Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-08-13
An English Colony is Which Nolan
choly Broods.
FINE SCENERY AND INCIDENT PEOPLE
Women Seem 70 do the Most of
the 1Wotk.
ECONOMIC CONDITIONS

Writer for The Evening Star.
Jamaica Is one of the English colonies in
which melancholy broods. The melancholy
is not of the natives, for the people of the
tropics are too content with the easy ex-
istence which nature provides to brood over
their once happy condition. But the Anglo
Saxon citizens talk modify of the future.
The island has been Great Britain's pos
session for $50 years 1t has been well
governed. and is today, yet after this long
period it's governing class is discouraged.
There are no openings for younger sons, no
inducements for emigration. The white
population, out of a total of 700,0 900, Is be-
tween 14o00 and 1900. Apparently it has
varied little from that proportion for thirty
or forty years. 1 was informed that while
in Kingston and two or three other towns
there is no marked decrease, in the In
terror parishes the white population is
growing smaller. Social conditions are said
to be responsible for this change.
Causes of Dfscontent.
The causes at the root OF the discomfort
and Encouragement are chiefly economic
ones. For long time Jamaica leaned on a
single staple. The sugar plantations were
baronial in extent and their cultivation was
easy and profitable. Then came the pro-
OQCtlOH VI Ueet sugar, HOS tAc uHu
bounties. Now there is talk of building the
industry up again by grants -in-afd, counter
vaihng duties and other government agen-
cies. Colonial Secretary Chamberlain was
going to do 1T. He finds the task huge
one. He is charged with Indifference to the
West India colonies, with breaking ante
election promises and other sins common to
politicians of all countries. The contro-
versy is not of interest outside the colony.
The only thing appears to be that the ques-
ton Of what shall be done for Jamaica is
an open one.
The colony is looking to the home gov
eminent for help that does not come. Some
of the absentee plantation owners are still
raising sugar hoping that their oVerseers
will be able to make better report next
year. while the sugar industry regularly
proves to have had worse year" The
government feels the pinch in more ways
than one. 1t is facing decreased internal
revenue, because the lessening of the sugar
production lessons the production of cane
rum, and the amount of tax drawn from
that source. which was considerable. ia
maica has had other spells of depression
and Of angry controversy with the home
government, even to the verge OF revolt. 1t
has come through them into periods of
prosperity and content This may happen
again. At present 1t is impossible for an
observer to overlook the =undertone of dis
couragement. And the future which is
opening for Porto Rico and Cuba spreads
dark veil over Jamaica, unless reciprocity
or some other means places 1t on a more
equal footing with the other West Indies
which share in the American policy of eX-
panSion.
Travelling With Il Practical Man.
l did not intend to write of this economic
aspect of Jamaica at all, yet it will obtrude
because the thoughtful folks on the island
think of little else. Naturally, they I'M
burden themselves to the visitor from the
United States My travelling companion i'll
the railroad journey across the island from
Port Antonio to Kingston was full of the
subject. The scenes were old to MIN. He
saw nothing impressive in the winding line
along the sea at the base Of the mountains.
He did not know why the "Scotchmans
bonnet was called or why so many
other rugged peaks of nature bore Scotch
designa lions. Glimpses up green valleys
through which the rivers swept down to
the ocean, or lofty forestwalied ravines,
through which the torrents were pouring
excited no emotion in him, though it
brought forth an explanation of the exact
measurement of the rainfall in the wet
season. The bamboos, which bent from
either side of the smaller streams until
their tops touched and formed natural
arches rnirrored in the waters beneath
them called for discourse on the use of
the bamboos by the coolies in building huts
The white chalky surface of the noun
tain sides, where the jungle had been
cleared away, was the text for an instruc-
tive essay on the porous nature of that lime
stone and the exact proportion IN which IT
should be used in roadmaking. Where the
hillstops lay close together in orderly sue
cession as though they had been marshalled
by the master hand that created them was
the theme for discussion OF the SOIL there,
and it's difference from the soil lower down.
The rank vegetation, the interlacing vines
and trees on the hillsides, which made the
jungle even more impossible than in east
ern Cuba, the deepness and freshness of
| the verdure, were all explained solely with
reference to the productiveness of the earth.
| 1t was so going through the tunnels at the
summit of the mountains. following the
course down again toward the sea with