Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1899-03-17
WHITE MEN IN TROPICS.
Alfred Russell wallace Says They Can Live
and Work There Il They Like.


colonized by Europeans. and particu-
larly by men OF the Anglo-Saxon race:
This is the question that now occupies
much attention in view of the mad
struggle among the chief European
governments for share OF all those
parts Of tropical Africa and Asia still
held by interiors races And the gem
eral opinion seems to be that there is
something in the tropical climate
inimical to Europeans. who cannot live
and work there as the natives can, and
who must. therefore. be content with a
few years residence occupying the
country solely as rulers. and as ex-
ploiters Of native labor.
Again and again the statement is
made in the public press, and by writ
ers Of some authority. that white men
cannot live and work in the tropics"
and this dogma Is made the foundation
OF theories as to our conduct toward
the natives and is often held to Justify
us IN inducing or compelling them to
work for us by methods which do not
very much differ in their results from
modified slavery 1t, therefore, be-
comes important to ascertain whether
TINS dogma is true or false: and on this
question, having myself lived and
worked for II years within 10 degrees
OF the equator. in the Amazon valley
and in the Malay Archipelago, l have
formed very definite opinion.
few preliminary remarks are
needed to clear the ground. In the
nrst place. we must clearly distinguish
between the climate and the diseases
OF the tropics. Most people form their
opinions from the effects of those
tropical diseases which prevail in the
cities and towns where Europeans
most congregate. or of the climate in
the very worst portions of the tropical
regions. The great trading centres of
tropical America, from Havana and
Vera Cruz to Rio de Janeiro. owe their
extreme unh6tlthiness to two main
causes-the absence of all effective
sanitary arrangements among the
native population. and the fact
that they We're for several
centuries emporiums of the slave
trade. 1t is to this latter cause
greatest authorities on the history Of
epidemic diseases. traces the origin
and persistence of the fatal yellow
fever. which is only epidemic in the
slave-trade area on the two sides of
the Atlantic. The slave ships reached
their destination in a state of indn-
scribable filth, which year after year
was poured out into the shallow waters
of the harbors. and soon formed a per-
manent constituent of the soil between
high and low water marks. In the
East there We're no such slave ships
and there is no yellow fever: but the
overcrowding in all centers of popula-
ton and the neglect of sanitation, both
by the natives and by their English
rulers in India, who knowing better
are most to blame. produce and propa-
gate plague and other zymotc dis
eases. But these are in no way due to
the tropical climate. since three GEN.
turtles ago plague was as prevalent in
the cities of England as it is now in
those of India.
Still more commonly associated with
the tropics are the various forms OF
no sense due to the climate, but simply
to ignorant dealing with the soil. My
own experience has shown me that
swamps and marshes near the Equator
are perfectly healthy so long as they
are lell Hearty III d Stdle vi iltluTe-
that is, covered with dense forest .:
other vegetation. 1t is when extensive
marshy areas are cleared for cultivd-
ton. and for half the year are dried up
by the tropical sun, that they become
deadly. | have lived for months to-
gether in or close to tropical swamps,
both in the Amazon valley. in Borneo
and in the Moluccas. without a days
illness: but when living in open cuiti-
waited marshy districts almost in
variably had malarial fever. though L
believe the worst types of these fevers
are due to unwholesome food. But
here again. malaria was equally
prevalent in England less than two
centuries ago.
II we take the great belt, about 2O93
miles wide. extending from II to -
degrees north and south of the equator,
we have an enormous area. by far the
larger part of which is not only well
adapted for European colonization in
the true sense, that Is for permanent
occupa ton by white men, but is also
with proper sanitary precautions the
most healthy and enjoyable part of the
world, and that in which the laborer