New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1900-06-24
TAINTED ATMOSPHERE.
MORAL DEGENERACY OF THE WHITE
RACES RESULTING FROM LIFE IN
TROPICAL AND ORIENTAL
COUNTRIES.

zones Of the United States and of Europe that !
Great Britain ana the other colonial Powers are
accustomed to increase by 80 to 30 per cent the
rate of pay of those military and civil officials
who are assigned to duty in the hot countries of
Asia Africa and the West Indies, while the
years spent there usually count double in max |
ing up the term of service required in order TO
qualify for pensions That it is necessary to |
hold out inducements of this kind in the shape /
of extra emoluments is shown by the fact that
the vast majority of people who have spent any
time in the East Indies, in urOplcal AFRICA or
in China return home with sadly impaired con-
sttutions, fortunate tndeed if they get back
alive. For The tropics are known 1.-The white
mans grave"
Harmful as is life in the hot countries to the
physical health Of white folk it is much more
deleterious to their moral we'll being, and it re-
qu;res men Of such strong character and high
principles to resist the temptations by which
they are surrounded. and TO remain unaffected
by the communicating influences Of the at
mcsphere which prevails that certain degree
of indulgence should be accorded to those mis-
guided oficials-fOrtunatey few in number-who
have recently brought the good name of Uncle
Sam into disrepute in Cuba and it is rumored
also in the Philippines The standards of honor,
nay, even Of common honesty are much different
there from those which prevail here The ethics
in matters of morality is so much more elastic
and lax that the only matter for surprise is that
the cases of American public servants whose no
items of right and wrong have been warped by
the conditions of life in the tropics should be
50 comparatively rare Nor is the United States
the only sufferer in this respect. France Ger
many, Italy Russia. Spain and Portugal. in
fact all countries that possess colonial depend
ercies in the hot zones. have undergone similar
experiences. and have suffered from the errors
and even crimes of men who left home with
records that were above reproach, but who, hav-
iEs degenerated through the conditions of their
new existence, disgraced the offices to which
they had been appointed.
CONVENTIONALITY AND PRINCIPLE.
Few realize until they take up their residence
in tropical countries how much until then they
have been restricted in their conduct by the
conyantionaIftes of life in the United States and
in Europe 1t may sound cynical but there is
10 doubt that social discipline is maintained to
an infinitely greater degree by conventonality
than by principle It is far less a question of
conscience than the fear of what friends and
rcighbors will say that keeps one in the right
rath and most people are in greater dread of
flrfeiting the regard and esteem of those among
wnom they are living than their own self-re-
soect Take men of this class men who have
leen kept from straying from the paths Of honor
and morality chiefly by conventonality, that is
to say by terror of losing the good opinion of
their fellow citizens, and place them suddenly
III the midst of a community where official cor
rUption and private dishonesty are regarded as
matter Of course, where ethics of morality
exists to act as a restraint on the passions and
where it is not dishonor and prohigacy, but rec
titude and morality that are regarded as uncon-
ventional and they will soon lose all notions of
right and wrong and become depraved as the
Influences by which they surrounded
There are few white officials serving in the
Orient or in the Northern portion Of Africa, |
who have not at time another OF their
careers been subjected to the indignity of having
brides offered to them the wheels of native adj
1ninistration in countries subject to Oriental
forms of government seldom moving without a
certain quantity of 'backsheesh.' 1t is not so
many years ago that to Sir Charles Euan Smith, /
while engaged in a special mission to Morocco
for the purpose of negotiating treaty between +.
that country and Great Britain, was offered at !
the last moment a bride of $4,000 by the Sui !
tan if he would consent to the modification Of
certain clauses of the agreement that We're dis !
pleasing His Moorish Majesty. Sir Charles |
In a fit of righteous Indignation tore the treaty
into pieces, flung them in the face of the Sultan,
and Immediately broke off all diplomatic rela- /
lions with the Court of Morocco replying to his
threats with the words;
You may kill me if you like but it will avail
8,