The daily morning journal and courier., 1902-09-09
WEST INDIA PROBLEMS.


 l from Jamaica have told of great dissat- isfaction with the colonial government of the island by Great Britain. Memo rials were presented to the colonial sec retary, asking him to devise some plan of relief, otherwise the islanders would | be ruined What they particularly urged was such changes in the tariff ! system of the mother country as would admit Jamaican sugar on slightly more favorable tepms than the German pro- duct, sold, thanks to the export boun- | ty, at less than the cost of production. | The Jamaican memorial was refused, as might have been expected, for it was not to be supposed that England would | change it's customs laws and adopt the | principle of protection, even of a modi- fled form, in order to encourage one of its poorest colonies; but instead small sum was offered to be used in the in- dustrial upbuilding or the island, and especially in the revival of it's decayed | sugar industry.
 | This offer has given no satisfaction whatever, and the complaints of Jamai- ca have reached a far more acute stage. and have actually become disloyal, for  nexation to the United States. It is not generally known that Jamaica nearly eighty years ago practically seeded from the British government, the Ja- maican assembly in 1927 declaring in l favor of annexation to the United | States or the complete independence of the island, in consequence of the at- | tempt of the governor, the Duke of Manchester at the command of the British government, to force through the assembly the emancipation of the negro slaves. Jamaica took the leading i part in this annexation movement, and sent representatives to the other Brit ish West Indies to propose cooperation, and to the United States to see what | this country was prepared to do. The proposition received little consideration here for obvious reasons-we could not consider the offer without giving ,seri- ous offence to friendly power, Great Britain.
 In 1884, however, in spite of the pro | tests of the Jamaican assembly, eman- cipation was forced on the island. The planters were paid s29.269,S75 for their slaves, or at the rate of about one hun dred and twenty-five dollars a slave; and an apprentice system was substitu- ted for slavery, but proved a failure, and was abolished two years afterward. What the planters predicted, of the ruin of the island with emancipation of the negroes, came true. The white ele- l ment which saved the south in recon struction days was lacking, and the is- 1 land sank lower and lower in its pro- duction and wealth. For more than thirty years after emancipation the re- lations between Jamaica and the moth CT country were more or less unfriendly the islanders, or at least the white el- ement, maintaining an attitude of sul- len discontent. About the time of re- construction, however, the sentiment changed to a more loyal one. The l emancipation of the southern slaves by Lincoln without paying cent to their owners convinced the Jamaican plant CTS that they had not been so badly treated after all; while the pegro gov ernments which congress had set up in the southern states gave them some idea of what they had escaped. More over, the decrease in the white popula- tion, which had been the dissatisfied el- ement, weakened the opposition. The opposition, which had numbered thirty ! thousand in 1791, had decreased to 14, 692 in 1891, and are now only about twelve thousand. while the negroes have increased from 346O70 at the time of the emancipation to 1000 to-day. Jamaica is blacker than Tensas, with | fifty-f1ve negroes to every one white. Emancipation has made it a black mans country.
 A great many things have occurred in the West Indies of late, and as a conse- quence we see Jamaica again beating at our door and proposing annexation. There is little or nothing to hope for in the way of relief from England, as MT Chamberlain can do nothing for the is- land. On the other hand, the United l States can do great deal. Jamaica is mainly supported to-day by its fruit trade with the United States. Cut off it's trade with us in bananas. oranges, pineapples, etc, and other tropical fruit, the inhabitants would be brought very close to the point of starvation; and this trade would naturally receive great impetus if Jamaica were part of the United States instead of a for eign country. Moreover. the great im- provement which has taken place un- der American rule in the neighboring is- land of Porto Rico, which was in far worse condition than Jamaica when we took charge, is an encouragement to the annexationists.
 That annexation would be of material advantage to the Jamaicans no one can doubt, and material advantage is strong argument to a hungry people. If the whites were dominant, as formerly, or constituted as large an element of the population, there could be no doubt as to the result, for they would join the United States if for no other reason, to save themselves from the Africaniza- tion of the island, but, as we have shown, they have shrunk in numbers and influence They, it is said, are overwhelmingly for annexation. The loyal sentiment-that is, the sentiment tai attachment to Great Britain-ls mainly with the negroes, and especially with that element styled ''colored," mu- lattoes, griffes, etc.. who number some one hundred and twenty-five thousand,