The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1899-06-13
THE WHITE MAN
in The TROPICS

Tropics" that the white races cannot
live and form self-governing communi-
ties In hot climates. Is regarded by
the editor OF Appleton's Popular Sci
ence Monthly as equivalent to the
proposition that freedom is limited by
climate, and against this he protests,
as an assertion directly contrary to all
the generalizations of modern social
science. Mr.. Kidd, it will be remem-
bered, points out that, although the
white man cannot live permanently in
the tropics, he must control them: and
hence he gives aid and comfort to the
American expansionist. or this view
the writer of the editorial says:
whether Mr.. Kidd recognizes the
odious significance of his captivating
speculation or not, 1t is certainly a
plea and an apology for slavery and
political despotism in the tropics. E.
There is reason to believe that 1t must
be relegated to the limbo of kindred
and popular superstition. Within the
past year much has been said about
the genius OF the Anglo-Saxon for free
dom and the ethnic incapacity of the
Latns for that boon Of civilization.
Even so great scholar as Guizot en-
courages this extraordinary theory.
In apology for his misinterpre-
tation of social phenomena there can
he urged his ignorance Of the law Of
evolution and of the hardly less i'm
portant law of the militant origin Of
despotism and the pacific origin OF
freedom. No such apology can, how
ever, be made in behalf Of Mr.. Kidd, or
of any other apostle of imperialism.
Not only have they at command all
the generalizations Of social science,
but all the facts upon which those gen.
civilizations are based, to prove that
neither climate nor race is a limita-
ton upon freedom.
"If climate determined the character
OF the political institutions Of people,
many questions would be suggested at
once that would be beyond solution.
Why, for instance, should a certain
freedom have existed in Athens, and
the most intolerable despotism in
Sparta? Again. why should there be
despotism in Russia and Germany, as
well as in Morocco and Egypt? An
other series OF questions equally per-
picking can be raised. Why should
there be more freedom in England to-
day than six hundred or even one hun.
dred years ago? The climate has not
changed In the interval. Why should
the institutions Of Spain in the thir-
teenth century have been more liberal
| than in the seventeenth? Why was 1t
many before the Thirty Years War
had virtually ceased to exist at the
Peace of Westphalia? Here, also, the
climate had not changed. The
only satisfactory answer to these ques-
tions is to be found in the fact that
militant activities always lead to des-
potism, and pacific activities always to
freedom. When people get into war,
the central power must exercise all the
authority over life and property essen
tial to success in battle.
Whether despotism exists, as Mr..
Kidd and his followers assume, among
all the indigenous populations Of the
tropics, only careful Investigation of
the subject would permit one to say.
But that 1t must, as they contend, al
ways exist there, none of the laws OF
social evolution give the slightest war
the same origin that 1t had in Eng
land, and in obedience to the same
forces of peace and industry that OPP
Grated against II in that country, -
must pass away. :. The degree
of heat or humidity, or the luxuriant
vegetation Of the tropics had no more
to do with this political organization
than the degree of cold. or the dryness
of the atmosphere, or the compare
tive poverty of the soil of some of the
Western States with the similar polit-
zeal organization of the Indians that
roamed over them. None OF these
physical characteristics can prevent
the play OF those forces that drive peo-
pie eventually to the adoption OF that
form Of social organism that will best
promote their happiness. AS the social
philosophy Of evolution shows, the So
clal organization best fitted for this
purpose Is the one where tha largest
individual freedom prevails"
Finally, the writer argues, Ihs con-
tentlon that the white man cannot live
and work permanently in the tropics,
on which Mr.. Kids demonstration
practically rests, has slender basis In
fact lie says:
alfred Russell Wallace, who spent
twelve years In the tropics, says IN
recent article that the white man can
and does work In every part Of them,
II be does not work, II Is simply for