Evening star., 1902-03-22
COLoNIZING THE TROPICS.
Europeans May Remain Strong and
Healthy at Equator.

4ACoiIiiy at 4doaIoA.
From the New York Times.
The possibility of Europeans laboring and
bringing UP children n tropical climates
is the question of questions which colo
nizatiOn of a permanent sort hinges. Is
the climate Of the tropics fatal in the long
rum To Europeans? DR.. ]. Myleus contrib
uted an article to VOm Fels zum Nicer in
which he argued that tropical climates con-
stitute barrier not to be surmounted,
owing TO the high death rate of children
among European settlers, the necessity Eu-
roreans are under to live without physical
labor, and the temptations offered them TO
spend immoral lives In general. as re-
CARDS India. this is the impression one gets
from Kipling's novels and romances. But
there are other views of all this which put
Very different aspect on the matter.
Captain Fedor Schulze of Java, who has
lived more than forty Years in India and
the Malay archipelago, disputes the conclu-
siOns of Myleus in a recent letter to the
Bulletin of Ethnoogy. Europeans suffer
from fewer diseases in the tropics than at
home. owing to their life in the open air,
provided they observe certain precautions.
To acclimate themselves they have merely
to seek first the higher lands. the plateau
and mountains found in almost all the colo
nies The earlier settlers loafed because
they had an idea that whites SHOULD not
lower themselves in the eyes of ile ma
tives by labor. They fell sick because they
did not have hygienic surroundings and in
dulged in the heavy drinking and eating
which was their habit in Europe. They
We're prolific and their children woull have
done well had they cared for them Prop
erly and provided good schools. Now they
drink little, do not overeat themselves,
have hygienic homes and protect their chill
dren from the ignorance of native help.
The consequence is that the whit,s are
thriving. Moreover, they are at worh:
and according to Captain SchulZe the whites
can labor eight hours a day. even in the
fields. If they observe the rule t. divide
the working hours into early morning and
late afternoon StintS
Captain Schuize believes that apar, from
cities where the natives are crowded to-
gether the healthfulneSs in the tropics is
better than in Europe Children'S diseases
are rare and their mental qualities fully
equal to those OF Europeans under proper
instructors. Malaria exists in the rice
growing districts and in SWampy regions,
but the same is true in Europe. He thinks
the tropics have a bad name because the
English have been slow to adapt their
houses. dress. food and drink. and customs
to the tropical or subtropical climates. In
Java the Hoilanders and white men IF
other natiOnalities labor in factories eiyh.
hours day without harm to their lealt:l.
Taking the Dutch statistics as a basis. he
puts different nations in the following rank
in the order Of ease Of acclimation: Chi
nese. Germans. Portuguese. Spdniards.
Frenchmen, Italians, Hollanders ana Eng
llshmen.
If he is right and DR.. Myleus wrong the
barrier to the permanent settlement of
Africa and the East Indies by white men
does not really exist. unless the latter
sist on ignoring his three rules Of Q sufti-
cient and fitting nourishment. CD rest after
exacting labor and c0 a minimum of al
cOhOl.
Moreover. the permanent settlement oe
the Philippines by settlers from the United
States has much more hopeful look, for
conditions Of climate in the Philippines are
much more favorable to men of the tenn
perate zone than in India, Java New
Guinea and Borneo where the British. Dutch
and Germans are permanently established.
With the results of experience in these
places to guide them, it may be that waite
men can colOniZe Africa and South Amer
lea on the equator and the overpopulasion
Of the northern temperate zone may cease
to be bugbear anxious statesmen peer
into the future. 1t does not solve the vcxa-
tous question, which Is here with us in
our southern states how whites and the
dark-skinned races are to cO-eXikt FOR 'oug
periods without unfortunate effects from
race antipathes. but 1t does sonnet hing to
remove the greatest objection to d crloni-
Zation of the tropics.