The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1899-04-11
They Sh0lld Not Possess TeFrors
for White Men.
A Maximum of Production With
Minimum Of Labor-In South
ern Countries.
(Alfred Russell Wallace in the In
dependent)

Can the tropics be permanently colo
nized by Europeans, and particularly
| by men of the Anglo-SaXon race? This
attention in view of the mad struggle
among the chief European govern
ments for a share of all those parts of
| tropical Africa and Asia still held by
seems to be that there is something in
| the tropical climate inimical to Euro
lpeans, who cannot live and work there
as the natives can, and who must,
| therefore, be content with a few years
residence, occupying the country sole
ly as rulers and as exploiters of native
labor.
Again and again the statement is
made in the public press, and by
writer's of some authority, that white
men cannot live and work in the tro-
pics" and this dogma is made the
foundation of theories as to our con-
duct toward the natives, and is often
held to justify us in inducing Or COM
polling them to work for us by methods
which do not veE much differ in their
results from modified slavery 1t
therefore becomes important to ascer-
tain whether this dogma is true or
false; and on this question: having my
self lived and worked for twelve years
within ten degrees of the equator, in
the Amazon valley and in the Malay
archipelago, L have formed very def
mite opinion.
A few preliminary remarks are need
ed to clear the ground In the first
place, we must clearly distinguish be-
tween the climate and the diseases of
the tropics. Most people form their
opinions from the effects of those tro-
pical 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 centers of
tropical America from Havana and
Vera Cruz to Rio de Janeiro, owe their
extreme mnhealthiness to two main
cause.-the absence of all effective
sanitary arrangements among the ma
tive population, and the fact that they
were for several centuries emporiums
Of the slave trade. 1t is to this latter
cause that DR.. G. Creighton, one of the
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 At
lantic. The slave ships reached their
destination in a state of indescribable
filth, which year after year was poured
out into the shallow waters of the har-
bors, and soon formed a permanent
constituent of the soil between high
and low water marks. In the east
there were no such slave ships and
there is no yellow fever; but the over
crowding in all centers of population
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 propagate
plague and other zymotic diseases. But
these are in no way due to the tropical
since three centuries 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
malarial fevers, but these also are in
no sense due to the climate. but simply
to ignorant dealing with the soil My
swamps and marshes near the equator
are perfectly healthy so long as they |
are left nearly in state of nature
that is, covered with dense forest or |
other vegetation. 1t is when extensive |
marshy areas are cleared for cultiva-
ton, and for half the year are dried |
up by the tropical sun, that they be-
come deadly. | have lived for months |
together in or close to tropical swamps,
Doth IN the Amazon valley, in Borneo
and IN the MOluccas, without a days |
illness; but when living in open Guilt
1ated marshy districts | almost in
had malarial fever. though | |
oelleve the worst types of these fevers
are due to unwholesome food. But
here again, malaria was equally preva-
ent in England less than two centuries
ago.
If we take the great belt, about 1000
niles wide, extending from II TO Is
legrees north and south of the equator
We have an enormous area, by far the
arger part of which is not only we'll
dapted for European colonization in
he true sense, that is, for permanent.
occupation by white men, but also with
roper sanitary precautions the most
ealthy and enjoyable part of the
world, and that in which the laborer
an obtain the maximum return with
he minimum of toll I formed this
plnlOn IN 1881 when returning down
he Rio Negro and Amazon after four
ears residence there, and my subse-
uent eight years experience in the
asst has only confirmed it,
At Para. in 1S4S, [ saw a striking
ase of how white man can work
/ the tropics. A TALL gentlemanlv
Dung Scotchman, finding no suitable
and seeing that good milk
as scarce in the city. determined to
I'm milkman. He hired a hut and
ONE sheds about half a mile away.
by second-growth forest
nd coarse, grassy fields, obtained
lree or four COWS, and when 1 made