Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1899-01-11
Benevolent Despotism.

cussion of the acquisition of tropical
possessions, The Call has warned the
country of the overshadowing impor-
tance of the labor question.
White labor cannot exist in the
torrid zone. What labor is done
there must be done by the tropical
races.
y further fact ls made plain by
history and by current events. The
tropical races will not work unless
forced to do so. Nature presents no
resistance that must be overcome IL
order that man may live uuder verti-
cal sun. She supplies all his neces-
stiles and ministers TO his physical
wants with lavish hand Every
cOuntry that has owned land and ex-
ercised sovereignty in the tropics has
secured u surplus for commercial ex-
port by some form of forced labor.
Spain fell into inattention TO the
"cst use and development of her pc
minsuIar territory, because it was
easier by forced labor to wriug rev
enueS and compel commerce out of
Der Easr and West Indian ,ropica is
lands. After centuries Of this poll
~ heI tropical people rose ia revolt
against being forced 20 toll under
natural conditions that made labor
unnecessary for their own existence.
~ a result of this revolt she has
lost her possessions IA the torrid zone.
and w'iI Toe driven now TO exploit he
home res urces and no doubt will Doe
rcgvuerated. commercially and mor
ally, 10y Fne compulsory change
But Ne are stepping into her shoes.
and a. We do 1t our commercial
classes are inilaming the popular fan
cy by alluring pictures of tropical
commerce To come.
Nearly four centuries ago. when
the Pope divided the commerce of the
newly discovered regions between
Spain and Portugal, on the meridian
of no variation of he magnetic needle.
which was discovered by NascO de
CANA in his circumnavigatiou of
Africa, those two countries entertain
ed precisely the same exalted antici-
pations which are to-day rife through
out the United States. Immediately
upon entering upon their torrid pos
sessions they encountered physical
conditions, which have not changed.
that required involuntary labor to
produce the commerce they had an-
ticipated.
During the scores of years gone by
since then the only surplus produc-
ing labor in the tropics has been COM
PEELED by the lash, or by penal con-
tract, or some form of force. The
Dutch are at it today in Java. Eng
land was driven by Wilberforce to
abandon it In her West Indian is
lands, when she abolished slavery.
and Immediately their surplus pro-
duction declined. The same story
applies to Haiti and San Domingo,
when France and Spain, respectively,
were compelled to let go, and invol-
untary labor ceased within their bor-
ders.
Recently, Professor Kidd and Mr..
Ireland have made personal survey
of the tropics, and unite in the con
cluslon that their commerce depends
on some form of involuntary servi-
tude.
Kidd falls back OH the ancient
doctrine that might makes right. As
the temperate zone races cannot labor
in the tropics, and as the tropical
races will not labor voluntarily, he
concludes that tropical commerce be-
ing desirable 10 the nations of the
temperate zone, they have the right
to exercise over labor in the tropics
"a benevolent despotism." as the
Dutch do in Java. This means the
reduction of tropical labor to con-
ditiOn of involuntary seryitude.
Every physical and commercial
fact involved in the situation demon
strates that, as we drive Spain ont
and enter upon her possession for the
same purpose that she had in acquir-
! ing them in the fifteenth century. we
must go, as she did then, with the
lash for the back of labor in one
hand and the demands of CONNER
ctal ovorica ~ tho Othar ,f