The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-05-27
,.Dog N so,rTu ArpIcA


 LABOR IN SOUTH AFRICA.
 It is somewhat significant that Tn South Africa the employers of labor are having the same difficulty about getting work done that all have who depend on col ored help when there is no compulsion It is significant but not surprising to those of us who know how little inclined t1 hard work the average negro is when | there is no present and pressing necessity for him to exert himself. According ts weIl-informed contemporary, the bur den which the white man is nobly bearing in South Africa consists of the black ab- origines, and pitiful tales are told of the attempts to elevate these incorrigibfes into the ranks of civilization. All that Is that they shall furnish labor enough at the mines to make investments proft- able. In an ideal situation there would be, say, twenty boys to stamp, and as there Is very large supply of boys this condition should be realized. Then a comparatively small body of skilled white miners would form the happy aristocracy of labor, low grade ores would pay. the stockholders in London would feel serene, the stock speculators would rejoice, the debts of the country would be settled, and the boys would bloom into fine flow- CTS of culture on stipend calculated to encourage plain living and high think ing.
 That is a pleasant picture of what might be if things were different, but un- fortunately the picture isn't true to na- ture and facts. These negroes of South Africa are just like their brethren every where else when left to their own incli- artions. They take no thought of the morrow" and work only when they are compelled by necessity. A writer in The Nineteenth Century Magazine declares that the native African will only work for so many months as are necessary to earn for himself sufficient money to remain idle the rest of the year." and iEtimates that what the native loves to do 'ts to sit in the sun and watch his wives work" If he has no wife we've no douht that he could enjoy himself watch inS another mans wife at work. What the genuine negro best likes it to see sume one else at work while he rests. | One of the most absurd propositions that We have seen is that the negro labor would be more reliable If they were paid better wages. This idea evidently comes from some one who knows httIe about the negro disposition. The offer of higher wages might secure q greater number of laborers but they would assurediy work less days or months in the year Each ono eau calculate very exactly how much nicney he will need to enable him to live an easy life, and how long 1t will take him to earn it. When he is sure that he has enough he will quit, and to double the pay Would halve the time That scheme would work backwards, and wquld make matters worse. If they want the negro to work the whole year through they must reduce his pay so that it will take all his time to make enough to live on.
 In this connection we have seen it stated that the Boer General, Cronje, advised the. passage of a law to compel the na- tives to work. We suppose he wanted something on the style of some of the vagrant laws of this country. but We sus- pect that a law of that nature would drive more negroes out of the country than 1t would send to work, but old Cron- je's Dutch blood couldn't palliate lazi- ness. He wanted everybody to work. and held that if they refused to work volun- tarily there should be some way to make them get busy, whether they liked it or not.
 IL is a somewhat curious phase of in- dustrial life that the mine owners of South Africa, with thousands of idle men around them, are compelled to import lahorers from other countries, but such is a fact. and the conditions in that coun- try furnish a striking illustration of the natural disposition of the genuine negro. Left to his own choice he will do just as little work as possible, and that with as little physical exertlon as circumstances will permit. IL is in the blood.