. What could a person do, with just these little . . ."
"Call Joe," Hoxworth said imperatively.
An ominous