The New York herald., 1873-11-30
LITER AZURE.
A STUDY OF SUB.TRCPICAL IN
DUETRIES.'

England, wiser than the United States, has found
In Maurttius sugar producing country, and even
sought to divide the American Republic, TO obtain
an absolute control over the cotton lands OF the
South. The American people. on the other hand,
have never evtnced any disposition for sugar
growing territory, Notwithstanding we now pay
Spain $124 900 600 In gold annually for this staple
article OF consumption. When the country comes
to understand sub-tropical industries in their
economic relations to our own wants beneficial
change in our policy win be the result. 1t Is this
which makes any contribution TO our
knowledge OF this subject 80 important.
book which in degree answers
these requirements is Pixies 'Sub-tropcal RAM
bles," just published by Harper Brothers. The
island OF Maurtlus is his subject, and as the title
OF the work Indicates he sketches a complete ac-
count OF that productive but almost unknown pos
session Of the British Crown.
Though England has drawn her sugar supply
from Mauritius for years, and especially since the
abolition OF slavery in Jamaica, the island is in
reality but little known. Mr.. Nicholas Pike, the
United States Consul at Port Louis and the author
OF this volume asserts that upon receiving his ap-
pointment he sought in vain for information con-
cerning the land TO which he was accredited The
Old story OF the DodO and the pathetic tale OF Paul
and Virginia were about all that was or even now
set about collecting all the information he
could gather, and the results OF his labors are
now partially published in these Rambles.
Another volume on the Fauna OF Mauri-
thus is to follow. Mr.. Pike, though he
has given US valuable and interesting book might
have made it still more valuable and interesting
had he been a practiced writer, able to dlscrim-
mate between the necessary and the unnecessary.
Two chapters are devoted to the voyage from
Washington to Mauritius such unimportant and
well known facts as the residence OF General Santa
Anna at st. Thomas, tending to swell the size OF
the book. The style in which the book is written
is loose and unsatisfactory and the lack OF con-
densation initiates against Its usefulness. The
author often goes out OF his way to introduce ex-
traneous matter; as, for instance, while treating
OF the coolies he favOrs us with o dsquisTtion
upon the castles OF India. These are but minor de-
fects, however, in work which contains much
that is new, and that gives full information OF an
island the condition OF which was before practi-
cay unknown.
Mauritus is to England what Cuba is TO Spain.
The similarity OF the two islands to what may be
called the mother country is remarkable Both
are sugar producing countries. The sugar estates
IN each are large, and are supplied with expensive
European machinery In both labor is supplied
upon the force system. Slavery in Cuba Is name
for the African slave only, but the Chinese coolie
Is much slave as the African or African creole.
In Mauritius the Indian coolies as much slaves
their Chinese brethren in Cuba All the labor
of the English island is done by imported coolie
laborers. The same thing Is true OF the English
possessions in Demerara and elsewhere except in
jamaica, where the black and yellow natives are
too numerous to submit to q large influx OF East
India slaves for, cloak it as they may. the English
raIiAc ~
the Spaniards- Mr.. Pike, while apparently rejoic-
ing in the system which makes Mauritius prosper
GUS, unconscious testimony TO the force labor
which England fosters in that lar distant island.
He says
Every coolie carries a small tin case attached to
his waist, containing his certificate of arrival age,
personal description, with a photograph. engage
ment, &C. He never ventures into the street with
out this, as he is liable to be stopped at any mo-
ment by the police; and, II his papers are not all
satisfactory account OF himself. II domestic SER
vent gets leave TO go into the country he must have
pass from his master. specifying the number OF
days he has permission to be absent and the place
OF his destination. The photograph system has
been adopted to compel every Indian to show his
own ticket. Formerly there was any amount OF
rascality carried on. II "a man lost his own ticket
he would beg, borrow or steal ms friends, or get
less now. The dated passports not only prevent
vagabondage, but put stop in great measure TO
runaway servants, who, on the slightest provoca-
tion, would formerly abscond.
There Is in this every evidence OF abject slavery
and, strange to say, the new form OF slavery In
Mauritius Immediately took the place OF the old.
In the English colonies the Emancipation act OF
1884 did not have its full effect till 1888. BY that
time 4,566 coolies had arrived at Mauritius from
Calcutta. That the slave idea was uppermost in
the English mind is apparent from the fact that,
on account Of the enormities committed upon the
coolies, the home government was compelled for
four years to prevent the immigration OF coolies
altogether since 1912, however, the traffic has
gone on almost without interruption, and now the
Indians in the island number over 200, 600 souls,
or two-thrds OF the entire population. Mr.. Pike
desgnates them as laborers and the system under
which they work as free labor. We ask him what
the American people would think II every China
man in New York was compelled to show his pass
to every policeman he chanced to meet and to
identify himself by producing photograph OF him
self with his cedula Even the Spaniards In Cuba
are not 80 rigorous with either their African or
Chinese slaves. Mr. PiKe's book would be invau-
able II for nothing else In showing that England
is still a slave-fostering Power in her colonies.
There is in all this problem which civilization
must work out. To-day Cuba and Porto Rico are
the only sugar producing islands In the West Indies.
Yet previous TO the revolution OF 1893 st. Domingo
distanced every competitor. In 1920 only 2s years
alter the discovery of America, st. Thomas had Gu
sugar manufactures and made 4,65O,ooO pounds OF
sugar annually. Now the island is barren rock,
without industry of any kind. and with no local
trade except with the passengers passing ships.
st. Domingo and Hayti are the island homes OF par
TALLY civilized negroes Since the abolition of sa-
very Jamaica has fallen to a condition almost
equally degraded Barbados is the only sub
tropical island on this side the equator which has
prospered with free labor, and there only because
the population is so dense that he who would eat
must work. Now. while we recognize that the
abolition OF slavery has destroyed these
once fertile islands and would probably
destroy Cuba and Porto Rico, we arc far
from desiring the promotion OF the system. We
want both the Spanish slavery in these islands,
African and Chinese, and the English slavery in
Demerara and Mauritus utterly destroyed. But
cannot overlook the fact that the sugar crop Is
force crop under the systems by which 1t has