The Washington times., 1902-10-26

for, while in British India the English
government is able at all times to de-
pend upon the loyalty of the white pop
ulation as set-off against the dtsaf-
fection of the natives, the Netherlands
have to face in the Far East not only
the hostility of a dusky population,
which enjoys the justly deserved -epu-
tation of being the fiercest, most fanatic
and astute in the Orient. but likewise
the i'll will of the entire white and
half-bred element.
Fortunately for
Natives Imbued Queen Wilhelmina
With the colonists and
p;++.r u.+,ad the natives are
imbued with a
bitter hatred one against another. But
they are united upon one point,
namely, that the present condition
OF things in the archipelago has
become absolutely intolerable. The
natives, who number some $4,000.
600, comprising about 100000 Chinese.
$4,000 Arabs, and large Hindoo ele-
emancipation from every sort of white
rule. which they regard in the light of
Christian oppression. The colonists are
about 10000 in number, and nearly all.
save about 5000 born in the Orient, look
to some foreign power, by preference the
United States, to grant them the autono-
nous privileges that are denied to them
by the Dutch crown. while the latter.
which can dispose neither of the naval
nor military forces adequate to keep
both colonists and natives under ton
troll, has, it is said. come to an under
standing with the German Kaiser. by
means of which his fleet and a portion
of his army will be utilized to maintain
the supremacy of the throne of the
Netherlands in the Dutch East Indies.
Among the numerous sources of trou-
bic, the two which call for more special
attention are the facts that the colonies
should be looked upon by the home gov
ernment solely as a sort of milch COW
and a source of profit to the Neither
lands, and the tyranny involved by the
wee. or forced labor, on the part of the
natives. AS in Cuba in the days of Span
ish rule, both the white races and the
natives are taxed to the extreme limit,
not for the development or benefit of the
islands, but for that of the home gov
ernment, all the surplus of revenue over
indispensable expenditure being paid
into the treasury at The Hague. What
this surplus amounts to may be gathered
from the fact that, according to official
figures. no less than s3o0.0OO.000 was
turned over by the authorities at Ba-
tavia TO the crown in the shape of sur
plus revenue in a period of two score
years.
Salt and opium
Labor Reduced to are government
Slavery by monopolies, and
the Government the same may be
said to a great
extent of the vast production of cof-
fee, which is grown under what is
known as the culture system, in
troduced almost one hundred years
ago by Marshal Daendel and
Governor General Count Wander Bosch
Briefly speaking this culture system.
though considerably modified in recent
years. provides for the compulsory cul-
per cent of the annual crop being taken |
by the government as its due. In addi-
ton to this, the government has its own |
Immense coffee plantations, where the |
work is mostly done by means of cor
vee," that is to say, by forced and un-
labor. and 1t is estimated |
that ffty-two days in the year is the /
minimum average amount of the unpaid
work of this kind that the Javanese ma
tive is called upon to perform. 1t is
1ot merely agricultural labor that the
government exacts of him, but likewise
the keeping of roads and bridges in re-
pair the maintenance of the irrigation
works, the transport OF government sup
conceivable character TO the government
'fficials travelling on public service. The
native in British India is an independent
citizen compared to the Javanese. The
after, even according to the admission
II some of the leading Dutch statesmen
md writer's on colonial subjects. knows
10 freedom. His whole existence is reg
llated by the authorities and subject to
he direction of the local Dutch governor
md his subordinates. He is obliged to
onsult their will, not his own, as TO
he time and method of sowing and
lanting his land, and even as TO the
hoice of the site of his house on his
He must defer TO their views
S to the choice of material that ne
ses for his roof. and his Dutch masters
ven determine the place in his hut .
here he may hang his lamp" Indeed.
here is no European colony in the en-
Ire Orient where the native is subject
d to such an amount of despotism-l
eneyolent despotism. II one likes-but /
espotism all the same as in the Dutch