Omaha daily bee., 1899-12-10

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While the question is being vigorously
debated which party g. tine South Afri.
can conflict should have tn, sympathy
of Americans an equally heated con.
troycrsy is on between those who on
one side contend that the black man
should ally himself with the Beers and
those On the other side who insist that
his gratitude to the British should de
tevuiur him in their favor The two
sides OF this controversy arc we'll set
forth in a discussion in The current
number Of the Independent contributed
by Marshal MoNckc, Basuto from
South Africa now at WilbcrfUgcc. o.
in antagouism to the Bocrs and by
Rev. W. G. Wilcox, a missionary OF the
American board at rmyot Natal at
Ohcrltn, O., writing for them.
TIE gist of the black mans plant
against the Boor is That the native is
cruelty oppressed in every way in the
Tlansvaal country MuNckc, citing his
own experience, relates how he was sub
iectcd to iudiguity in Johannesburg by
policemen and other officers because he
spoke English; how nc was excluded
from street cars restaurants and public
halls; how lie was forced by jibas TO
give up riding n bicycle. "From these
facts which are no fables" lie asks,
"Who thinks that the natives could be
on the Beers side? What benefit would
they get even if they should help the
Beers and conquer the British? If any
man, whether in America or any Other
country, wishes to see an earthly he'll
for Il black man, let him 80 to the
Transvaal'
Replying to these structures, Rev.
Wilcox, speaking from his observations
in Natal, insists that the natives there
are treated by the British even more
Shamefully than the natives in the
TranSvaal In Natal as well as in the
Transvaal there are patrolmcn who may
stop any native ut any time ana make
him produce his pass; they may also
enter the home Of any native, and
should they find one without proper
pass they may arrest the owner of the
house and bring him into court, where
he may be fined for harbOring Il native
without Il pass. Continuing, he says:
Mr. Maxeke complains that tho highest
wages paid to native men in Transyaal is
not more than Sc week know Of a
good many who have received higher wages
than that. But SO week is great dral
more than natives get in Natal The Eng
lish import coolies from India and sell them
to the colonists for the price OF their pas
sage and from 10 shilings to Is chilling
a month This is one way in vii h tie
price Of native labor is kept down in the
English colony. Another way is BY t. G
service for the government at less than
ne-fourth of what he could get for the
same kind of work in Transvaal Once the
natives used to flock to the diamond mines
in Kimberley, Cape Colony where they
could get good wages But since Mr..
Rhodes has accomplished his wonderful
scheme only about one-half of the mines
are allowed to be worked at all, and the
native labor is done chiefly by convcts
From this evidence it is plain that
all through South Africa the black man
fares considerably worse at the hands
of the Whites than he does in the most
backward parts of our own southern
states. In fact, nowhere in the world
where he has located in any c6nsidera-
BILE numbers has the black man been
treated so literally and accorded so
many privileges and rights rs in Amer
lea, and all projects for coloniZing the
blacks of the south by returning them
to the homes OF their ancestors in South
Africa are in reality II backward step.
The present war there seems to promise
nothing for him whether one side wins
or the other, except so far as the gen
eral principles of free institutions may
be better represented by the Beers or
10y the British.
The future Of the black man is to be
worked out in the United States by up
lifting him industrially, educationally
and morally, and setting the example
to which the black man in South Afri- |
can republics and other states may
aspire.
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