New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1899-03-09
r1rE AND WORK IN THE TROPICS.


In reviewing. some little time ago MT pen
iomin Kids essay on The Cohnol Vi .n0
Tropics" we found ourselves compeheu " ui'
conf from one Of the salient points OF lhat gen
orally instructive and convincing Worh' haho'''
that colonization Of tropical lands Dy "h.'c
mon. or nj least by Anglo-Saxons, can never Do
successfully effected. Mr. hldd argueu t'"'
tronical climates were insalubrlous; that Il Tie!
escaped the diseases white men there Decalne
enervated and could not work Well' ana hn"i'
tbot contact with the natives in those lahuS was
demoralizIng With not one or THESE proPoSi
tions did we then or do we now agree Anu
wo are pleased to observe in the current NUM-
her Of "The Independent" an exceptionally de
tailed explicit and authoritative corroDorauoH
Of our own views upon the subject
II is the eminent naturalist and explorer, Ut
Alfred Russell Wallace, who speaks, ana ne
eneaks from a fulness Of experience ana OF oo-
scryation which few can rival. AS ne modes'iy
reminds us. he lived and worked Tor uozeh
vears on or within ten degrees or the Equ"'oi'
-Four of those years he spent IN the vast ste"il-
ing iunges of the Amazon Valley, ana the other
eight among the Islands Of the Malay Archlpcl-
oco-thc very region from which some are 10"
irving 10 warn us away. First, as 10 the us
cases which prevail in the tropics. Inc yeIlo"
foyer Of America was created by the save
trnde and has been propagated by the neelec'
Of sanitation. In the East there were no sucH
slave ships rs here. and there Is no yeHo"
fever There is the bubOnic plague. 1t IS que
70 overcrowding and lack of sanitation; ana
when once those conditions prevailed III Lon
| don II ragged there as violently as ever IN HohE
| Kong or Bombay. Neither yellow FEVER nor
/ rla cue is due to the tropical climate nor addS
| DIR Wallace confidently, are the maiarlal OF
| Jungle fevers in any sense due 10 the clihhte'
Tie oxnerience shows him that equatorial
swalnps are quite healthy so long as they are i'll
. .t,tc of nature. 1t is only when they are
cleared and cultivated that they become deadi!
but even then malaria Is no more prevalent III
thcm than it was throughout England two cen
| turios ago. The worst Of these so-callcd mala-
rial fevers he attributes to unwholesome food.
That the vast luxurlance Of vegetation in tropi-
cal regions is nmcal 10 human HE OF human
| labor he scouts a. n vulgar error
| Discussing. in the second place the question
Of labor. lie declares 1T is not the fact that
white men cannot permanently live and WORK
"jn the tropics" On the contrary. work there
+. n condition Of healthy life. as it is elsewhere.
He found II so. Others whom he tells Of found
tors. in Ccylon have found it so for many years
In the East Indies there are plenty Of Dutch
mon who have lived there all their lives. and
their ancestors before them for three hundred
wears. and they have not dcgcneratcd physically,
mentally or morally. but are rs robust as thcir
kinsmcn in Holland. Finally Or. Wallace cites
ms we did before him-thc case Of Queensland
II Is an intensely tropical region. Yet white
mon live there and work there They work
hard too rs gold miners. sheep shcarers, sugar
makers. railroad builders and what not They
conduct ali the laborious enterprises of civilized
communities And their health remains good.
DR. Wallace comes. then. to these conclusions
Tropical climates are not hostile to health or &c
oxcrton Diseases prevail there only through
conditions which would produce them else
: where The same care in diet. clothing. santa
ton. etc. that preserves health elsewhere vii
, preserve health in the tropics. Men, white men
can live permanently and work efficiently in th
tropics Perhaps they will not work there un
loss they have TO- The cheapness Of NATIVE
labor tempts them TO deness. But neither vii
g they rs a rulc work elsewhere unless they have
:, 10 do so. That they are not able to work in TN
{ tropics is n myth OF the great belt two thou
e sand miles wide. extending from twelve 10 fiji
. teen degrees on each side Of the Equator. "b
r FAR the larger part is not only we'll adapted 70
permanent occupation by white men, but
( also with proper sanitary precautions the mos
: healthy and enjoyable part Of the world an
:, cha, in which the laborer can obtain the max
q ! mum return with the minimum Of toll" Tha
Y WAS nr Wallaccs belief half century NC
o when he was living in the valley Of the Anna
ION He was confirmed in that belief afte1
r ward through eight years Of toll in the Mala
$ reaffrms II now. in his venerable age, with III
t convincing force OF scientific authority ne
/. easily 10 he surpassed if even rivaled, in OF
!, day.
= Or Wallace's essay is accompanied by n
I other. 10 the same effect. from the pen of ID
= W F. Blackman. Of Yale University. He cal
t not speak from personal experience. rs does y
t Wallace. and he U.s. perhaps for that reasol
4 | moro conservative in his statements. But froi