The times., 1898-09-18

quest of tla Philippines have had the
effect of creating renewed interest in all
the islands of the Pacific. This country
has always had a particular interest in
the Samoan group. and that interest has
become greatly intensified since. in ad2i-
tion TO Hawaiian annexation, ii now
seems certain that we will brild the
Nicaraguan Canal When that canal shall
have been built, Samoa will be OF as
great importance 10 this country as Ha-
waii is now The chances are. however.
that we will never have more than
coaling station there, and We will be
lucky if we keep even lhat without fight
ing Germany for it.
1t is popularity supposed that Samoa is
governed by the United States, Great
Britain and Germany. III a sort of three
cornered conference style, but as a mat
ter of fact the local government is en-
tirely German. The Germans ill most
of the offices. do all the work and collect
the revenues. The representatives Of
Great Britain and the United States have
merely perfunctory duties TO perform
1t is only fair to admit that German
interests in Samoa are very much greater
than those of all the other nations com
bined. The Germans own nearly all the
best land and carry on a large preponder-
ance of the various business enterprises.
There were about 800 white persons in
Apia in 1881, all but a dozen being Ger
mans o. connected with German inter
ests.
Practically all the Germans in the isl
ands are connected with a single firm. the
full name of which contains something
over hundred words. Everybody mere
ly refers to it as the German firm. 1t has
its headquarters in Hamburg, and it owns
all of the great cocoanut plantations,
from which the product known copra
is derived. Copra is the dried kernel of
the cocoanut, and is exported in enor-
NOUS quantities to Hamburg, where it is
turned into oil.
This firm obtained something over a
million acres of the richest land on the
face Of She earth in exchange for rum.
One day a ship loaded with rum the
value Of which was twenty cents a gal
Ion. appeared in the harbor of Apia.
When the natives came out in their can
oes 20 trade. as they always do when a
vessel arrives off the coast. they were in
vited on board, and were introduced to
the mystic influence of cheap alcohol.
They all became gioriously drunk. When
they had fallen into the inevitable stupor
they were taken ashore and laid out in
rows along the beach. They awoke the
next morning with burning thirst which
could be quenched only by more rum So
they padded out TO the ship again nearly
crazy for the fiery liquor They were
then in the condition for business that
the owners of the rum intended they
should be. Rum was furnished TO them
in exchange for land, the rate being a
gallon of rum for an acre of land By
the time that cargo of rum had become
exhausted, another had arrived, and the
trading went on right merrily When the
second cargo was gone the Germans had
All the land they wanted. and the natives
mad a remarkable assortment of katzan-
TANNERS Then they begged for mor4
liquor, but the Germans shut off the SUD-
ply. and the natives were compelled TO re-
form, much against their inclinations.
After a time the natives began to real
lze that they had been treated unfairly.
ana they wanted their land back. bat the
Germans only laughed at them and Offer
ed 10 put them at work on their Dlanta-
tions- Here, however. the foreigners ran
against an unlooked-for snag. The Sa-
moans refused to work under any circum-
stances Tor any consideration They are
opposed TO work on general principles.
and, besides, they had conceived an in
tensely bitter hatred for the men who
had so grievously fooled them. 1t was
this bitterness that led to the war be-
tween the Germans and natives a few
years ago. when so many were killed on
both sides
As may be imagined, the labor problem
soon became most serious one to the
plantation owners. To bring high-priced
laborers from America or Europe was out
OF the question. In the first place, white
men could not stand the hard work II,
that climate, and. secondly. to reap the
full extent of profit, it Rtrs necessary that
the cost of labor should be nominal.
Men i'm Slavery.
Some Of the beacheombers at Apia sug-
gested that Solomon Islanders were an
industrious class. and that they could be
hired to work for very small wages A
ship was sent over to the Solomon group.
which is in about the same latitude as
Samoa, some hundreds of miles TO the
westward. But the Solomon men were
almost as averse to doing plantation work
as the Samoans had been A few hun
dreds Of them, however, Were tempted by
the offer of 2 a month and board and
were taken to Upolu plantations Al the
end of the first month, wnen the laborers
lined up 10 receive their munifcent
wages, they found that nothing was com
ing to them. To offset their wages al
sorts of extras, including tobacco, tools
and breech cloths had been charged III
against them. 1t took them but a short
time TO realize that they We're practically
slaves. Scores of them escaped into the
bush, and IL became necessary to sur
round the plantations WIN armed guards
in spite Of ali the precautions, however,
the men continued to escape, and the
harshest kind of measures were then
adopted Overseers. armed with rifles
and blacksnake whips. were placed in
charge of gangs of Iaborers The slaves
IN the South were never treated half as
cruelty as were those poor fellows on the
cocoanut plantations of Samoa.
As the ranks of the laborers became
thinned out by escapes into the bush ana
by death more ships were sent to the Sol
omon group and to New Guinea for re-
cruits As many as 600 of those natives
were brought over in single cargo. BY
this time ali pretense of hiring the men
TO work had been abandoned. and they
were taken forcibly from their homes
and Impressed into actual slavery. In all
over 6.0o0 Solomon men were enslaved. OF
which number probably one-half got
away into the bush. where they are now
living in a perfectly wild state
There is a very great difference between
the Samoans and the Solomon natives
The Samoans are peace-loving. and have
attained q degree of civilization. They
are indolent and there is no reason why
they should not be. 1t is not necessary
for them TO work. Everything that they
require TO sustain life grows without cul-
tivalion, from the bread fruit on the trees
and the taro in the ground to the myriads
rNf u vafrr av~I l.