Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1902-03-12
POVERTY OF THE TROPICS.
Everything In the Hot Countries Is Harm
full to Man.

EVerythlnS IN the IOt countries Is IsoFih-
full to Man.
That the tropics are really poor in
natural resources instead of being rich
is the argument of Dr. Semeleder, of
Cordoba Mexico. His arguments are
especially interesting just now, when
so much attention is being attracted
to the hot regions of the world as
places for exploitation. The doctor,
in letter to the Medical Record,
says:
"All men dream of the marvellous
riches Of the tropics, of the birds with
rainbow plumage, Of the eXtrayagant
flowers, of the elegant trceferns, Of
the banana anu palms, with waving
leaves, and of the cocoa-palm, which
furnishes man with everything neces-
sary for life Indeed we pity him who,
has never seen q tropical landscape,
as we pity him who has never seen the
sea. Then we think of the enormous
treasures the English. Spanish and
Dutch have harvested from their tropi-
cal colonies, and, naturally, we think
that the tropics are the richest re-
gions of the world. All this may be
true, yet, nevertheless, in another
sense, instead of being rich the trop-
les are fatally poor. Unable to Sc
cure the neccessaries of life, the peo-
pie of tropical countries are like the
man in whose hand everything turns
to gold, yet who perishes Of hunger
and thirst.
"Of all the breadstuffs necessary
for men the tropics furnish only corn
and rice, and these only to limited
extent. They have no wheat, rye, or
potatoes. The banana may be, as
Humboldt says, 1873 times more pro-
ductive than wheat, and A times more
so than potatoes, yet it cannot re-
place either as food. Nor can whito
men live for any length Of time on
rice and corn alone, nor on bananas
and palm-nuts. Native tropical foods
can only hold body and soul together,
as they furnish but little vigor, energy,
and power. No machine can do good
work with poor fuel. A man who has
neither bread nor meat cannot get
life and strength and push from tea,
coffee sugar, vanilla, and all the pre-
cious spices. Tropical products are
merely commercial luXuries and II the
inhabitants of cold clinles did not buy
them the people of the tropics would
lack the necessaries ard comforts OF
life and would yet choke with their
own riches.
"If We wish to know the effects of
the poor diet of the tropics combined
with the effects of the heat, we have
only to look at the inhabitants of these
countries. As a general rule they are
thin, poorly built, and unfit for intel.
lectual or physical labor. Occasional
exceptions will only confirm the rule.
even the foods which are produced
are insufficient in amount, SO that the
least interference with the annual
crops results in famines, as is the case
in India today. Indeed. India has al
ways been the land of fabulous riches
Of few and Of famines of the mil
lions. Until recently in the cold coun-
tries there were none Of fabulous
wealth and but few famines.
Everything In hot countries Is
harmful to man; the ground. the wa
ter, and the air. swarming with mias.
ma and vermin, and with torment and
danger. Life is as much a torment as
pleasure, for whatever makes life
worth living Ia lacking. They depend
for indispensable necessaries upon the
temperate zones, to which they fur
nish only the luXuries."